Re: [PATCH] slab: deal with NULL pointers passed to kmem_cache_free

From: Jarek Poplawski
Date: Wed Mar 21 2007 - 10:41:28 EST


On Wed, Mar 21, 2007 at 03:36:34PM +0200, Pekka J Enberg wrote:
> On Wed, 21 Mar 2007, Jarek Poplawski wrote:
> > With __kmem_cache_free you would set #1 I hope, but if
> > nobody would use this - debugging time wouldn't change.
>
> I think you got it backwards. I suggested making the _current_
> kmem_cache_free() deal with NULL (so everyone will get it) and add a new
> optimized __kmem_cache_free() for those call-sites that really need it.

If you could assure optimized version will be used only with
buggy-free code, so you don't waste time for debugging it,
then I really got it backwards, sorry!

>
> On Wed, 21 Mar 2007, Jarek Poplawski wrote:
> > This could be acceptable, if there were no problems
> > with fixing the errors. But there are problems - bugs
> > like this aren't fixed on time - maybe because people
> > waste too much time per bug?
>
> You're barking up the wrong tree here, Jarek. I strongly feel that we
> should be more defensive in the slab for the exact reasons you outlined.
> There's bunch of bug reports people seem to dismiss as slab errors where
> in fact it's caused by a buggy caller.

But I can see only one tree here. And I seem to agree with all the rest.
So, I probably really got it backwards...

Must be going to find the right tree,
Jarek P.
-
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/