Re: [PATCH net] net: ibm: emac: mal: fix potential system hang in mal_remove()

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 16:03:43 -0700 Rosen Penev wrote:
> > > -     if (!list_empty(&mal->list))
> > > +     if (!list_empty(&mal->list)) {
> > > +             napi_disable(&mal->napi);
> > >               /* This is *very* bad */
> > >               WARN(1, KERN_EMERG
> > >                      "mal%d: commac list is not empty on remove!\n",
> > >                      mal->index);  
> >
> > This one doesn't make sense to me. The list_empty check does a WARN()
> > indicating that this is not supposed to happen.
> >
> > This implies that list_empty should be true, otherwise we'd see a WARN
> > every time mal_remove is called.
> >
> > But in that case, we'd have been calling napi_disable incorrectly in
> > most cases where it was previously unsafe according to your claim.
> >
> > At best, this list_empty check is the wrong way to tell if the napi is
> > disabled, at worst, this whole change is pointless.  
> I asked the AI. It doesn't agree:

FTR I agree with Jake, the patch seems to indicate bigger structural
issues. Then again I don't want to encourage the stream of patches
to this driver so let me just apply this..