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From: "Linus Probert" <linus.probert@gmail.com>
To: "Linus Probert" <linus.probert@gmail.com>,
	"Robert P. J. Day" <rpjday@crashcourse.ca>,
	"Kernel Janitors List" <kernel-janitors@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: more potential janitor work: simplifying test for power of 2
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:50:48 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <DHIKQUBU2MZS.IOSIJB5DJYJ0@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <DHHT7K60IORC.2DG3PT7PB2OSO@gmail.com>

I took a closer look at this. Many of the occurences here are actually
used to check if a binary flag has more then one bit set. This is quite
a common pattern.

Eg. 'if (a & (a - 1))' would pass if a = 0b100, not if a = 0b110. Since:
	0b100 - 0b001 = 0b011 -> (0b100 & 0b011) => false
	0b110 - 0b001 = 0b101 -> (0b100 & 0b101) => true

The power of two check would 'normally' use the negation:
	'if (!(a & (a - 1)))'

Just a heads up so anyone else reading this doesn't go blindly swapping
out this pattern for 'is_power_of_2()'.

You need to apply some thinking. No 'sed' work.

Br,
Linus

  reply	other threads:[~2026-04-02  9:50 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-03-31 11:49 more potential janitor work: simplifying test for power of 2 Robert P. J. Day
2026-04-01 12:16 ` Linus Probert
2026-04-02  9:50   ` Linus Probert [this message]
2026-04-02 10:07     ` Julia Lawall
2026-04-02 11:57       ` Linus Probert
2026-04-02 12:40         ` Robert P. J. Day
2026-04-02 13:04           ` Linus Probert
2026-04-02 13:21             ` Robert P. J. Day

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