Re: string replacement upgrade

Amos Jeffries wrote:
>
> To allow for easy future updates to the string handling within squid we
> adopt the std::string API as the basis for string operations.
>
> This patch reverts the SquidString.h file to provide the main API and
> hooks for any string implementation behind the API.
>
> For Release 3.0 the old String (now SqString) will remain the default
> string core. That code has been kept in this patch with some minor
> modifications and bug fixes as listed below.
>
> For Release 3.1 it is expected that a better string core will be developed.
>
> Reasons for these changes:
>
> The initial String implementation was incomplete and non-standard
> causing some risky operations at points in the code and duplicated some
> operations.
> std::string provides a better known API for string handling which is
> widely use amongst other string implementations beyond std::string
> itself and this enables std::string or a derivative to be used in future
> within squid at some future date.
> String as used previously is a defined alternative to std::string in
> some systems
>
> This patch:
> - move the old String class to SqString
> - provide the well-known type of 'string' for general use
> - provides implicit conversion from char* and char[] types
> - migrate custom functions to well-known API:
> buf() -> c_str()
> clean() -> clear()
> - remove redundant functions:
> buf(char*) -> operator=(char*)
> initBuf(char*) -> operator=(char*)
> reset(char*) -> operator=(char*)
> - adds well-known API methods for safer string use:
> operator []
> empty()
> operator <<
> strcmp(), strcasecmp(), etc
> - May fix bug #1088 - segmentation fault after append(char*,int)
> - Fixes several unreported char* handling bugs in String/SqString
>
> Future work still needs to be done to unhook the core squid code from
> interacting directly with several old SqString functions. Also to
> complete the char* -> string conversion which appears to be incomplete
> (look at all instances of c_str() in main code and see if they are
> really necessary).
>

Amendment:
    Changes to HEAD since the original patch was generated for this
upgrade have caused it to change slightly in ICAP and net_db areas.
    They mostly removed several lines altered by the upgrade.

Amos