linux-kernel - [PATCH] debug: Deprecate BUG_ON() use in new code, introduce CRASH

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Date:	Mon, 8 Jun 2015 09:12:15 +0200
From:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>
To:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	Tejun Heo <htejun@...il.com>,
	Louis Langholtz <lou_langholtz@...com>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	trivial@...nel.org, Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@...llo.nl>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
Subject: [PATCH] debug: Deprecate BUG_ON() use in new code, introduce
 CRASH_ON()


* Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org> wrote:

> Stop with the random BUG_ON() additions.

Yeah, so I propose the attached patch which attempts to resist new BUG_ON() 
additions.

Thanks,

	Ingo

================================>
>From 724052923fbae2e3a14e0b9383c89b18217d817f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2015 09:01:43 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] debug: Deprecate BUG_ON() use in new code, introduce CRASH_ON()

So people still keep adding random BUG_ON() lines, as a mistaken practice
to put asserts that will never trigger, into supposedly perfect kernel code.

So such BUG_ON()s should either not be added, because the code is truly
perfect, or if there's a chance that it's imperfect, use WARN_ON() instead
and limp along, in the hope of getting some debug information back from
the user.

Using BUG_ON() will just hang or reboot most systems, with no useful
feedback provided. It's as user hostile as it gets.

Add a checkpatch rule that warns against new BUG_ON() uses:

  WARNING: Using BUG_ON() is generally wrong, use WARN_ON() instead - or CRASH_ON() if the kernel absolutely must crash.

CRASH_ON() can be used in code that must absolutely crash right then,
in the very rare case where there's no way the system can be allowed
to continue execution.

It should be used sparingly, and its name will hopefully achieve this.

Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>
---
 include/asm-generic/bug.h | 7 +++++++
 scripts/checkpatch.pl     | 6 ++++++
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/asm-generic/bug.h b/include/asm-generic/bug.h
index 630dd2372238..c6424723277b 100644
--- a/include/asm-generic/bug.h
+++ b/include/asm-generic/bug.h
@@ -165,6 +165,13 @@ extern void warn_slowpath_null(const char *file, const int line);
 #define WARN_TAINT(condition, taint, format...) WARN(condition, format)
 #define WARN_TAINT_ONCE(condition, taint, format...) WARN(condition, format)
 
+/*
+ * BUG_ON() is deprecated, use either one of the WARN_ON() variants,
+ * or if it's absolutely unavoidable to crash the system due to
+ * some grave condition, use CRASH_ON():
+ */
+#define CRASH_ON(condition)	BUG_ON(condition)
+
 #endif
 
 /*
diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 89b1df4e72ab..6e0887057398 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -5414,6 +5414,12 @@ sub process {
 			     "Using $1 should generally have parentheses around the comparison\n" . $herecurr);
 		}
 
+# check for use of BUG_ON()
+		if ($line =~ /\bBUG_ON\s*\(/) {
+			WARN("BUG_ON",
+			     "Using BUG_ON() is generally wrong, use WARN_ON() instead - or CRASH_ON() if the kernel absolutely must crash.\n"  . $herecurr);
+		}
+
 # whine mightly about in_atomic
 		if ($line =~ /\bin_atomic\s*\(/) {
 			if ($realfile =~ m@...ivers/@) {
--
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