linux-kernel - Re: scsi: ses: Move a label in ses_enclosure_data

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Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2023 09:07:59 -0500
From: James Bottomley <jejb@...ux.ibm.com>
To: Markus Elfring <Markus.Elfring@....de>, linux-scsi@...r.kernel.org,
        kernel-janitors@...r.kernel.org,
        "Martin K. Petersen"
	 <martin.petersen@...cle.com>
Cc: LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: scsi: ses: Move a label in ses_enclosure_data_process()

On Sat, 2023-12-30 at 15:25 +0100, Markus Elfring wrote:
> > > If you would dare to follow advice from goto chains in a strict
> > > way, I imagine that you can tend to stress the attention for more
> > > useful data processing a bit more than such a redundant function
> > > call.
> > 
> > It's about maintainability and simplicity.  Eliminating kfree(NULL)
> > doesn't simplify most code,
> 
> I find it easy to avoid such a call in the affected and concrete
> function implementation.

I find it easy to fall down stairs nowadays; that doesn't make it a
necessary or even desirable thing to do.

> >                             it just makes the exit paths more
> > complex
> 
> Where is undesirable software complexity here in the repositioning
> of the label “simple_populate” before the statement “buf = NULL;”?

We don't just apply patches because we can: code churn is inimical to
software maintenance and backporting, so every patch has an application
cost.  The value provided by any patch has to be greater than that
cost. kfree(NULL) is an expected operation so there's little value in
avoiding it and certainly not enough to overcome the patch application
cost.

James