uutils/coreutils

sort --files0-from Requires UTF-8 / Panics on Non‑UTF‑8 Filenames

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#9696 opened on Dec 18, 2025

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Description

Component

sort

Description

When parsing NUL-separated filenames via --files0-from, uutils enforces UTF-8 and uses expect(), which causes an immediate panic when encountering valid non-UTF-8 paths; GNU treats filenames as raw bytes and does not require UTF-8 encoding.

Test / Reproduction Steps

open(b"weird\xffname", "wb").write(b"20\n10\n")
open("list0", "wb").write(b"weird\xffname\0")
$ ./target/release/coreutils sort --files0-from=list0
  • GNU: 10 20
  • uutils: thread 'main' (1535230) panicked at src/uu/sort/src/sort.rs:1076:18: Could not parse string from zero terminated input.: Utf8Error { valid_up_to: 5, error_len: Some(1) } note: run with RUST_BACKTRACE=1 environment variable to display a backtrac

Impact

This can cause crashes and is incompatible with GNU in terms of "allowing arbitrary byte filenames".

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rust
Domain
cli
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.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Rust basicsfilesystem path handlingUTF 8 vs bytes
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
75
Research direction
The panic occurs at src/uu/sort/src/sort.rs:1076 where an expect() is used after converting bytes to a UTF 8 string. The fix should replace that with proper handling that accepts arbitrary byte sequences, possibly using OsStr or Path. Check how GNU handles filenames as raw bytes and refer to Rust's std::os::unix::ffi::OsStrExt for byte handling.