assert failure in multitail program when file arguments do not exist

[Dominique Pellé]

Binary package hint: multitail

"multitail" program asserts when passing non existing file names. Bug is easily 100% reproducible on Ubuntu

Steps to reproduce:

1/ install "multitail" (in case it's not already installed)

$ sudo apt-get install multitail

2/ run "multitail" on non existing file names and observe the assert failure

$ multitail non-existing-file-1 non-existing-file-2
 --*- multitail 5.2.2 (C) 2003-2007 by <email address hidden> -*--

A problem occured at line 1010 in function do_commandline (from file cmdline.c):

Error opening file non-existing-file-1.

errno variable (if applicable): 2 which means No such file or directory

Binary build at May 22 2008 11:05:50
multitail: utils.c:197: stop_process: Assertion `pid > 1' failed.
Aborted

Expected behavior: it should report an error rather than an assert failure.

Oh, and while we're at it, notice also the typo in the error message:
"A problem occured at line 1010..." (*occured* is misspelled -> occurred)

[Dominique Pellé (dominique-pelle)]

I precise that I am using Ubuntu-9.04 (Jaunty) with all updates as of today (2009/07/23).

[David Stansby (dstansby-deactivatedaccount)]

Fixed in Maverick