mozilla/DeepSpeech

Change Alphabet::EncodeSingle and Alphabet::DecodeSingle to use an outparam and return an error code instead of calling `abort`

Open

#3,175 opened on Jul 22, 2020

View on GitHub
 (14 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)C++ (26,755 stars) (4,093 forks)batch import
buggood first bughelp wanted

Description

I run into the error "Invalid label 0". I assume it is from the function Alphabet::DecodeSingle() in the file native_client/alphabet.cc.

I don't know why I am running into this error and it is not important for now. What is important is the fact that the code calls abort() just after printing this error.

I don't know your guidelines. But I can tell that aborting the whole process, including the python interpreter which might be interactive, is a terrible way of handling errors, especially in such a trivial function, and I call it a bug.

Contributor guide

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
machine learningbackend
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
stale
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
basic C++error handling
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
65
Research direction
The issue proposes changing `Alphabet::EncodeSingle` and `Alphabet::DecodeSingle` in `native client/alphabet.cc` to return an error code via an out parameter and avoid calling `abort`. The current implementation aborts the process on invalid labels. The change requires updating the function signatures in the header `native client/alphabet.h`, modifying the implementation, and adjusting all callers to handle the error status. The specific error code type and convention (e.g., bool, enum, or integer) need to be determined based on existing patterns in the codebase. Check comments in the issue for any maintainer guidance or alternative approaches.