Re: [PATCH net] net: macb: Move macb_{alloc,free}_tieoff() out of CONFIG_OF block

[Théo Lebrun]

On Wed Aug 19, 2026 at 8:54 PM CEST, Nathan Chancellor wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 19, 2026 at 08:06:48PM +0200, Théo Lebrun wrote:
>> On Wed Aug 19, 2026 at 3:14 AM CEST, Nathan Chancellor wrote:
>> > Commit 5262eab9462a ("net: macb: allocate tieoff descriptor once across
>> > device lifetime") moved macb_alloc_tieoff() and macb_free_tieoff() into
>> > a CONFIG_OF block, breaking the build when it is disabled:
>> 
>> That commit message is somewhat off: the commit created the two
>> functions, it didn't move them around. But indeed I was wrong in the
>
> Oh correct, I misread macb_init_tieoff() as macb_alloc_tieoff() so
> considered it a "move" but "placed" would definitely be more accurate.
>
>> location where I created them (argh I hate #if/ifdef blocks, especially
>> long ones).
>
> Yeah, I had to grep for the pairs because this one was so big.
>
>> Can reproduce using my host toolchain easily:
>> 
>>    ⟩ unset ARCH CROSS_COMPILE
>>    ⟩ make mrproper
>>    ⟩ make defconfig
>>    ⟩ ./scripts/config -e COMMON_CLK -e MACB
>>    ⟩ make olddefconfig
>>    ⟩ make drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/
>>    ⟩ echo $?
>>    2
>
> Yup, same exact reproducer I used.
>
>> Here is an alternative fix proposal: let's drop the #ifdef. It will
>> avoid any future error. Almost all drivers have no #ifdef as such:
>> 
>> ⟩ git grep -l MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE drivers/ | wc -l
>> 7458
>> ⟩ git grep -l MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE drivers/ | xargs git grep -l CONFIG_OF | wc -l
>> 391
>> 
>> Yes, I know this means the match table land in the module in !OF case.
>> Almost everyone on the ML I've seen seem to consider that it's trivial.
>> Apparently it's even useful because some ACPI can match on compatible,
>> somehow.
>> 
>> Opinions?
>
> I am always in favor of dropping #ifdefs to make it easier to avoid
> compile issues like this. If that is the route we want to go, please
> feel free to send a patch for it (or I can if you prefer).

Done. Just sent now and noticed I forgot CCing you, sorry!
https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260820-macb-fix-x86-v1-1-b2e7c902104e@xxxxxxxxxxx/

Thanks,

--
Théo Lebrun, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com