Re: [PATCH] Use NULL instead of integer 0 in security/selinux/

[Linus Torvalds]

On Thu, 8 Jul 2004, Miles Bader wrote:

> "David S. Miller" <davem@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> >> What's wrong with using 0 as the NULL pointer? In contexts where
> >> a plain 0 is unsafe, NULL is usually unsafe as well.
> >
> > It's a general sparse cleanup people are doing across the entire tree.
> > It's the "proper" way to do pointer comparisons post-K&R.
> 
> But 0 in such a context isn't an integer, it's a pointer...

No it's not.

I'm sorry that you are such a K&R-C bigot that you don't like type 
checking. But the kernel DOES like type checking, and the kernel is not 
K&R C. The kernel uses strict ANSI, and in fact, is _more_ strict than 
ANSI C is in many many ways.

One of the "strict typechecking" rules is that you don't mix integers and 
pointers by mistake. The fact that C allows dual usage of the integer "0"
is an anachronism that should have been fixed long ago.

Final word: K&R C without prototypes etc is still "legal C". That doesn't
make it legal kernel code.

		Linus
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