Redstone XML-RPC Library

Tracker: Bugs

5 Parse error on MIME-style base64 - ID: 1753822

Last Update: Comment added ( sf-robot )

Details:

Redstone apparently expects base64 data to have no newlines, as per RFC
4648 (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648#section-3.1 ) or 3548 (
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3548#section-2.1 ).

However, when the xmlrpc spec was written (1999), those RFCs did not exist.
The common specification for base64 at the time was MIME (see
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2045#section-6.8 ), which specifies a newline
every 76 characters.

Therefore, it seems reasonable for an xmlrpc implementation to follow the
MIME spec and insert newlines in base64 data. For example, Python's
xmlrpclib does this... here's an example:
http://pastebin.com/f523206e2

If Redstone receives base64 data with newlines, it raises an exception like
the attached.

This is understandable given the vagueness of the xmlrpc spec, but bad for
interoperability. Unless the xmlrpc spec is updated to clarify which base64
spec is intended, you should assume that some implementations will follow
the MIME spec.

Submitted:

Paul Winkler ( slinkp ) - 2007-07-13 22:40

Priority:

Status:

Closed

Resolution:

Fixed

Assigned:

Greger Ohlson

Category:

None

Group:

None

Visibility:

Public

Comments ( 5 )

Date: 2007-08-14 02:20 Sender: sf-robot This Tracker item was closed automatically by the system. It was previously set to a Pending status, and the original submitter did not respond within 14 days (the time period specified by the administrator of this Tracker).
Date: 2007-07-30 23:00 Sender: gregerohlson The head revision in the SVN repository contains a fixed Base64.decode() which accepts BASE64-encoded data which contains newline characters and other non-BASE64 data. It has been tested with sample output from Base64 encoders from Python, Perl, and other libraries and it appears to be working. We will do some more testing against actual XML-RPC services on the Internet to verify it didn't break anything but we expect no problems. After that we will release an official bug fix of the library (in a day or so).
Date: 2007-07-30 22:02 Sender: gregerohlson OK thanks! We'll look into it directly. We've been on holidays here in Sweden so we've just learned about this.
Date: 2007-07-16 15:40 Sender: slinkp See also http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/xml-rpc/message/6652 "I have just looked at the Redstone Bas64 decoder and it's obviously broken. The code correctly ignores whitespace characters but then complains that the data is too short." See also http://effbot.org/zone/xmlrpc-errata.htm : "It's okay to split base64-data over multiple lines."
Date: 2007-07-13 22:48 Sender: slinkp I just posted a relevant message to the xmlrpc mailing list... we'll see what they have to say, if anything. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/xml-rpc/message/6650

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Attached File ( 1 )

Filename	Description	Download
redstone_traceback.txt	redstone stack trace	Download

Changes ( 7 )

Field	Old Value	Date	By
close_date	2007-07-30 23:00	2007-08-14 02:20	sf-robot
status_id	Pending	2007-08-14 02:20	sf-robot
resolution_id	None	2007-07-30 23:00	gregerohlson
close_date	-	2007-07-30 23:00	gregerohlson
status_id	Open	2007-07-30 23:00	gregerohlson
assigned_to	nobody	2007-07-30 22:02	gregerohlson
File Added	236938: redstone_traceback.txt	2007-07-13 22:40	slinkp

Redstone XML-RPC Library

Tracker: Bugs

Comments ( 5 )

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Attached File ( 1 )

Changes ( 7 )

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