Re: [PATCH v0 00/42] notifiers: Return an error when callback is already registered

Alan Stern
2021-11-08T14:17:07Z

On Mon, Nov 08, 2021 at 11:19:24AM +0100, Borislav Petkov wrote:
> From: Borislav Petkov <bp@suse.de>
>
> Hi all,
>
> this is a huge patchset for something which is really trivial - it
> changes the notifier registration routines to return an error value
> if a notifier callback is already present on the respective list of
> callbacks. For more details scroll to the last patch.
>
> Everything before it is converting the callers to check the return value
> of the registration routines and issue a warning, instead of the WARN()
> notifier_chain_register() does now.

What reason is there for moving the check into the callers? It seems
like pointless churn. Why not add the error return code, change the
WARN to pr_warn, and leave the callers as they are? Wouldn't that end
up having exactly the same effect?

For that matter, what sort of remedial action can a caller take if the
return code is -EEXIST? Is there any point in forcing callers to check
the return code if they can't do anything about it?

> Before the last patch has been applied, though, that checking is a
> NOP which would make the application of those patches trivial - every
> maintainer can pick a patch at her/his discretion - only the last one
> enables the build warnings and that one will be queued only after the
> preceding patches have all been merged so that there are no build
> warnings.

Why should there be _any_ build warnings? The real problem occurs when
a notifier callback is added twice, not when a caller fails to check the
return code. Double-registration is not the sort of thing that can be
detected at build time.

Alan Stern

> Due to the sheer volume of the patches, I have addressed the respective
> patch and the last one, which enables the warning, with addressees for
> each maintained area so as not to spam people unnecessarily.
>
> If people prefer I carry some through tip, instead, I'll gladly do so -
> your call.
>
> And, if you think the warning messages need to be more precise, feel
> free to adjust them before committing.
>
> Thanks!