Merge pull request #2156 from miDeb/sort-no-json-extsort

sort: don't rely on serde-json for extsort

Cargo.lock

@@ -1372,9 +1372,6 @@ name = "serde"
 version = "1.0.125"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "558dc50e1a5a5fa7112ca2ce4effcb321b0300c0d4ccf0776a9f60cd89031171"
-dependencies = [
- "serde_derive",
-]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "serde_cbor"
@@ -1453,9 +1450,6 @@ name = "smallvec"
 version = "1.6.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "fe0f37c9e8f3c5a4a66ad655a93c74daac4ad00c441533bf5c6e7990bb42604e"
-dependencies = [
- "serde",
-]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "strsim"
@@ -2396,8 +2390,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "rand 0.7.3",
  "rayon",
  "semver",
- "serde",
- "serde_json",
  "smallvec 1.6.1",
  "tempdir",
  "unicode-width",

src/uu/sort/BENCHMARKING.md

@@ -69,6 +69,14 @@ Run `cargo build --release` before benchmarking after you make a change!
 
 -   Benchmark numeric sorting with hyperfine: `hyperfine "target/release/coreutils sort shuffled_numbers_si.txt -h -o output.txt"`.
 
+## External sorting
+
+Try running commands with the `-S` option set to an amount of memory to be used, such as `1M`. Additionally, you could try sorting
+huge files (ideally multiple Gigabytes) with `-S`. Creating such a large file can be achieved by running `cat shuffled_wordlist.txt | sort -R >> shuffled_wordlist.txt`
+multiple times (this will add the contents of `shuffled_wordlist.txt` to itself).
+Example: Run `hyperfine './target/release/coreutils sort shuffled_wordlist.txt -S 1M' 'sort shuffled_wordlist.txt -S 1M'`
+`
+
 ## Stdout and stdin performance
 
 Try to run the above benchmarks by piping the input through stdin (standard input) and redirect the

src/uu/sort/Cargo.toml

@@ -15,15 +15,13 @@ edition = "2018"
 path = "src/sort.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
-serde_json = { version = "1.0.64", default-features = false, features = ["alloc"] }
-serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }
 rayon = "1.5"
 rand = "0.7"
 clap = "2.33"
 fnv = "1.0.7"
 itertools = "0.10.0"
 semver = "0.9.0"
-smallvec = { version="1.6.1", features=["serde"] } 
+smallvec = "1.6.1"
 unicode-width = "0.1.8"
 uucore = { version=">=0.0.8", package="uucore", path="../../uucore", features=["fs"] }
 uucore_procs = { version=">=0.0.5", package="uucore_procs", path="../../uucore_procs" }

src/uu/sort/src/external_sort/mod.rs

@@ -1,50 +1,32 @@
-use std::clone::Clone;
+use std::cmp::Ordering;
-use std::cmp::Ordering::Less;
 use std::collections::VecDeque;
-use std::error::Error;
 use std::fs::{File, OpenOptions};
-use std::io::SeekFrom::Start;
+use std::io::SeekFrom;
 use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader, BufWriter, Seek, Write};
-use std::marker::PhantomData;
+use std::path::Path;
-use std::path::PathBuf;
 
-use serde::de::DeserializeOwned;
-use serde::Serialize;
-use serde_json;
 use tempdir::TempDir;
 
 use super::{GlobalSettings, Line};
 
-/// Trait for types that can be used by
-/// [ExternalSorter](struct.ExternalSorter.html). Must be sortable, cloneable,
-/// serializeable, and able to report on it's size
-pub trait ExternallySortable: Clone + Serialize + DeserializeOwned {
-    /// Get the size, in bytes, of this object (used to constrain the buffer
-    /// used in the external sort).
-    fn get_size(&self) -> u64;
-}
-
 /// Iterator that provides sorted `T`s
-pub struct ExtSortedIterator<Line> {
+pub struct ExtSortedIterator {
     buffers: Vec<VecDeque<Line>>,
     chunk_offsets: Vec<u64>,
-    max_per_chunk: u64,
+    max_per_chunk: usize,
-    chunks: u64,
+    chunks: usize,
     tmp_dir: TempDir,
     settings: GlobalSettings,
     failed: bool,
 }
 
