Re: [PATCH v4] char/nvram: Remove redundant nvram_mutex

From: Arnd Bergmann

Date: Mon Apr 13 2026 - 11:58:08 EST


On Tue, Apr 7, 2026, at 11:02, Venkat wrote:
>> On 7 Apr 2026, at 12:11 PM, Tellakula Yeswanth Krishna <yeswanth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Tested-by: yeswanth <yeswanth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
>> On 02/04/26 9:33 pm, Tellakula Yeswanth Krishna wrote:
>>>
>>> On 30/03/26 4:05 pm, Venkat Rao Bagalkote wrote:
>>>> The global nvram_mutex in drivers/char/nvram.c is redundant and unused,
>>>> and this triggers compiler warnings on some configurations.
>>>>
>>>> All platform-specific nvram operations already provide their own internal
>>>> synchronization, meaning the wrapper-level mutex does not provide any
>>>> additional safety.
>>>>
>>>> Remove the nvram_mutex definition along with all remaining lock/unlock
>>>> users across PPC32, x86, and m68k code paths, and rely entirely on the
>>>> per-architecture nvram implementations for locking.
>>>>
>>>> Suggested-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Reviewed-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx>

> Thanks for the earlier review and suggestion on this change.
>
> I’m not entirely sure which tree would be the best home for this patch,
> given that the change touches common NVRAM code used across multiple
> architectures (PPC32, x86, and m68k).
>
> If there are no further comments or objections from others, would you
> be able to pick this up through your tree?
>
> Please let me know if this should instead go via some other tree or maintainer.

Greg manages the char-misc.git tree, while I mainly do reviews. Please
resend the patch once 7.1-rc1 is out, with Greg as the recipient,
and keeping the rest of the Cc list.

Arnd