Re: [PATCH][RFC] kernel.h: provide array iterator

From: Julia Lawall
Date: Fri Mar 16 2018 - 02:48:53 EST


Le 16.03.2018 05:21, Kees Cook a ÃcritÂ:
On Thu, Mar 15, 2018 at 3:00 AM, Kieran Bingham
<kieran.bingham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Simplify array iteration with a helper to iterate each entry in an array.
Utilise the existing ARRAY_SIZE macro to identify the length of the array
and pointer arithmetic to process each item as a for loop.

Signed-off-by: Kieran Bingham <kieran.bingham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/kernel.h | 10 ++++++++++
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

The use of static arrays to store data is a common use case throughout the
kernel. Along with that is the obvious need to iterate that data.

In fact there are just shy of 5000 instances of iterating a static array:
git grep "for .*ARRAY_SIZE" | wc -l
4943

I suspect the main question is "Does this macro make the code easier to read?"

I think it does, and we have other kinds of iterators like this in the
kernel already. Would it be worth building a Coccinelle script to do
the 5000 replacements?


Coccinelle should be able to replace the for loop header. Coccinelle
could create the local macro. Coccinelle might not put the definition in
exactly the right place. Before the function of the first use would be
possible, or before any function.

I don't think that Coccinelle could figure out how to split one loop into
two as done here, unless that specific pattern is very common. I guess
that the split is to add the flush_workqueue, and is not the main goal?

julia




-Kees


When working on the UVC driver - I found that I needed to split one such
iteration into two parts, and at the same time felt that this could be
refactored to be cleaner / easier to read.

I do however worry that this simple short patch might not be desired or could
also be heavily bikeshedded due to it's potential wide spread use (though
perhaps that would be a good thing to have more users) ... but here it is,
along with an example usage below which is part of a separate series.

The aim is to simplify iteration on static arrays, in the same way that we have
iterators for lists. The use of the ARRAY_SIZE macro, provides all the
protections given by "__must_be_array(arr)" to this macro too.

Regards

Kieran

=============================================================================
Example Usage from a pending UVC development:

+#define for_each_uvc_urb(uvc_urb, uvc_streaming) \
+ for_each_array_element(uvc_urb, uvc_streaming->uvc_urb)

/*
* Uninitialize isochronous/bulk URBs and free transfer buffers.
*/
static void uvc_uninit_video(struct uvc_streaming *stream, int free_buffers)
{
- struct urb *urb;
- unsigned int i;
+ struct uvc_urb *uvc_urb;

uvc_video_stats_stop(stream);

- for (i = 0; i < UVC_URBS; ++i) {
- struct uvc_urb *uvc_urb = &stream->uvc_urb[i];
+ for_each_uvc_urb(uvc_urb, stream)
+ usb_kill_urb(uvc_urb->urb);

- urb = uvc_urb->urb;
- if (urb == NULL)
- continue;
+ flush_workqueue(stream->async_wq);

- usb_kill_urb(urb);
- usb_free_urb(urb);
+ for_each_uvc_urb(uvc_urb, stream) {
+ usb_free_urb(uvc_urb->urb);
uvc_urb->urb = NULL;
}

if (free_buffers)
uvc_free_urb_buffers(stream);
}
=============================================================================




diff --git a/include/linux/kernel.h b/include/linux/kernel.h
index ce51455e2adf..95d7dae248b7 100644
--- a/include/linux/kernel.h
+++ b/include/linux/kernel.h
@@ -70,6 +70,16 @@
*/
#define ARRAY_SIZE(arr) (sizeof(arr) / sizeof((arr)[0]) + __must_be_array(arr))

+/**
+ * for_each_array_element - Iterate all items in an array
+ * @elem: pointer of array type for iteration cursor
+ * @array: array to be iterated
+ */
+#define for_each_array_element(elem, array) \
+ for (elem = &(array)[0]; \
+ elem < &(array)[ARRAY_SIZE(array)]; \
+ ++elem)
+
#define u64_to_user_ptr(x) ( \
{ \
typecheck(u64, x); \
--
2.7.4