-impl Iterator for ExtSortedIterator<Line>
+impl Iterator for ExtSortedIterator {
-where
+    type Item = Line;
-    Line: ExternallySortable,
-{
-    type Item = Result<Line, Box<dyn Error>>;
 
     /// # Errors
     ///
     /// This method can fail due to issues reading intermediate sorted chunks
-    /// from disk, or due to serde deserialization issues
+    /// from disk
     fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
         if self.failed {
             return None;
@@ -53,29 +35,18 @@ where
         let mut empty = true;
         for chunk_num in 0..self.chunks {
             if self.buffers[chunk_num as usize].is_empty() {
-                let mut f = match File::open(self.tmp_dir.path().join(chunk_num.to_string())) {
+                let mut f = crash_if_err!(
-                    Ok(f) => f,
+                    1,
-                    Err(e) => {
+                    File::open(self.tmp_dir.path().join(chunk_num.to_string()))
-                        self.failed = true;
+                );
-                        return Some(Err(Box::new(e)));
+                crash_if_err!(1, f.seek(SeekFrom::Start(self.chunk_offsets[chunk_num])));
-                    }
+                let bytes_read = fill_buff(
-                };
+                    &mut self.buffers[chunk_num as usize],
-                match f.seek(Start(self.chunk_offsets[chunk_num as usize])) {
+                    f,
-                    Ok(_) => (),
+                    self.max_per_chunk,
-                    Err(e) => {
+                    &self.settings,
-                        self.failed = true;
+                );
-                        return Some(Err(Box::new(e)));
+                self.chunk_offsets[chunk_num as usize] += bytes_read as u64;
-                    }
-                }
-                let bytes_read =
-                    match fill_buff(&mut self.buffers[chunk_num as usize], f, self.max_per_chunk) {
-                        Ok(bytes_read) => bytes_read,
-                        Err(e) => {
-                            self.failed = true;
-                            return Some(Err(e));
-                        }
-                    };
-                self.chunk_offsets[chunk_num as usize] += bytes_read;
                 if !self.buffers[chunk_num as usize].is_empty() {
                     empty = false;
                 }
@@ -91,52 +62,21 @@ where
         // check is_empty() before unwrap()ing
         let mut idx = 0;
         for chunk_num in 0..self.chunks as usize {
-            if !self.buffers[chunk_num].is_empty() {
+            if !self.buffers[chunk_num].is_empty()
-                if self.buffers[idx].is_empty()
+                && (self.buffers[idx].is_empty()
-                    || (super::compare_by)(
+                    || super::compare_by(
                         self.buffers[chunk_num].front().unwrap(),
                         self.buffers[idx].front().unwrap(),
                         &self.settings,
-                    ) == Less
+                    ) == Ordering::Less)
             {
                 idx = chunk_num;
             }
         }
-        }
 
         // unwrap due to checks above
         let r = self.buffers[idx].pop_front().unwrap();
-        Some(Ok(r))
+        Some(r)
-    }
-}
-
-/// Perform an external sort on an unsorted stream of incoming data
-pub struct ExternalSorter<Line>
-where
-    Line: ExternallySortable,
-{
-    tmp_dir: Option<PathBuf>,
-    buffer_bytes: u64,
-    phantom: PhantomData<Line>,
-    settings: GlobalSettings,
-}
-
-impl ExternalSorter<Line>
-where
-    Line: ExternallySortable,
-{
-    /// Create a new `ExternalSorter` with a specified memory buffer and
-    /// temporary directory
-    pub fn new(
-        buffer_bytes: u64,
-        tmp_dir: Option<PathBuf>,
-        settings: GlobalSettings,
-    ) -> ExternalSorter<Line> {
-        ExternalSorter {
-            buffer_bytes,
-            tmp_dir,
-            phantom: PhantomData,
-            settings,
     }
 }
 
