Re: [PATCH v2 3/3] Documentation: deprecated.rst: kmalloc-family: mark argument as optional

From: Geert Uytterhoeven

Date: Wed Apr 22 2026 - 08:20:06 EST


Hi Manuel,

On Wed, 22 Apr 2026 at 14:10, Manuel Ebner <manuelebner@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Wed, 2026-04-22 at 09:14 +0200, Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> > On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 at 20:09, Manuel Ebner <manuelebner@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > put the optional argument (gfp) in square brackets
> > >
> > > eg. ptr = kmalloc_obj(*ptr, gfp);
> > > -> ptr = kmalloc_obj(*ptr, [gfp]);
> >
> > Shouldn't that be "[, gfp]", e.g.
> >
> > kmalloc_obj(*ptr [, gfp]);
>
> I think technically it should be
>
> kmalloc_obj(*ptr[, gfp]);
>
> but that's difficult to grasp, so i went for my notation. Yours
> is a good tradeoff. I'll think about it and choose the right one.

A third option is

kmalloc_obj(*ptr [, gfp] );

or even:

kmalloc_obj(*ptr [ , gfp ] );

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
-- Linus Torvalds