netdev - Re: [PATCH] iwl4965: Enable checking of format strings

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Date:	Thu, 12 Feb 2015 23:55:47 -0800
From:	Mark Rustad <mrustad@...il.com>
To:	Rasmus Villemoes <linux@...musvillemoes.dk>,
	"Rustad, Mark D" <mark.d.rustad@...el.com>
CC:	Stanislaw Gruszka <sgruszka@...hat.com>,
	Kalle Valo <kvalo@...eaurora.org>,
	"linux-wireless@...r.kernel.org" <linux-wireless@...r.kernel.org>,
	"netdev@...r.kernel.org" <netdev@...r.kernel.org>,
	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] iwl4965: Enable checking of format strings

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On 2/12/15 2:20 AM, Rasmus Villemoes wrote:
> Rather weak arguments, but I have three of them :-)

Yes, weak. All three.

> (1) If I'm reading some code and spot a non-constant format
> argument, I sometimes track back to see how e.g. fmt_value is
> defined. If I then see it's a macro, I immediately think "ok, the
> compiler is doing type-checking". If it is a const char[], I have
> to remember that gcc also does it in that case (as opposed to for
> example const char*const).

GCC should check in both cases. The case you are replacing was not
const char * const, but only const char *. Still, the compiler really
should check either form, even though theoretically the pointer in the
latter case could be changed, but the initial const value should be a
good indication of what the parameters are expected to be. No real
reason for the compiler not to check it.

> (2) The names of these variables themselves may end up wasting a
> few bytes in the image.

Maybe in a debug image, but they should be stripped from any normal
image. Really not a factor.

> (3) gcc/the linker doesn't merge identical const char[] arrays
> across translation units. It also doesn't consider their tails for
> merging with string literals. So although these specific strings
> are unlikely to appear elsewhere, a string such as "%10u\n" or
> "max\n" couldn't be merged with one of the above.

I haven't checked, but there is no theoretical reason that const char
[] items could not be merged exactly as the literals are. Considering
the boundaries the compiler guys push on optimization, doing such
merging would be tame by comparison (speculative stores make me crazy).
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