Re: [PATCH RESEND v3 03/10] mm/vma: rename is_vma_write_only(), separate out shared refcount put

Vlastimil Babka
2026-01-23T15:05:42Z

On 1/23/26 15:52, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 09:24:54AM +0100, Vlastimil Babka wrote:
>
> That's kind of horrible?
>
> The lockref_put_return() seems to encode even more in it:
>
> /**
> * lockref_put_return - Decrement reference count if possible
> * @lockref: pointer to lockref structure
> *
> * Decrement the reference count and return the new value.
> * If the lockref was dead or locked, return -1.
> */
>
> But I guess it's still returning, it's just a weird convention, and not one
> refcount uses, but perhaps because that uses output parameters.

Oops I missed that -1 detail in that one, didn't mean to copy that part.

> I'll rename it I guess on the atomic basis but I just find the idea of
> suffixing 'return' on a function that returns a value really... horrible.

It's because I though it's common that things called _put() either return
nothing, or if they return 1/true it means "that was the last ref, we
removed" and this is returning something else.

But I admit it's just my feeling, there's e.g. kref_put() like this but I
haven't done a full research.

> Thanks, Lorenzo