Re: Check for memset_explicit() and explicit_memset()

Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org>

From: Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org>
To: Bertrand Drouvot <bertranddrouvot.pg@gmail.com>
Cc: pgsql-hackers <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Date: 2026-02-24T16:02:07Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
On 24.02.26 06:59, Bertrand Drouvot wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 03:22:22PM +0000, Bertrand Drouvot wrote:
>> Could we hit the same kind of issue as in [1] (when using -std=c11)?
>>
>> Asking because I can see (in [2]), that in glibc 2.43, memset_explicit is guarded
>> that way (string/string.h):
>>
>> "
>> #if defined __USE_MISC || __GLIBC_USE (ISOC23)
>> /* Like memset, but the compiler will not delete a call to this
>>     function, even if S is dead after the call.  */
>> extern void *memset_explicit (void *__s, int __c, size_t __n)
>>       __THROW __nonnull ((1)) __fortified_attr_access (__write_only__, 1, 3);
>> #endif
>> "
> 
> I did more research on it and that seems to work with -std=c11. While
> -std=c11 does not define __USE_MISC, the fact that we add -D_GNU_SOURCE by
> default enables __USE_MISC.

Yeah, using _GNU_SOURCE makes almost everything available.  Otherwise, 
we should be using AC_CHECK_DECLS for everything.  Which might in 
principle be right, but it's a separate project.

The difference with memset_s() is that we don't make 
__STDC_WANT_LIB_EXT1__ universally enabled.




Commits

  1. Check for memset_explicit() and explicit_memset()