@@ -146,81 +86,53 @@ where
 /// # Errors
 ///
 /// This method can fail due to issues writing intermediate sorted chunks
-    /// to disk, or due to serde serialization issues
+/// to disk.
-    pub fn sort_by<I>(
+pub fn ext_sort(
-        &self,
+    unsorted: impl Iterator<Item = Line>,
-        unsorted: I,
+    settings: &GlobalSettings,
-        settings: GlobalSettings,
+) -> ExtSortedIterator {
-    ) -> Result<ExtSortedIterator<Line>, Box<dyn Error>>
+    let tmp_dir = crash_if_err!(1, TempDir::new_in(&settings.tmp_dir, "uutils_sort"));
-    where
+
-        I: Iterator<Item = Line>,
-    {
-        let tmp_dir = match self.tmp_dir {
-            Some(ref p) => TempDir::new_in(p, "uutils_sort")?,
-            None => TempDir::new("uutils_sort")?,
-        };
-        // creating the thing we need to return first due to the face that we need to
-        // borrow tmp_dir and move it out
     let mut iter = ExtSortedIterator {
         buffers: Vec::new(),
         chunk_offsets: Vec::new(),
         max_per_chunk: 0,
         chunks: 0,
         tmp_dir,
-            settings,
+        settings: settings.clone(),
         failed: false,
     };
 
-        {
     let mut total_read = 0;
     let mut chunk = Vec::new();
-            // Initial buffer is specified by user
-            let mut adjusted_buffer_size = self.buffer_bytes;
-            let (iter_size, _) = unsorted.size_hint();
 
     // make the initial chunks on disk
     for seq in unsorted {
-                let seq_size = seq.get_size();
+        let seq_size = seq.estimate_size();
         total_read += seq_size;
 
-                // GNU minimum is 16 * (sizeof struct + 2), but GNU uses about
-                // 1/10 the memory that we do.  And GNU even says in the code it may
-                // not work on small buffer sizes.
-                //
-                // The following seems to work pretty well, and has about the same max
-                // RSS as lower minimum values.
-                //
-                let minimum_buffer_size: u64 = iter_size as u64 * seq_size / 8;
-
-                adjusted_buffer_size =
-                    // Grow buffer size for a struct/Line larger than buffer
-                    if adjusted_buffer_size < seq_size {
-                        seq_size
-                    } else if adjusted_buffer_size < minimum_buffer_size {
-                        minimum_buffer_size
-                    } else {
-                        adjusted_buffer_size
-                    };
         chunk.push(seq);
 
-                if total_read >= adjusted_buffer_size {
+        if total_read >= settings.buffer_size {
-                    super::sort_by(&mut chunk, &self.settings);
+            super::sort_by(&mut chunk, &settings);
-                    self.write_chunk(
+            write_chunk(
+                settings,
                 &iter.tmp_dir.path().join(iter.chunks.to_string()),
                 &mut chunk,
-                    )?;
+            );
             chunk.clear();
             total_read = 0;
             iter.chunks += 1;
         }
     }
     // write the last chunk
-            if chunk.len() > 0 {
+    if !chunk.is_empty() {
-                super::sort_by(&mut chunk, &self.settings);
+        super::sort_by(&mut chunk, &settings);
-                self.write_chunk(
+        write_chunk(
+            settings,
             &iter.tmp_dir.path().join(iter.chunks.to_string()),
             &mut chunk,
-                )?;
+        );
         iter.chunks += 1;
     }
 
