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From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Zu-Ming Jiang <zuming.jiang@inf.ethz.ch>
cc: pgsql-bugs@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: BUG #18276: Heap-buffer-overflow triggered in
 src/backend/utils/adt/datum.c:163
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Comments: In-reply-to Zu-Ming Jiang <zuming.jiang@inf.ethz.ch>
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Zu-Ming Jiang <zuming.jiang@inf.ethz.ch> writes:
> But I am bit wondering whether it is a bug. I think PostgreSQL should 
> not directly crash because of a incorrect datatype. Maybe PostgreSQL can 
> return an error?

It's not reasonable to expect the system to figure out the behavior
of C functions (see: halting problem).  In the end this is why
creating base types is a superuser-only operation: it's possible
to crash the server with a wrong definition.  I don't see any prospect
of making that meaningfully safer.

			regards, tom lane