strtol() incorrectly returns 0

Question

I am working on a project, and for some reason I am not able to get strtol() to convert a char * to an integer. I have this code:

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    //socket initialization code...

    struct sockaddr_in addr;
    char *buffer;
    receivePacket(&sock, &buffer, &addr); //function i have written to receive a packet
    char *temp;
    int times = (int) strtol(buffer, &temp, 10);
}

When I run this, times always ends up being 0, and temp returns garbage:

(gdb) print buffer
$1 = 0xbefff648 "1"
(gdb) print times
$2 = 0
(gdb) print temp
$3 = 0xbefff648 "H\366\377\276(\207"

I don't understand why strtol cannot comprehend what I am giving it.

In receivePacket:

void receivePacket(int *sock, char **buffer, long *tx, struct sockaddr_in *cliaddr) {
    //socket related code, initializations, etc.
    char temp[10] = { 0 };
    n = recvfrom(*sock, temp, 10, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &cliAddr, &clilen);
    *buffer = temp;
}

Is this where the problem resides? Thanks.

Answer 1

void receivePacket(int *sock, char **buffer, long *tx, struct sockaddr_in *cliaddr) {
    //socket related code, initializations, etc.
    char temp[10] = { 0 };
    n = recvfrom(*sock, temp, 10, 0, (struct sockaddr *) &cliAddr, &clilen);
    *buffer = temp;
}

temp is a local variable. It ceases to exist when the function returns, leaving *buffer pointing to some invalid place.