Re: [PATCH 01/61] Coccinelle: Prefer IS_ERR_OR_NULL over manual NULL check

Markus Elfring
2026-03-11T15:12:55Z

…
> +// Confidence: High

Some contributors presented discerning comments for this change approach.
Thus I became also curious how much they can eventually be taken better into account
by the means of the semantic patch language (Coccinelle software).

…
+@p1 depends on patch@
+expression E;
+@@
+(
> +- E != NULL && !IS_ERR(E)
> ++ !IS_ERR_OR_NULL(E)
> +|
> +- E == NULL || IS_ERR(E)
> ++ IS_ERR_OR_NULL(E)
> +|
> +- !IS_ERR(E) && E != NULL
> ++ !IS_ERR_OR_NULL(E)
> +|
> +- IS_ERR(E) || E == NULL
> ++ IS_ERR_OR_NULL(E)
> +)

Several detected expressions should refer to return values from function calls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_statement

* Do any development challenges hinder still the determination of corresponding
failure predicates?

* How will interests evolve to improve data processing any further for such
use cases?

Regards,
Markus