linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] KEYS: replace -EEXIST with -EBUSY

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Message-ID: <aVuFVpjO3GFjG11-@wunner.de>
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2026 10:33:10 +0100
From: Lukas Wunner <lukas@...ner.de>
To: Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@...nel.org>
Cc: David Howells <dhowells@...hat.com>,
	Ignat Korchagin <ignat@...udflare.com>,
	Herbert Xu <herbert@...dor.apana.org.au>,
	"David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>,
	Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko@...nel.org>,
	Paul Moore <paul@...l-moore.com>, James Morris <jmorris@...ei.org>,
	"Serge E. Hallyn" <serge@...lyn.com>,
	Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@...nel.org>,
	Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@...e.com>,
	Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@...gle.com>,
	Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@...mlin.com>,
	Lucas De Marchi <demarchi@...nel.org>, keyrings@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-crypto@...r.kernel.org, linux-modules@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-security-module@...r.kernel.org,
	Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@...sung.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] KEYS: replace -EEXIST with -EBUSY

On Sat, Dec 20, 2025 at 04:50:31AM +0100, Daniel Gomez wrote:
> The -EEXIST error code is reserved by the module loading infrastructure
> to indicate that a module is already loaded. When a module's init
> function returns -EEXIST, userspace tools like kmod interpret this as
> "module already loaded" and treat the operation as successful, returning
> 0 to the user even though the module initialization actually failed.
> 
> This follows the precedent set by commit 54416fd76770 ("netfilter:
> conntrack: helper: Replace -EEXIST by -EBUSY") which fixed the same
> issue in nf_conntrack_helper_register().
> 
> Affected modules:
>   * pkcs8_key_parser x509_key_parser asymmetric_keys dns_resolver
>   * nvme_keyring pkcs7_test_key rxrpc turris_signing_key

For the record, GregKH summarily rejected this approach:

https://lore.kernel.org/r/2025122212-fiction-setback-ede5@gregkh/

Thanks,

Lukas