netdev - Re: [PATCH 00/26] constify local structures

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Date:   Mon, 12 Sep 2016 15:52:08 +0200 (CEST)
From:   Julia Lawall <julia.lawall@...6.fr>
To:     Felipe Balbi <felipe.balbi@...ux.intel.com>
cc:     Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko.sakkinen@...ux.intel.com>,
        Julia Lawall <julia.lawall@...6.fr>,
        linux-renesas-soc@...r.kernel.org, joe@...ches.com,
        kernel-janitors@...r.kernel.org,
        Sergei Shtylyov <sergei.shtylyov@...entembedded.com>,
        linux-pm@...r.kernel.org, platform-driver-x86@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-media@...r.kernel.org, linux-can@...r.kernel.org,
        Tatyana Nikolova <tatyana.e.nikolova@...el.com>,
        Shiraz Saleem <shiraz.saleem@...el.com>,
        Mustafa Ismail <mustafa.ismail@...el.com>,
        Chien Tin Tung <chien.tin.tung@...el.com>,
        linux-rdma@...r.kernel.org, netdev@...r.kernel.org,
        devel@...verdev.osuosl.org, alsa-devel@...a-project.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-fbdev@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-wireless@...r.kernel.org,
        Jason Gunthorpe <jgunthorpe@...idianresearch.com>,
        tpmdd-devel@...ts.sourceforge.net, linux-scsi@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-spi@...r.kernel.org, linux-usb@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-acpi@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 00/26] constify local structures



On Mon, 12 Sep 2016, Felipe Balbi wrote:

>
> Hi,
>
> Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko.sakkinen@...ux.intel.com> writes:
> > On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 10:54:07AM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sun, 11 Sep 2016, Jarkko Sakkinen wrote:
> >>
> >> > On Sun, Sep 11, 2016 at 03:05:42PM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
> >> > > Constify local structures.
> >> > >
> >> > > The semantic patch that makes this change is as follows:
> >> > > (http://coccinelle.lip6.fr/)
> >> >
> >> > Just my two cents but:
> >> >
> >> > 1. You *can* use a static analysis too to find bugs or other issues.
> >> > 2. However, you should manually do the commits and proper commit
> >> >    messages to subsystems based on your findings. And I generally think
> >> >    that if one contributes code one should also at least smoke test changes
> >> >    somehow.
> >> >
> >> > I don't know if I'm alone with my opinion. I just think that one should
> >> > also do the analysis part and not blindly create and submit patches.
> >>
> >> All of the patches are compile tested.  And the individual patches are
> >
> > Compile-testing is not testing. If you are not able to test a commit,
> > you should explain why.
>
> Dude, Julia has been doing semantic patching for years already and
> nobody has raised any concerns so far. There's already an expectation
> that Coccinelle *works* and Julia's sematic patches are sound.
>
> Besides, adding 'const' is something that causes virtually no functional
> changes to the point that build-testing is really all you need. Any
> problems caused by adding 'const' to a definition will be seen by build
> errors or warnings.
>
> Really, just stop with the pointless discussion and go read a bit about
> Coccinelle and what semantic patches are giving you. The work done by
> Julia and her peers are INRIA have measurable benefits.
>
> You're really making a thunderstorm in a glass of water.

Thanks for the defense, but since a lot of these patches torned out to be
wrong, due to an incorrect parse by Coccinelle, combined with an
unpleasantly lax compiler, Jarkko does have a point that I should have
looked at the patches more carefully.  In any case, I have written to the
maintainers relevant to the patches that turned out to be incorrect.

julia