@@ -230,66 +142,70 @@ where
     //
     // We will have to have the entire iter in memory sometime right?
     // Set minimum to the size of the writer buffer, ~8K
-            //
+
-            const MINIMUM_READBACK_BUFFER: u64 = 8200;
+    const MINIMUM_READBACK_BUFFER: usize = 8200;
-            let right_sized_buffer = adjusted_buffer_size
+    let right_sized_buffer = settings
+        .buffer_size
         .checked_div(iter.chunks)
-                .unwrap_or(adjusted_buffer_size);
+        .unwrap_or(settings.buffer_size);
     iter.max_per_chunk = if right_sized_buffer > MINIMUM_READBACK_BUFFER {
         right_sized_buffer
     } else {
         MINIMUM_READBACK_BUFFER
     };
-            iter.buffers = vec![VecDeque::new(); iter.chunks as usize];
+    iter.buffers = vec![VecDeque::new(); iter.chunks];
-            iter.chunk_offsets = vec![0 as u64; iter.chunks as usize];
+    iter.chunk_offsets = vec![0; iter.chunks];
     for chunk_num in 0..iter.chunks {
         let offset = fill_buff(
-                    &mut iter.buffers[chunk_num as usize],
+            &mut iter.buffers[chunk_num],
-                    File::open(iter.tmp_dir.path().join(chunk_num.to_string()))?,
+            crash_if_err!(
+                1,
+                File::open(iter.tmp_dir.path().join(chunk_num.to_string()))
+            ),
             iter.max_per_chunk,
-                )?;
+            &settings,
-                iter.chunk_offsets[chunk_num as usize] = offset;
+        );
-            }
+        iter.chunk_offsets[chunk_num] = offset as u64;
     }
 
-        Ok(iter)
+    iter
 }
 
-    fn write_chunk(&self, file: &PathBuf, chunk: &mut Vec<Line>) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
+fn write_chunk(settings: &GlobalSettings, file: &Path, chunk: &mut Vec<Line>) {
-        let new_file = OpenOptions::new().create(true).append(true).open(file)?;
+    let new_file = crash_if_err!(1, OpenOptions::new().create(true).append(true).open(file));
-        let mut buf_write = Box::new(BufWriter::new(new_file)) as Box<dyn Write>;
+    let mut buf_write = BufWriter::new(new_file);
     for s in chunk {
-            let mut serialized = serde_json::to_string(&s).expect("JSON write error: ");
+        crash_if_err!(1, buf_write.write_all(s.line.as_bytes()));
-            serialized.push_str("\n");
+        crash_if_err!(
-            buf_write.write(serialized.as_bytes())?;
+            1,
-        }
+            buf_write.write_all(if settings.zero_terminated { "\0" } else { "\n" }.as_bytes(),)
-        buf_write.flush()?;
+        );
-
-        Ok(())
     }
+    crash_if_err!(1, buf_write.flush());
 }
 
-fn fill_buff<Line>(
+fn fill_buff(
     vec: &mut VecDeque<Line>,
     file: File,
-    max_bytes: u64,
+    max_bytes: usize,
-) -> Result<u64, Box<dyn Error>>
+    settings: &GlobalSettings,
-where
+) -> usize {
-    Line: ExternallySortable,
-{
     let mut total_read = 0;
     let mut bytes_read = 0;
-    for line in BufReader::new(file).lines() {
+    for line in BufReader::new(file).split(if settings.zero_terminated {
-        let line_s = line?;
+        b'\0'
+    } else {
+        b'\n'
+    }) {
+        let line_s = String::from_utf8(crash_if_err!(1, line)).unwrap();
         bytes_read += line_s.len() + 1;
-        // This is where the bad stuff happens usually
+        let deserialized = Line::new(line_s, settings);
-        let deserialized: Line = serde_json::from_str(&line_s).expect("JSON read error: ");
+        total_read += deserialized.estimate_size();
-        total_read += deserialized.get_size();
         vec.push_back(deserialized);
         if total_read > max_bytes {
             break;
         }
     }
 
-    Ok(bytes_read as u64)
+    bytes_read
 }

src/uu/sort/src/numeric_str_cmp.rs

@@ -14,21 +14,20 @@
 //! More specifically, exponent can be understood so that the original number is in (1..10)*10^exponent.
 //! From that follows the constraints of this algorithm: It is able to compare numbers in ±(1*10^[i64::MIN]..10*10^[i64::MAX]).
 
