Re: [PATCH] extend_brk and fixes to users of extend_brk (v1).

From: H. Peter Anvin
Date: Tue Jul 31 2012 - 11:49:26 EST


On 07/31/2012 03:42 AM, Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk wrote:

[PATCH 3/3] x86: Let extend_brk return a NULL pointer instead of

makes extend_brk not do BUG_ON and instead just return NULL. This allows
us to handle the bootup issues more gracefully.


NAK. The whole point of the brk allocator is that users specify the upper limit on what they may need and stick to it. Hence it is a fatal code bug if that is ever exceeded. We want to catch those errors, not "handle" them.

This means you're either abusing the brk allocator to do something it is not meant to do... which may mean you can a failure in *other* code, or you have a bug in your code that you haven't fixed.

-hpa

--
H. Peter Anvin, Intel Open Source Technology Center
I work for Intel. I don't speak on their behalf.

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