Linux removes the strncpy API after six years and 362 patches

Category: Linux/Kernel
Status: confirmed
Sources: Phoronix, discussion
Summary: Work queued for the Linux 7.2 merge window eliminates the last in-kernel users of strncpy, completing a six-year hardening effort that took about 362 commits. strncpy was a persistent source of bugs because of counter-intuitive NUL-termination semantics and redundant zero-filling. Kernel code now uses strscpy for NUL-terminated destinations, strscpy_pad for NUL-terminated with zero padding, strtomem_pad for non-NUL-terminated fixed-width fields, memcpy_and_pad for bounded copies with explicit padding, or plain memcpy for known-length copies.
Comments: HN commenters note the replacement APIs encode intent that the original strncpy left ambiguous, and discuss whether the destination string functions should have been split this way from the start.
Why it matters: Removing a whole class of error-prone string handling from a codebase the size of the kernel reduces a long-standing buffer-handling bug surface across every subsystem.