Re: g_error_free() warning on null pointer

[Allin Cottrell <cottrell wfu edu>]

On Sat, 15 Aug 2015, Jasper St. Pierre wrote:

> Lots of things in GLib fail when passed a NULL pointer, like g_object_unref.
>
> The idea is that passing a NULL pointer is probably a sign of a bug
> somewhere, so you shouldn't do it. [...]

On the one hand, the function is question is specialized, it's not 
free(), nor g_free(), and no standard mandates that it should accept 
a NULL pointer as a no-op.

On the other hand, if this function in fact accepts a NULL without 
error it's perverse that it should make a fuss about it. It seems to 
me that by far the most likely case of g_error_free() getting a NULL 
argument is a coder expecting NULL -> no-op semantics by analogy 
with C's free(). What sort of bug would you have in mind?

@McConville: the standard most relevant to your argument is the ISO 
C standard, not POSIX.

Allin Cottrell