Re: [PATCH RESEND v3] checkpatch: add uninitialized pointer with __free attribute check

[Geert Uytterhoeven]

Hi Ally,

On Tue, 4 Nov 2025 at 10:58, Ally Heev <allyheev@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> uninitialized pointers with __free attribute can cause undefined
> behaviour as the memory allocated to the pointer is freed
> automatically when the pointer goes out of scope.
> add check in checkpatch to detect such issues
>
> Suggested-by: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/8a4c0b43-cf63-400d-b33d-d9c447b7e0b9@suswa.mountain/
> Acked-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@xxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Ally Heev <allyheev@xxxxxxxxx>

Thanks for your patch!

> --- a/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
> @@ -1009,6 +1009,11 @@ Functions and Variables
>
>        return bar;
>
> +  **UNINITIALIZED_PTR_WITH_FREE**
> +    Pointers with __free attribute should be initialized. Not doing so
> +    may lead to undefined behavior as the memory allocated (garbage,
> +    in case not initialized) to the pointer is freed automatically
> +    when the pointer goes out of scope.

I think this is misleading, and can be improved: if the pointer is
uninitialized, no memory was allocated?

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

                        Geert

-- 
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
                                -- Linus Torvalds