Re: [PATCH v3 3/8] staging: r8188eu: clean up comments in struct rt_firmware_hdr

From: Larry Finger
Date: Fri Apr 15 2022 - 14:53:48 EST


On 4/15/22 13:05, Michael Straube wrote:
On 4/15/22 17:44, Larry Finger wrote:
On 4/15/22 07:10, Michael Straube wrote:
The comments in struct rt_firmware_hdr are not needed.
Remove them.

Signed-off-by: Michael Straube <straube.linux@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v3:
- no changes

v2:
- no changes

  drivers/staging/r8188eu/core/rtw_fw.c | 37 ++++++++-------------------
  1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 26 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/staging/r8188eu/core/rtw_fw.c b/drivers/staging/r8188eu/core/rtw_fw.c
index 7cd08268f3b9..323e0c634c4e 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/r8188eu/core/rtw_fw.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/r8188eu/core/rtw_fw.c
@@ -14,37 +14,22 @@
      (le16_to_cpu(_fwhdr->Signature) & 0xFFF0) == 0x2300 ||    \
      (le16_to_cpu(_fwhdr->Signature) & 0xFFF0) == 0x88E0)
-/*  This structure must be careful with byte-ordering */
-
  struct rt_firmware_hdr {
-    /*  8-byte alinment required */
-    /*  LONG WORD 0 ---- */
-    __le16        Signature;    /* 92C0: test chip; 92C,
-                     * 88C0: test chip; 88C1: MP A-cut;
-                     * 92C1: MP A-cut */
-    u8        Category;    /*  AP/NIC and USB/PCI */
-    u8        Function;    /*  Reserved for different FW function
-                     *  indcation, for further use when
-                     *  driver needs to download different
-                     *  FW for different conditions */
-    __le16        Version;    /*  FW Version */
-    u8        Subversion;    /*  FW Subversion, default 0x00 */
+    __le16        Signature;
+    u8        Category;
+    u8        Function;
+    __le16        Version;
+    u8        Subversion;
      u8        Rsvd1;
-
-    /*  LONG WORD 1 ---- */
-    u8        Month;    /*  Release time Month field */
-    u8        Date;    /*  Release time Date field */
-    u8        Hour;    /*  Release time Hour field */
-    u8        Minute;    /*  Release time Minute field */
-    __le16        RamCodeSize;    /*  The size of RAM code */
+    u8        Month;
+    u8        Date;
+    u8        Hour;
+    u8        Minute;
+    __le16        RamCodeSize;
      u8        Foundry;
      u8        Rsvd2;
-
-    /*  LONG WORD 2 ---- */
-    __le32        SvnIdx;    /*  The SVN entry index */
+    __le32        SvnIdx;
      __le32        Rsvd3;
-
-    /*  LONG WORD 3 ---- */
      __le32        Rsvd4;
      __le32        Rsvd5;
  };

The comments "LONG WORD" are useless, but the comments describing the fields are still useful. I do not like this patch.


Hi Larry,

You are right the in-line comments are useful. I'll send v4 keeping
them.

You only mentioned the in-line comments, just to get it right this
time:

What about the "8-byte alignment required" comment? You said in another
thread that the __le16 references need alignment 4. Should I make the
struct __aligned(8) or at least __aligned(4)?

Routines cpu_to_le16() and le16_to_cpu() require two-byte alignment. Similarly, the 32-bit versions need 4-byte alignment. The layout of the struct will ensure that as long as the entire struct has 4-byte alignment.

This struct is only used in rtl8188e_firmware_download() where it is created on the stack. That means it will be 8-byte aligned for x86_64 and 4-byle aligned on 32-bit systems. I'm sure that Dan or GregKH will correct me if I got this wrong, but that should be sufficient. Making it __aligned(8) could waste 4 bytes on the stack for 32-bit systems. Using __aligned(4) would have no effect on any system.

I say remove the comment.


And about "/*  This structure must be careful with byte-ordering */" ?
I think it's obvious because of the __le16 and __le32 fields and can be
removed. Do you agree on that?

Using the __leNN implies little-endian, thus that comment is useless. Yes, I agree.


Larry