Re: [PATCH 27/27] lib: packing: remove MODULE_LICENSE in non-modules

[Vladimir Oltean]

On Fri, Feb 24, 2023 at 03:08:11PM +0000, Nick Alcock wrote:
> Since commit 8b41fc4454e ("kbuild: create modules.builtin without
> Makefile.modbuiltin or tristate.conf"), MODULE_LICENSE declarations
> are used to identify modules. As a consequence, uses of the macro
> in non-modules will cause modprobe to misidentify their containing
> object file as a module when it is not (false positives), and modprobe
> might succeed rather than failing with a suitable error message.
> 
> So remove it in the files in this commit, none of which can be built as
> modules.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Nick Alcock <nick.alcock@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Suggested-by: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: linux-modules@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: Hitomi Hasegawa <hasegawa-hitomi@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Vladimir Oltean <olteanv@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: netdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> ---
>  lib/packing.c | 1 -
>  1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/lib/packing.c b/lib/packing.c
> index a96169237ae6..3f656167c17e 100644
> --- a/lib/packing.c
> +++ b/lib/packing.c
> @@ -198,5 +198,4 @@ int packing(void *pbuf, u64 *uval, int startbit, int endbit, size_t pbuflen,
>  }
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL(packing);
>  
> -MODULE_LICENSE("GPL v2");
>  MODULE_DESCRIPTION("Generic bitfield packing and unpacking");
> -- 
> 2.39.1.268.g9de2f9a303
> 

Is this a bug fix? Does it need a Fixes: tag? How is it supposed to be
merged? lib/packing.c is maintained by netdev, and I believe that netdev
maintainers would prefer netdev patches to be submitted separately.

Note that I was copied only on this patch, I haven't read the cover
letter if that exists.