All,
I've done some digging through the archives and can only find minimal
mention of this issue. The most specific email[1] I can find that fits
this issue is from 3/28/04 (there have been others but they don't
specifically mention a negative value). If a field_info struct has a
negative length value an exception will eventually be thrown because it
can not ensure the block of data is contiguous before printing it out.
I believe that throwing an exception is not always desired, as automated
processes will stop early. Ideally, an invalid value should be noted
and processing should continue.
I decided to modify write_pdml_field_hex_value() in print.c to check for
a negative length value. I'm curious if this is something that others
would find useful, or if I should go about the modification in a
different way - I could change the exceptions to catch a negative value
and continue.
If this is a desired approach I can provide my patch once I obtain
employer approval, or if it is not desired I will simply keep it as an
in-house modification.
-- WXS
[1]: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=ethereal-dev&m=108049069031189&w=2