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use std::{cmp::Ordering, ops::Range};
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord, Clone)]
 enum Sign {
     Negative,
     Positive,
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone)]
 pub struct NumInfo {
     exponent: i64,
     sign: Sign,
 }
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone)]
 pub struct NumInfoParseSettings {
     pub accept_si_units: bool,
     pub thousands_separator: Option<char>,

src/uu/sort/src/sort.rs

@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@ mod external_sort;
 mod numeric_str_cmp;
 
 use clap::{App, Arg};
+use external_sort::ext_sort;
 use custom_str_cmp::custom_str_cmp;
-use external_sort::{ExternalSorter, ExternallySortable};
 use fnv::FnvHasher;
 use itertools::Itertools;
 use numeric_str_cmp::{numeric_str_cmp, NumInfo, NumInfoParseSettings};
@@ -29,14 +29,13 @@ use rand::distributions::Alphanumeric;
 use rand::{thread_rng, Rng};
 use rayon::prelude::*;
 use semver::Version;
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use smallvec::SmallVec;
 use std::cmp::Ordering;
 use std::collections::BinaryHeap;
 use std::env;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::hash::{Hash, Hasher};
-use std::io::{stdin, stdout, BufRead, BufReader, BufWriter, Lines, Read, Write};
+use std::io::{stdin, stdout, BufRead, BufReader, BufWriter, Read, Write};
 use std::mem::replace;
 use std::ops::Range;
 use std::path::Path;
@@ -106,7 +105,7 @@ enum SortMode {
     Default,
 }
 #[derive(Clone)]
-struct GlobalSettings {
+pub struct GlobalSettings {
     mode: SortMode,
     debug: bool,
     ignore_blanks: bool,
@@ -206,7 +205,7 @@ impl From<&GlobalSettings> for KeySettings {
     }
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
+#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 /// Represents the string selected by a FieldSelector.
 struct SelectionRange {
     range: Range<usize>,
@@ -228,7 +227,7 @@ impl SelectionRange {
     }
 }
 
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
+#[derive(Clone)]
 enum NumCache {
     AsF64(GeneralF64ParseResult),
     WithInfo(NumInfo),
@@ -249,7 +248,8 @@ impl NumCache {
         }
     }
 }
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
+
+#[derive(Clone)]
 struct Selection {
     range: SelectionRange,
     num_cache: NumCache,
@@ -264,22 +264,21 @@ impl Selection {
 
 type Field = Range<usize>;
 
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
+#[derive(Clone)]
-struct Line {
+pub struct Line {
     line: String,
     // The common case is not to specify fields. Let's make this fast.
     selections: SmallVec<[Selection; 1]>,
 }
 
-impl ExternallySortable for Line {
+impl Line {
-    fn get_size(&self) -> u64 {
+    pub fn estimate_size(&self) -> usize {
-        // Currently 96 bytes, but that could change, so we get that size here
+        self.line.capacity()
-        std::mem::size_of::<Line>() as u64
+            + self.selections.capacity() * std::mem::size_of::<Selection>()
-    }
+            + std::mem::size_of::<Self>()
     }
 
-impl Line {
+    pub fn new(line: String, settings: &GlobalSettings) -> Self {
-    fn new(line: String, settings: &GlobalSettings) -> Self {
         let fields = if settings
             .selectors
             .iter()
@@ -291,7 +290,7 @@ impl Line {
             None
         };
 
