Re: [PATCH v13 1/1] rust: interop: Add list module for C linked list interface

From: Alice Ryhl

Date: Wed Mar 18 2026 - 05:12:23 EST


On Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 04:17:10PM -0400, Joel Fernandes wrote:
> Add a new module `kernel::interop::list` for working with C's doubly
> circular linked lists. Provide low-level iteration over list nodes.
>
> Typed iteration over actual items is provided with a `clist_create`
> macro to assist in creation of the `CList` type.
>
> Cc: Nikola Djukic <ndjukic@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Daniel Almeida <daniel.almeida@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Alexandre Courbot <acourbot@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Acked-by: Alexandre Courbot <acourbot@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Acked-by: Gary Guo <gary@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Acked-by: Miguel Ojeda <ojeda@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Joel Fernandes <joelagnelf@xxxxxxxxxx>

I have a few nits below. But overall I think this looks ok:

Reviewed-by: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@xxxxxxxxxx>

Please do consider my mod.rs suggestion too, though.

> +//! ```
> +//! use kernel::{
> +//! bindings,
> +//! clist_create,

IMO the automatic re-exports of macros at the root shouldn't be used.
Import it from kernel::interop::list::clist_create instead.

Note that you need to put a re-export below macro definition to do this.

macro_rules! clist_create {
(unsafe { $head:ident, $rust_type:ty, $c_type:ty, $($field:tt).+ }) => {{
// Compile-time check that field path is a `list_head`.
// SAFETY: `p` is a valid pointer to `$c_type`.
let _: fn(*const $c_type) -> *const $crate::bindings::list_head =
|p| unsafe { &raw const (*p).$($field).+ };

// Calculate offset and create `CList`.
const OFFSET: usize = ::core::mem::offset_of!($c_type, $($field).+);
// SAFETY: The caller of this macro is responsible for ensuring safety.
unsafe { $crate::interop::list::CList::<$rust_type, OFFSET>::from_raw($head) }
}};
}
pub use clist_create; // <-- you need this

See tracepoint.rs or any of the other macros for an example.

> +//! // Create typed [`CList`] from sentinel head.
> +//! // SAFETY: `head` is valid and initialized, items are `SampleItemC` with
> +//! // embedded `link` field, and `Item` is `#[repr(transparent)]` over `SampleItemC`.
> +//! let list = clist_create!(unsafe { head, Item, SampleItemC, link });

Did you try using this in your real use-case? You require `head` to be
an :ident, but I think for any 'struct list_head' not stored on the
stack, accepting an :expr would be easier to use so that you can just
pass `&raw mut my_c_struct.the_list_head` directly to the macro. Right
now you have to put the raw pointer in a local variable first.

Alice