linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v1] module.h: define __symbol_get_gpl() as a regular __symbol

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Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2024 10:13:54 -0800
From: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@...nel.org>
To: Andrew Kanner <andrew.kanner@...il.com>
Cc: Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de>, linux-modules@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, mchehab@...nel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v1] module.h: define __symbol_get_gpl() as a regular
 __symbol_get()

On Thu, Feb 01, 2024 at 12:29:46PM +0300, Andrew Kanner wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 01, 2024 at 06:29:58AM +0100, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> > On Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 10:02:52PM +0300, Andrew Kanner wrote:
> > > Prototype for __symbol_get_gpl() was introduced in the initial git
> > > commit 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2"), but was not used after that.
> > > 
> > > In commit 9011e49d54dc ("modules: only allow symbol_get of
> > > EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL modules") Christoph Hellwig switched __symbol_get()
> > > to process GPL symbols only, most likely this is what
> > > __symbol_get_gpl() was designed to do.
> > > 
> > > We might either define __symbol_get_gpl() as __symbol_get() or remove
> > > it completely as suggested by Mauro Carvalho Chehab.
> > 
> > Just remove it, there is no need to keep unused funtionality around.
> > 
> > Btw, where did the discussion start?  I hope you're not trying to
> > add new symbol_get users?
> > 
> 
> Of course not, no new users needed.
> 
> I haven't discussed it directly. I found the unused __symbol_get_gpl()
> myself, but during investigation of wether it was ever used somewhere
> found the old patch series suggested by Mauro Carvalho Chehab (in Cc).
> 
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/5f001015990a76c0da35a4c3cf08e457ec353ab2.1652113087.git.mchehab@kernel.org/
> 
> The patch series is from 2022 and not merged. You can take [PATCH v6
> 1/4] which removes the unused symbol from the link.
> 
> Or I can resend v2 with my commit msg. But not sure about how it works
> in such a case - will adding Suggested-by tag (if no objections from
> Mauro) with the Link be ok?

While you're at it, if you want to try it, you could see if you can
improve the situation more by looking at symbol_get() users that remain
and seeing if you can instead fix it with proper Kconfig dependency and
at build time. Then we can just remove it as well.

  Luis