[PATCH] misc: pass miscdevice through file's private_data

[Tom Van Braeckel]

Make the miscdevice accessible through the file's private_data.

Previously, this was done only when an open() file operation had been
registered. If no custom open() file operation was defined,
private_data was set to NULL.

This subtle quirk was confusing, to the point where kernel code
registered *empty* file open operations to have private_data point to
the misc device structure and avoid duplicating that logic.

And it could easily lead to bugs, where the addition or removal of a
custom open() file operation surprisingly changes the initial value of
a file's private_data structure.

To resolve this, we now place the miscdevice in the file's private_data
member unconditionally when open() is called.

Signed-off-by: Tom Van Braeckel <tomvanbraeckel@xxxxxxxxx>
---
All kernel code that uses private_data and misc_register() has been
checked for potential regressions and the code that relied on this
subtle behavior (only FUSE) has been fixed.

Although I feel confident about this patch, it might still be a good
idea to keep this in linux-next for at least a whole cycle, as Martin
Kepplinger suggested. As you wish.

Mind that the documentation about this change has already been
submitted by Martin and accepted into linux-next (commit 03190c67).

 drivers/char/misc.c | 11 ++++++++---
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/char/misc.c b/drivers/char/misc.c
index 5bb3a21..9fd5a91 100644
--- a/drivers/char/misc.c
+++ b/drivers/char/misc.c
@@ -140,12 +140,17 @@ static int misc_open(struct inode * inode, struct file * file)
 			goto fail;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Place the miscdevice in the file's
+	 * private_data so it can be used by the
+	 * file operations, including f_op->open below
+	 */
+	file->private_data = c;
+
 	err = 0;
 	replace_fops(file, new_fops);
-	if (file->f_op->open) {
-		file->private_data = c;
+	if (file->f_op->open)
 		err = file->f_op->open(inode,file);
-	}
 fail:
 	mutex_unlock(&misc_mtx);
 	return err;
-- 
2.1.0

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