linux-kernel - Re: sparse: possible false report of context imbalance

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Message-ID: <5260212D.2090905@lwfinger.net>
Date:	Thu, 17 Oct 2013 12:41:01 -0500
From:	Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@...inger.net>
To:	Josh Triplett <josh@...htriplett.org>
CC:	Christopher Li <sparse@...isli.org>,
	Linux-Sparse <linux-sparse@...r.kernel.org>,
	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: sparse: possible false report of context imbalance

On 10/17/2013 11:25 AM, Josh Triplett wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 10:23:56PM -0500, Larry Finger wrote:
>> Sparse reports the following:
>>
>>    CHECK   drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_mlme.c
>> drivers/staging/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_mlme.c:1003:9: warning: context
>> imbalance in 'rtw_free_assoc_resources' - different lock contexts
>> for basic block
>>
>> The code in question is as follows:
>>
>>          if (lock_scanned_queue)
>>                  spin_lock_bh(&(pmlmepriv->scanned_queue.lock));
>>
>>          pwlan = rtw_find_network(&pmlmepriv->scanned_queue,
>> tgt_network->network.MacAddress);
>>
>>          if (lock_scanned_queue)
>>                  spin_unlock_bh(&(pmlmepriv->scanned_queue.lock));
>>
>> As this fragment uses the identical test to unlock that is used to
>> lock, and the test variable is not touched, I think this is a false
>> indication. I am using version 0.4.4 of sparse.
>
> Sparse can't track conditional contexts like this; sparse intentionally
> complains here that you're running the same basic block (the
> rtw_find_network call) with and without a lock held.
>
> The following workaround works when this is legitimate, though it isn't
> ideal:
>
> if (condition) {
> 	lock
> 	do_thing
> 	unlock
> } else {
> 	do_thing
> }
>
> Ideally, Sparse should be able to track conditional contexts, but that
> would require some form of abstract evaluation, or as a simplistic hack,
> looking for identical side-effect-free conditional expressions.

Thanks for the answer, which is about what I expected. Sparse is a great tool, 
particularly for endian-related issues.

Larry

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