linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] Driver core: fix race in dev_driver

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Date:	Fri, 4 Dec 2009 11:57:57 -0500 (EST)
From:	Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>
To:	Oliver Neukum <oliver@...kum.org>
cc:	Greg KH <gregkh@...e.de>, <stable@...nel.org>,
	Rickard Bellini <rickard.bellini@...csson.com>,
	"linux-usb@...r.kernel.org" <linux-usb@...r.kernel.org>,
	Torgny Johansson <torgny.johansson@...csson.com>,
	Kernel development list <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Driver core: fix race in dev_driver_string

On Fri, 4 Dec 2009, Oliver Neukum wrote:

> Am Freitag, 4. Dezember 2009 17:06:57 schrieb Alan Stern:
> > Oliver:
> > 
> > We don't have to worry about the device structure being deallocated 
> > while the routine is running.  If that happens it's a bug in the 
> > caller: improper refcounting.
> 
> That raises two points
> 
> 1. am I supposed to get a reference just so that I can use dev_err?

You're supposed to hold a reference before using dev at all.  If the 
only use you make of dev is to call dev_err(), then yes.

That's how refcounting is meant to work.

> 2. what happens if this is a soft disconnect and the device is reconnected?
> It seems to me that you'd print the wrong driver's name.

You mean the device is unbound from driver A and then bound to driver 
B, after which a thread running in driver A calls dev_err()?  Then yes, 
the "wrong" name will be printed.

This is part of the idea behind dev_err() and friends.  They print the 
name of the currently bound driver, not the name of the calling source 
file.  That's why, for example, the name "usb-storage" shows up in a 
message printed from within usbcore rather than "hub.c".

Alan Stern

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