Re: [PATCH 1/1] linux/container_of.h: Warn about loss of constness

From: 'Andy Shevchenko'
Date: Mon Oct 24 2022 - 05:37:21 EST


On Mon, Oct 24, 2022 at 09:34:42AM +0000, David Laight wrote:
> From: Andy Shevchenko
> > Sent: 24 October 2022 10:23

...

> > > > Wait, no one uses this macro, so why not just remove it entirely?
> > >
> > > Good question. It appears to be a (relatively) common pattern to look up
> > > something and the return its containing object if the lookup was
> > > successful. Doing a quick
> > >
> > > $ git grep 'container_of.*:' drivers include
> > >
> > > reveals more than 20 instances of the pattern. There are probably more
> > > those that use if for testing for NULL. I guess people don't know about
> > > this macro, apart from the developers of the staging driver it was added
> > > for (commit 05e6557b8ed833546ee2b66ce6b58fecf09f439e).
> >
> > Maybe we can provide an example to keep this macro in the kernel, meaning
> > convert one of the drivers / subsystem to actually use it?
>
> Adding _safe() to a function name doesn't actually tell you anything.
> You still need to look up what it is 'safe' against.
>
> In this case the full code pattern is actually much clearer.
>
> It is also quite likely that it is followed by an:
> if (!ptr)
> return xxx;
> You that can/should really be put before the container_of() call.

return statements in macros are no go. Or you meant something else?

--
With Best Regards,
Andy Shevchenko