Re: [PATCH v4 04/14] VFS/nfsd/cachefiles/ovl: add start_creating() and end_creating()

[Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@linaro.org>]

On Sun, Nov 02, 2025 at 12:08:47PM +0300, Dan Carpenter wrote:
> Hi NeilBrown,
> 
> kernel test robot noticed the following build warnings:
> 
> https://git-scm.com/docs/git-format-patch#_base_tree_information]
> 
> url:    https://github.com/intel-lab-lkp/linux/commits/NeilBrown/debugfs-rename-end_creating-to-debugfs_end_creating/20251030-075146
> base:   driver-core/driver-core-testing
> patch link:    https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251029234353.1321957-5-neilb%40ownmail.net
> patch subject: [PATCH v4 04/14] VFS/nfsd/cachefiles/ovl: add start_creating() and end_creating()
> config: x86_64-randconfig-161-20251101 (https://download.01.org/0day-ci/archive/20251102/202511021406.Tv3dcpn5-lkp@intel.com/config)
> compiler: clang version 20.1.8 (https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project 87f0227cb60147a26a1eeb4fb06e3b505e9c7261)
> 
> If you fix the issue in a separate patch/commit (i.e. not just a new version of
> the same patch/commit), kindly add following tags
> | Reported-by: kernel test robot <lkp@intel.com>
> | Reported-by: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@linaro.org>
> | Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/r/202511021406.Tv3dcpn5-lkp@intel.com/
> 
> smatch warnings:
> fs/overlayfs/dir.c:130 ovl_whiteout() error: uninitialized symbol 'whiteout'.
> fs/overlayfs/dir.c:130 ovl_whiteout() warn: passing zero to 'PTR_ERR'
> 
> vim +/whiteout +130 fs/overlayfs/dir.c
> 
> c21c839b8448dd Chengguang Xu     2020-04-24   97  static struct dentry *ovl_whiteout(struct ovl_fs *ofs)
> e9be9d5e76e348 Miklos Szeredi    2014-10-24   98  {
> e9be9d5e76e348 Miklos Szeredi    2014-10-24   99  	int err;
> 807b78b0fffc23 NeilBrown         2025-10-30  100  	struct dentry *whiteout, *link;
> c21c839b8448dd Chengguang Xu     2020-04-24  101  	struct dentry *workdir = ofs->workdir;
> e9be9d5e76e348 Miklos Szeredi    2014-10-24  102  	struct inode *wdir = workdir->d_inode;
> e9be9d5e76e348 Miklos Szeredi    2014-10-24  103  
> 8afa0a73671389 NeilBrown         2025-07-16  104  	guard(mutex)(&ofs->whiteout_lock);
> 8afa0a73671389 NeilBrown         2025-07-16  105  
> c21c839b8448dd Chengguang Xu     2020-04-24  106  	if (!ofs->whiteout) {
> 807b78b0fffc23 NeilBrown         2025-10-30  107  		whiteout = ovl_start_creating_temp(ofs, workdir);
> 8afa0a73671389 NeilBrown         2025-07-16  108  		if (IS_ERR(whiteout))
> 8afa0a73671389 NeilBrown         2025-07-16  109  			return whiteout;
> 
> white out is not an error pointer.
> 

I meant after this return statement...

regards,
dan carpenter