URL: <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?68786>
Summary: [troff] empty string interpolation given as argument
to several requests cause assertion failures since 1.24.0
Group: GNU roff
Submitter: gbranden
Submitted: Sat 17 Oct 2026 12:52:07 PM UTC
Category: Formatter
Severity: 4 - Important
Item Group: Crash/Unresponsive
Status: Confirmed
Privacy: Public
Assigned to: gbranden
Open/Closed: Open
Discussion Lock: Unlocked
Planned Release: None
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Follow-up Comments:
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Date: Sat 17 Oct 2026 12:52:07 PM UTC By: G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Discovered while investigating bug #68784.
This one has a different root cause.
We have some assertions that shouldn't be present.
Exhibit:
$ for ver in HEAD 1.24.2 1.24.1 1.24.0 1.23.0 1.22.4 1.22.3; do echo
---------- groff version $ver; for req in pso close pi sy; do printf '.%s
\\*[undefined]\n' $req | ~/groff-$ver/bin/groff -U; done; done
---------- groff version HEAD
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:7681: void pipe_source_request(): Assertion
`pcmd != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-HEAD/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:8586: void close_request(): Assertion
`stream != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-HEAD/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9619: void pipe_output(): Assertion `pc !=
0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-HEAD/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9661: void system_request(): Assertion
`command != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-HEAD/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
---------- groff version 1.24.2
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:7507: void pipe_source_request(): Assertion
`pcmd != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.2/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:8409: void close_request(): Assertion
`stream != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.2/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9429: void pipe_output(): Assertion `pc !=
0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.2/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9470: void system_request(): Assertion
`command != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.2/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
---------- groff version 1.24.1
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:7493: void pipe_source_request(): Assertion
`pcmd != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.1/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:8395: void close_request(): Assertion
`stream != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.1/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9415: void pipe_output(): Assertion `pc !=
0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.1/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9456: void system_request(): Assertion
`command != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.1/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
---------- groff version 1.24.0
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:7493: void pipe_source_request(): Assertion
`pcmd != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.0/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:8395: void close_request(): Assertion
`stream != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.0/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9405: void pipe_output(): Assertion `pc !=
0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.0/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
troff: ../src/roff/troff/input.cpp:9446: void system_request(): Assertion
`command != 0' failed.
/home/branden/groff-1.24.0/bin/groff: error: troff: Aborted (core dumped)
---------- groff version 1.23.0
troff: error: can't pipe to empty command
troff: error: empty command
---------- groff version 1.22.4
troff: can't pipe to empty command
troff: empty command
---------- groff version 1.22.3
troff: can't pipe to empty command
troff: empty command
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