On FreeBSD 11, I see this warning:
../src/ln.c:383:35: warning: data argument not used by format string
[-Wformat-extra-args]
The code there passes two string arguments and uses
- sometimes both,
- sometimes only the first one,
- sometimes only the second one, with "%.0s" to skip and ignore
the first one.
Especially the latter trick can cause confusion among translators.
If possible, it should therefore be avoided.
Here's a patch that eliminates the warning and the use of "%.0s".
The result is somewhat bigger but just as maintainable (at least)
than the previous code.
>From 8dd442b2d804d60b52dd77c9ca5999bc7a86a2dd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bruno Haible <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2025 23:19:01 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] ln: Eliminate a clang -Wformat-extra-args warning
* src/ln.c (do_link): Don't pass unused arguments to error(). Don't use
"%.0s" to consume a string argument without printing it.
---
src/ln.c | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
diff --git a/src/ln.c b/src/ln.c
index 3a40244fb..7a366bc90 100644
--- a/src/ln.c
+++ b/src/ln.c
@@ -369,18 +369,31 @@ do_link (char const *source, int destdir_fd, char const *dest_base,
}
else
{
- error (0, link_errno,
- (symbolic_link
- ? (link_errno != ENAMETOOLONG && *source
- ? _("failed to create symbolic link %s")
- : _("failed to create symbolic link %s -> %s"))
- : (link_errno == EMLINK
- ? _("failed to create hard link to %.0s%s")
- : (link_errno == EDQUOT || link_errno == EEXIST
- || link_errno == ENOSPC || link_errno == EROFS)
- ? _("failed to create hard link %s")
- : _("failed to create hard link %s => %s"))),
- quoteaf_n (0, dest), quoteaf_n (1, source));
+ char *dest_quoted = quoteaf_n (0, dest);
+ char *source_quoted = quoteaf_n (1, source);
+
+ if (symbolic_link)
+ {
+ if (link_errno != ENAMETOOLONG && *source)
+ error (0, link_errno, _("failed to create symbolic link %s"),
+ dest_quoted);
+ else
+ error (0, link_errno, _("failed to create symbolic link %s -> %s"),
+ dest_quoted, source_quoted);
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ if (link_errno == EMLINK)
+ error (0, link_errno, _("failed to create hard link to %s"),
+ source_quoted);
+ else if (link_errno == EDQUOT || link_errno == EEXIST
+ || link_errno == ENOSPC || link_errno == EROFS)
+ error (0, link_errno, _("failed to create hard link %s"),
+ dest_quoted);
+ else
+ error (0, link_errno, _("failed to create hard link %s => %s"),
+ dest_quoted, source_quoted);
+ }
if (backup_base)
{
--
2.51.0
