linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] include/linux/slab.h: new KFREE() macro.

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Message-ID: <20070108090926.GF17561@ftp.linux.org.uk>
Date:	Mon, 8 Jan 2007 09:09:26 +0000
From:	Al Viro <viro@....linux.org.uk>
To:	Amit Choudhary <amit2030@...oo.com>
Cc:	Vadim Lobanov <vlobanov@...akeasy.net>,
	Christoph Hellwig <hch@...radead.org>,
	Linux Kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] include/linux/slab.h: new KFREE() macro.

On Mon, Jan 08, 2007 at 12:47:07AM -0800, Amit Choudhary wrote:

> Let's try to apply the same logic to my explanation:
> 
> KFREE() macro has __actually__ been used at atleast 1000 places in the kernel by atleast 50
> different people. Doesn't that lend enough credibility to what I am saying.

No.  Simple "it happens a lot of times" is _not_ enough to establish
credibility of "it should be done that way".  It is a good reason to
research the rationale in each case.

> People did something like this 1000 times: kfree(x), x = NULL. I simply proposed the KFREE() macro
> that does the same thing. Resistance to something that is already being done in the kernel. I
> really do not care whether it goes in the kernel or not. There are lots of other places where I
> can contribute. But I do not understand the resistance.
> 
> It is already being done in the kernel.

And each instance either has a reason for doing it that way or is useless
or is a bug.  Reasons, where they actually exist, very likely are not
uniform.

Blind copying of patterns without understanding what and why they are
doing is a Very Bad Thing(tm).  That's how the bugs are created and
propagated, BTW.
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