linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v3 bpf] bpf: liveness: clarify get_outer_instance() handling in propagate_to_outer

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Message-ID: <e2716ad9963403dd0dea37c85d106267659e52bd.camel@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2025 08:57:47 -0700
From: Eduard Zingerman <eddyz87@...il.com>
To: Shardul Bankar <shardulsb08@...il.com>, bpf@...r.kernel.org
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@...nel.org>, Daniel Borkmann
 <daniel@...earbox.net>,  Andrii Nakryiko <andrii@...nel.org>, Martin KaFai
 Lau <martin.lau@...ux.dev>, Song Liu <song@...nel.org>,  Yonghong Song
 <yonghong.song@...ux.dev>, John Fastabend <john.fastabend@...il.com>, KP
 Singh	 <kpsingh@...nel.org>, Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@...ichev.me>, Hao Luo	
 <haoluo@...gle.com>, Jiri Olsa <jolsa@...nel.org>, open list	
 <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 bpf] bpf: liveness: clarify get_outer_instance()
 handling in propagate_to_outer_instance()

On Tue, 2025-10-21 at 13:38 +0530, Shardul Bankar wrote:
> propagate_to_outer_instance() calls get_outer_instance() and uses the
> returned pointer to reset and commit stack write marks. Under normal
> conditions, update_instance() guarantees that an outer instance exists,
> so get_outer_instance() cannot return an ERR_PTR.
> 
> However, explicitly checking for IS_ERR(outer_instance) makes this code
> more robust and self-documenting. It reduces cognitive load when reading
> the control flow and silences potential false-positive reports from
> static analysis or automated tooling.
> 
> No functional change intended.
> 
> Reported-by: kernel-patches-review-bot (https://github.com/kernel-patches/bpf/pull/10006#issuecomment-3409419240)
> Suggested-by: Eduard Zingerman <eddyz87@...il.com>
> Signed-off-by: Shardul Bankar <shardulsb08@...il.com>
> ---

Acked-by: Eduard Zingerman <eddyz87@...il.com>