Re: [PATCH v2 1/4] software node: return -ENXIO when referenced swnode is not registered yet

Andy Shevchenko
2026-04-02T13:36:02Z

On Thu, Apr 02, 2026 at 02:54:26PM +0200, Bartosz Golaszewski wrote:
> It's possible that at the time of resolving a reference to a remote
> software node, the node we know exists is not yet registered as a full
> firmware node. We currently return -ENOENT in this case but the same
> error code is also returned in some other cases, like the reference
> property with given name not existing in the property list of the local
> software node.
>
> It makes sense to let users know that we're dealing with an unregistered
> software node so that they can defer probe - the situation is somewhat
> similar to there existing a firmware node to which no device is bound
> yet - which is valid grounds for probe deferral. To that end: use -ENXIO
> which stands for "No such device or address".

This error code is also too generic to my taste. What about alternative(s)?
EADDRNOTAVAIL
ENOTCONN

(The brief grep shows that the second one might suit slightly better than the
first one by existing use cases.)

Do we need to update the (chain of) kernel-doc?

--
With Best Regards,
Andy Shevchenko