windows fill_utf16_buf: explain the expected return value

Author: RalfJung

library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/mod.rs

@@ -201,14 +201,21 @@ pub fn to_u16s<S: AsRef<OsStr>>(s: S) -> crate::io::Result<Vec<u16>> {
 // currently reside in the buffer. This function is an abstraction over these
 // functions by making them easier to call.
 //
-// The first callback, `f1`, is yielded a (pointer, len) pair which can be
+// The first callback, `f1`, is passed a (pointer, len) pair which can be
 // passed to a syscall. The `ptr` is valid for `len` items (u16 in this case).
-// The closure is expected to return what the syscall returns which will be
-// interpreted by this function to determine if the syscall needs to be invoked
-// again (with more buffer space).
+// The closure is expected to:
+// - On success, return the actual length of the written data *without* the null terminator.
+//   This can be 0. In this case the last_error must be left unchanged.
+// - On insufficient buffer space,
+//   - either return the required length *with* the null terminator,
+//   - or set the last-error to ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER and return `len`.
+// - On other failure, return 0 and set last_error.
+//
+// This is how most but not all syscalls indicate the required buffer space.
+// Other syscalls may need translation to match this protocol.
 //
 // Once the syscall has completed (errors bail out early) the second closure is
-// yielded the data which has been read from the syscall. The return value
+// passed the data which has been read from the syscall. The return value
 // from this closure is then the return value of the function.
 pub fn fill_utf16_buf<F1, F2, T>(mut f1: F1, f2: F2) -> crate::io::Result<T>
 where

library/std/src/sys/pal/windows/os.rs

@@ -326,6 +326,8 @@ fn home_dir_crt() -> Option<PathBuf> {
 
         super::fill_utf16_buf(
             |buf, mut sz| {
+                // GetUserProfileDirectoryW does not quite use the usual protocol for
+                // negotiating the buffer size, so we have to translate.
                 match c::GetUserProfileDirectoryW(
                     ptr::without_provenance_mut(CURRENT_PROCESS_TOKEN),
                     buf,