[PATCH] serial: 8250: Fix section mismatch with CONFIG_MODULES=n

From: Danish Khateeb

Date: Sat Sep 26 2026 - 12:35:20 EST


Without CONFIG_MODULES, __init_or_module means __init, so
serial8250_pnp_exit() and serial8250_hub6_exit() end up in .init.text.
They are also called from serial8250_exit(), which is __exit, and
modpost warns:

WARNING: modpost: vmlinux: section mismatch in reference: serial8250_exit+0x2a (section: .exit.text) -> serial8250_pnp_exit (section: .init.text)

The exit code never runs in such a kernel, so nothing breaks at runtime.
But a function that is called from both __init and __exit code can't
carry either annotation, so drop it.

Fixes: a300273c458c ("serial: 8250: hub6: Add cleanup code")
Fixes: 4cf187f9dea9 ("serial: 8250: pnp: Annotate init and exit functions for conditional discarding")
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Danish Khateeb <danishkhateeb03@xxxxxxxxx>
---

Notes:
Tested on tty-next bf961847813d:
- x86_64 defconfig with MODULES=n warns for serial8250_pnp_exit(), and
i386 defconfig with MODULES=n, ISA and SERIAL_8250_HUB6 also warns for
serial8250_hub6_exit(). Neither warns before a300273c458c. With this
patch both build without warnings, and so does x86_64 defconfig.
- Both MODULES=n kernels still register ttyS0 through 8250_pnp in QEMU.

drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_hub6.c | 2 +-
drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_pnp.c | 2 +-
2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_hub6.c b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_hub6.c
index 4d4c54c951cb..848d9723ac56 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_hub6.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_hub6.c
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ int __init serial8250_hub6_init(void)
return platform_device_register(&hub6_device);
}

-void __init_or_module serial8250_hub6_exit(void)
+void serial8250_hub6_exit(void)
{
platform_device_unregister(&hub6_device);
}
diff --git a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_pnp.c b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_pnp.c
index 7decf62400ab..a6257cd6e246 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_pnp.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_pnp.c
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ int __init serial8250_pnp_init(void)
return pnp_register_driver(&serial_pnp_driver);
}

-void __init_or_module serial8250_pnp_exit(void)
+void serial8250_pnp_exit(void)
{
pnp_unregister_driver(&serial_pnp_driver);
}

base-commit: bf961847813d9edcb5a9c089714069428d141fa9
--
2.55.0