Re: [PATCH-next] modpost: Remove logically dead condition

[Nicolas Schier]

On Wed, Nov 27, 2024 at 09:59:04PM +0530 Advait Dhamorikar wrote:
> In case of failure vsnprintf returns `pos`, an unsigned long integer.
> An unsigned value can never be negative, so this test will always evaluate 
> the same way. 

'man vsnprintf' on my system reveals a different behaviour:

| The  functions  snprintf() and vsnprintf() do not
| write more than size bytes (including the  termi‐
| nating  null  byte  ('\0')).   If  the output was
| truncated due to  this  limit,  then  the  return
| value  is the number of characters (excluding the
| terminating null  byte)  which  would  have  been
| written  to  the final string if enough space had
| been available.  Thus, a return value of size  or
| more  means  that the output was truncated.  (See
| also below under NOTES.)
|
| If an output error  is  encountered,  a  negative
| value is returned.

vsnprintf prototypes also indicate 'int' as return type.  What is the source of your mentioned findings?

Kind regards,
Nicolas