From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from lamorak.hansenpartnership.com (lamorak.hansenpartnership.com [198.37.111.173]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 5DAAA260588; Thu, 5 Feb 2026 09:51:29 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=198.37.111.173 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1770285090; cv=none; b=IT3EuWU/dhrCSaBjKWztzG74E/6pAIXosRlaNv4e+BN4EyfQ1XmwXqveyY0eOfpaQMni/IbIRz4Cr6DtsOyggUdEQu+Aes1wjOokJ8aPi/94rsRlcE0zHVVOs/rRcnrdPIMRGgw9ckLGBPPhLoEh3fQwnYF0fCdUwrC3bgfGJCM= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1770285090; c=relaxed/simple; bh=ZzcmRFurz0umv4heyjbHKrDb04DTP0QA52AQrPzk6Cs=; h=Message-ID:Subject:From:To:Date:Content-Type:MIME-Version; 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bh=ZzcmRFurz0umv4heyjbHKrDb04DTP0QA52AQrPzk6Cs=; h=Message-ID:Subject:From:To:Date:From; b=borAD4AzcEj9swR785erA/tRi8QAWNDFAyorxUmqs0J7dWiGRaPNdW0TEbYyI9xmz +geFggTqo1Zi9gf8UA4azcWTiTWNlmr4tDElp6jCyk4tzecgZXeY4IUzmu1mUYsB92 4dH3c9uBTDDmQ89qyQrnp0XKzljcYnzUsY2zwP2E= Received: from [10.10.7.5] (unknown [51.52.16.146]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange x25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (2048 bits) server-digest SHA256) (No client certificate requested) by lamorak.hansenpartnership.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 72E1E1C0106; Thu, 05 Feb 2026 04:51:28 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <32e620691c0ecf76f469a21bffaba396f207ccb9.camel@HansenPartnership.com> Subject: [LSF/MM/BPF TOPIC] Documenting the correct pushback on AI inspired (and other) fixes in older drivers From: James Bottomley To: "linux-scsi@vger.kernel.org" , "linux-block@vger.kernel.org" , linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org Date: Thu, 05 Feb 2026 09:51:26 +0000 Autocrypt: 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AHBLpBdnl9SOe8ETkv6GqbZrXUED/dAbRVIT5vHP51zyYB8rAUjp3PnzxsXFG8eQaacEyKSl0DKDlgKuQ+k292LVGJhEva8z4cwg3JcrQWzbpTRskQRP624aQ7t0LKbNfXqfYT13TvZNTDdjQaCJRJ3EG8uXOszVKuc0guXunZPmmq6x1Y3bOfOezcFYoywwL3nKef+Z5sQrjG3/5NLeu+W Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable User-Agent: Evolution 3.50.3 Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-scsi@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 To set the stage, we in SCSI have seen an uptick in patches to older drivers mostly fixing missing free (data leak) and data race problems. I'm not even sure they're all AI found, but we don't really need to know that. The problem, that the submitters often don't appreciate, is that every "fix" has some chance of being wrong, so it requires code inspection (which is also not free, and which may get it wrong too) and testing, for which, often, no-one has any immediate hardware. The problems we see is that missed frees (often in error legs) represent tiny amounts of memory over the lifetime of the driver (they're often in the remove legs) and so we have to ask set against the risk of a wrong patch, is the problem even worth fixing? The same goes for data races ... and here the suggested fixes are often somewhat complex and, on analysis, problematic in some way. I've cc'd fsdevel, because I think you're seeing a similar thing for less well maintained filesystems. I'd like to see us formulate a document we can put into the kernel and point to when they come along. Probably formulated along the lines of "first do no harm" and pointing out that every "fix" carries risk and we have to set that risk against what we actually get in terms of benefits. So require the submitter to specify: * What are the user visible effects (memory leak =3D none), transient bad stats data, or actual data corruption or kernel crash (latter being most serious) * how likely (or often) will this be seen? If about once a kernel boot( or less), at this point if you have anything less than corruption or a crash, don't bother fixing it because the effect is too minor * For bad stats data, is there an existing tool that uses the data, if not don't bother and even if so show it leads to issues * How was the fix tested (to reduce risk) i.e. do you have the hardware or an acceptable emulation? =C2=A0If not, report the issue, but don't bother sending the fix. I think this is just a starting point, and, obviously, it's a bit driver centric, but we can probably add generalizations for filesystems (and even mm and bpf). Regards, James