From: Peter Dimov (pdimov_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-04-11 17:23:41
Alexander Nasonov wrote:
> Peter Dimov wrote:
>> std::ifstream is( "http://www.example.com/file.zip" );
>> std::ofstream os( "file.zip" );
>> os << is.rdbuf();
>>
>> No proposal required, in principle.
>
> Are you aware of (a) ambiguity and (b) potential security hole?
Yes, I am aware of both. It's a tradeoff.
> (a)
>> mkdir http:
>> mkdir http:/www.example.com
>> touch http:/www.example.com/file.zip
>> file http://www.example.com/file.zip
> http://www.example.com/file.zip: empty
>
> (b)
> If you replace the first line with something more generic, for example
> with:
> std::ifstream is( argv[1] );
>
> it becomes unclear that the code might send requests to the net.
The code can already send requests to the net; an example is
\\www.example.com\share\file
under Windows. In most cases, allowing existing code to seamlessly read from
remote files over HTTP or FTP is a feature. PHP, for example, does that in
its fopen, and most graphical shells also maintain this illusion.
Anyway, I just wanted to illustrate the fact that standard library
implementors already have the ability to add HTTP/FTP functionality;
unfortunately, none have done so. C++ is a somewhat conservative language.
:-)
The obvious alternative is, of course,
std::tr2::iurlstream is( "http://www.example.com/file.zip" );
which does require a proposal, albeit a relatively simple one. ASIO need not
be involved in any way, and the implementation under Windows can use
WinInet, for example.