-        let selections = settings
+        let selections: SmallVec<[Selection; 1]> = settings
             .selectors
             .iter()
             .map(|selector| {
@@ -683,7 +682,7 @@ impl FieldSelector {
 }
 
 struct MergeableFile<'a> {
-    lines: Lines<BufReader<Box<dyn Read>>>,
+    lines: Box<dyn Iterator<Item = Line> + 'a>,
     current_line: Line,
     settings: &'a GlobalSettings,
 }
@@ -723,11 +722,11 @@ impl<'a> FileMerger<'a> {
             settings,
         }
     }
-    fn push_file(&mut self, mut lines: Lines<BufReader<Box<dyn Read>>>) {
+    fn push_file(&mut self, mut lines: Box<dyn Iterator<Item = Line> + 'a>) {
-        if let Some(Ok(next_line)) = lines.next() {
+        if let Some(next_line) = lines.next() {
             let mergeable_file = MergeableFile {
                 lines,
-                current_line: Line::new(next_line, &self.settings),
+                current_line: next_line,
                 settings: &self.settings,
             };
             self.heap.push(mergeable_file);
@@ -741,11 +740,8 @@ impl<'a> Iterator for FileMerger<'a> {
         match self.heap.pop() {
             Some(mut current) => {
                 match current.lines.next() {
-                    Some(Ok(next_line)) => {
+                    Some(next_line) => {
-                        let ret = replace(
+                        let ret = replace(&mut current.current_line, next_line);
-                            &mut current.current_line,
-                            Line::new(next_line, &self.settings),
-                        );
                         self.heap.push(current);
                         Some(ret)
                     }
@@ -1113,82 +1109,98 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> i32 {
     exec(files, settings)
 }
 
-fn exec(files: Vec<String>, settings: GlobalSettings) -> i32 {
+fn file_to_lines_iter<'a>(
-    let mut lines = Vec::new();
+    file: &str,
-    let mut file_merger = FileMerger::new(&settings);
+    settings: &'a GlobalSettings,
-
+) -> Option<impl Iterator<Item = Line> + 'a> {
-    for path in &files {
+    let (reader, _) = match open(file) {
-        let (reader, _) = match open(path) {
         Some(x) => x,
-            None => continue,
+        None => return None,
     };
 
     let buf_reader = BufReader::new(reader);
 
-        if settings.merge {
+    Some(
-            file_merger.push_file(buf_reader.lines());
+        buf_reader
-        } else if settings.zero_terminated {
+            .split(if settings.zero_terminated {
-            for line in buf_reader.split(b'\0').flatten() {
+                b'\0'
-                lines.push(Line::new(
+            } else {
-                    std::str::from_utf8(&line)
+                b'\n'
-                        .expect("Could not parse string from zero terminated input.")
+            })
-                        .to_string(),
+            .map(move |line| {
+                Line::new(
+                    crash_if_err!(1, String::from_utf8(crash_if_err!(1, line))),
+                    settings,
+                )
+            }),
+    )
+}
+
+fn output_sorted_lines(iter: impl Iterator<Item = Line>, settings: &GlobalSettings) {
+    if settings.unique {
+        print_sorted(
+            iter.dedup_by(|a, b| compare_by(a, b, &settings) == Ordering::Equal),
             &settings,
-                ));
+        );
-            }
     } else {
-            for line in buf_reader.lines() {
+        print_sorted(iter, &settings);
-                if let Ok(n) = line {
-                    lines.push(Line::new(n, &settings));
-                } else {
-                    break;
-                }
-            }
     }
 }
 
+fn exec(files: Vec<String>, settings: GlobalSettings) -> i32 {
+    if settings.merge {
+        let mut file_merger = FileMerger::new(&settings);
+        for lines in files
+            .iter()
+            .filter_map(|file| file_to_lines_iter(file, &settings))
+        {
+            file_merger.push_file(Box::new(lines));
+        }
+        output_sorted_lines(file_merger, &settings);
+    } else {
+        let lines = files
+            .iter()
+            .filter_map(|file| file_to_lines_iter(file, &settings))
+            .flatten();
+
         if settings.check {
-        return exec_check_file(&lines, &settings);
+            return exec_check_file(lines, &settings);
         }
 
