Re: error handling in sysfs, fill_read_buffer()

From: Alan Stern
Date: Tue Jan 02 2007 - 10:27:09 EST


On Tue, 2 Jan 2007, Oliver Neukum wrote:

> Hi,
>
> if a driver returns an error in fill_read_buffer(), the buffer will be
> marked as filled. Subsequent reads will return eof. But there is
> no data because of an error, not because it has been read.
> Not marking the buffer filled is the obvious fix.
>
> Regards
> Oliver
>
> Signed-off-by: Oliver Neukum <oliver@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> --
>
> --- a/fs/sysfs/file.c 2006-12-24 05:00:32.000000000 +0100
> +++ b/fs/sysfs/file.c 2007-01-01 15:03:14.000000000 +0100
> @@ -70,7 +70,8 @@
> * Allocate @buffer->page, if it hasn't been already, then call the
> * kobject's show() method to fill the buffer with this attribute's
> * data.
> - * This is called only once, on the file's first read.
> + * This is called only once, on the file's first read unless an error
> + * is returned.
> */

I don't think this matches what people expect of sysfs. If a show method
fails then the assumption is that the file cannot be read at all, so
there's no point in trying to call the method again.

Alan Stern

-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/