         // Only use ext_sorter when we need to.
         // Probably faster that we don't create
         // an owned value each run
         if settings.ext_sort {
-        lines = ext_sort_by(lines, settings.clone());
+            let sorted_lines = ext_sort(lines, &settings);
+            output_sorted_lines(sorted_lines, &settings);
         } else {
-        sort_by(&mut lines, &settings);
+            let mut lines = vec![];
+
+            // This is duplicated from fn file_to_lines_iter, but using that function directly results in a performance regression.
+            for (file, _) in files.iter().map(|file| open(file)).flatten() {
+                let buf_reader = BufReader::new(file);
+                for line in buf_reader.split(if settings.zero_terminated {
+                    b'\0'
+                } else {
+                    b'\n'
+                }) {
+                    let string = crash_if_err!(1, String::from_utf8(crash_if_err!(1, line)));
+                    lines.push(Line::new(string, &settings));
+                }
             }
 
-    if settings.merge {
+            sort_by(&mut lines, &settings);
-        if settings.unique {
+            output_sorted_lines(lines.into_iter(), &settings);
-            print_sorted(
-                file_merger.dedup_by(|a, b| compare_by(a, b, &settings) == Ordering::Equal),
-                &settings,
-            )
-        } else {
-            print_sorted(file_merger, &settings)
         }
-    } else if settings.unique {
-        print_sorted(
-            lines
-                .into_iter()
-                .dedup_by(|a, b| compare_by(a, b, &settings) == Ordering::Equal),
-            &settings,
-        )
-    } else {
-        print_sorted(lines.into_iter(), &settings)
     }
 
     0
 }
 
-fn exec_check_file(unwrapped_lines: &[Line], settings: &GlobalSettings) -> i32 {
+fn exec_check_file(unwrapped_lines: impl Iterator<Item = Line>, settings: &GlobalSettings) -> i32 {
     // errors yields the line before each disorder,
     // plus the last line (quirk of .coalesce())
-    let mut errors =
+    let mut errors = unwrapped_lines
-        unwrapped_lines
-            .iter()
         .enumerate()
         .coalesce(|(last_i, last_line), (i, line)| {
             if compare_by(&last_line, &line, &settings) == Ordering::Greater {
@@ -1215,20 +1227,6 @@ fn exec_check_file(unwrapped_lines: &[Line], settings: &GlobalSettings) -> i32 {
     }
 }
 
-fn ext_sort_by(unsorted: Vec<Line>, settings: GlobalSettings) -> Vec<Line> {
-    let external_sorter = ExternalSorter::new(
-        settings.buffer_size as u64,
-        Some(settings.tmp_dir.clone()),
-        settings.clone(),
-    );
-    let iter = external_sorter
-        .sort_by(unsorted.into_iter(), settings)
-        .unwrap()
-        .map(|x| x.unwrap())
-        .collect::<Vec<Line>>();
-    iter
-}
-
 fn sort_by(unsorted: &mut Vec<Line>, settings: &GlobalSettings) {
     if settings.stable || settings.unique {
         unsorted.par_sort_by(|a, b| compare_by(a, b, &settings))
@@ -1332,7 +1330,7 @@ fn get_leading_gen(input: &str) -> Range<usize> {
     leading_whitespace_len..input.len()
 }
 
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Copy, Clone, PartialEq, PartialOrd)]
+#[derive(Copy, Clone, PartialEq, PartialOrd)]
 enum GeneralF64ParseResult {
     Invalid,
     NaN,

tests/by-util/test_sort.rs

@@ -37,7 +37,29 @@ fn test_larger_than_specified_segment() {
         .arg("50K")
         .arg("ext_sort.txt")
         .succeeds()
-        .stdout_is_fixture(format!("{}", "ext_sort.expected"));
+        .stdout_is_fixture("ext_sort.expected");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_smaller_than_specified_segment() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .arg("-n")
+        .arg("-S")
+        .arg("100M")
+        .arg("ext_sort.txt")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is_fixture("ext_sort.expected");
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_extsort_zero_terminated() {
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .arg("-z")
+        .arg("-S")
+        .arg("10K")
+        .arg("zero-terminated.txt")
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_is_fixture("zero-terminated.expected");
 }
 
 #[test]