[PATCH v2 0/5] treewide: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value checks in early boot

[PATCH v2 0/5] treewide: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value checks in early boot

[Sang-Heon Jeon]

memblock_reserve() can only return an error after memblock_allow_resize()
has been called. Before that it either succeeds or panics, never returning
an error.

Before memblock_allow_resize() is called, the return value checks of
memblock_reserve() are unreachable and can be removed.

All the call sites are in different trees, so I split the change into one
patch per arch/subsystem. The patches are independent and can be applied
separately.

---
Changes from v1 [1]
- add reviewed-by tag
- rebased onto latest memblock for-next

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260616182959.2429774-1-ekffu200098@gmail.com/
---
Hello Mike,

Like the previous memblock cleanup series, could you review and take this patch series to the memblock tree?

Thank you for taking valuable time.

Best Regards,
Sang-Heon Jeon
---

Sang-Heon Jeon (5):
  x86/setup: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value check
  sh: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value check
  powerpc/fadump: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value
    checks
  xtensa: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value checks
  Revert "tpm: do not ignore memblock_reserve return value"

 arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c   | 14 +++-----------
 arch/sh/kernel/machine_kexec.c |  7 +------
 arch/x86/kernel/setup.c        |  7 ++-----
 arch/xtensa/kernel/setup.c     | 13 +++++++------
 drivers/firmware/efi/tpm.c     |  7 +------
 5 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)

-- 
2.43.0

[PATCH v2 3/5] powerpc/fadump: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value checks

[Sang-Heon Jeon]

fadump_append_bootargs() and fadump_reserve_mem() both run from
early_init_devtree(), before it calls memblock_allow_resize(). At that
point memblock_reserve() either succeeds or panics, never returning an
error.

Therefore the return value checks are unreachable, so remove them and the
related logic.

No functional change.

Signed-off-by: Sang-Heon Jeon <ekffu200098@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Mukesh Kumar Chaurasiya (IBM) <mkchauras@gmail.com>
---
 arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c | 14 +++-----------
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c
index 7f79c9aea4a9..1629a82b9528 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/fadump.c
@@ -154,13 +154,8 @@ void __init fadump_append_bootargs(void)
 	if (!fw_dump.dump_active || !fw_dump.param_area_supported || !fw_dump.param_area)
 		return;
 
-	if (fw_dump.param_area < fw_dump.boot_mem_top) {
-		if (memblock_reserve(fw_dump.param_area, COMMAND_LINE_SIZE)) {
-			pr_warn("WARNING: Can't use additional parameters area!\n");
-			fw_dump.param_area = 0;
-			return;
-		}
-	}
+	if (fw_dump.param_area < fw_dump.boot_mem_top)
+		memblock_reserve(fw_dump.param_area, COMMAND_LINE_SIZE);
 
 	append_args = (char *)fw_dump.param_area;
 	len = strlen(boot_command_line);
@@ -632,10 +627,7 @@ int __init fadump_reserve_mem(void)
 		    (fw_dump.ops->fadump_setup_metadata(&fw_dump) < 0))
 			goto error_out;
 
-		if (memblock_reserve(base, size)) {
-			pr_err("Failed to reserve memory!\n");
-			goto error_out;
-		}
+		memblock_reserve(base, size);
 
 		pr_info("Reserved %lldMB of memory at %#016llx (System RAM: %lldMB)\n",
 			(size >> 20), base, (memblock_phys_mem_size() >> 20));
-- 
2.43.0

Re: [PATCH v2 0/5] treewide: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value checks in early boot

[Mike Rapoport]

Hi Sang-Heon,

On Tue, Jul 07, 2026 at 01:37:48AM +0900, Sang-Heon Jeon wrote:
> memblock_reserve() can only return an error after memblock_allow_resize()
> has been called. Before that it either succeeds or panics, never returning
> an error.
> 
> Before memblock_allow_resize() is called, the return value checks of
> memblock_reserve() are unreachable and can be removed.

I'd rather keep these checks.

Removing them relies on internal details of memblock_reserve() implementation
and the existing event sequence. If the code would move around relying on
panic in memblock_reserve() may not be correct.

And the few bytes and cycles the change saves do not worth the churn.

-- 
Sincerely yours,
Mike.

Re: [PATCH v2 0/5] treewide: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value checks in early boot

[Sang-Heon Jeon]

Hi Mike,

On Tue, Jul 7, 2026 at 3:17 PM Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Sang-Heon,
>
> On Tue, Jul 07, 2026 at 01:37:48AM +0900, Sang-Heon Jeon wrote:
> > memblock_reserve() can only return an error after memblock_allow_resize()
> > has been called. Before that it either succeeds or panics, never returning
> > an error.
> >
> > Before memblock_allow_resize() is called, the return value checks of
> > memblock_reserve() are unreachable and can be removed.
>
> I'd rather keep these checks.
>
> Removing them relies on internal details of memblock_reserve() implementation
> and the existing event sequence. If the code would move around relying on
> panic in memblock_reserve() may not be correct.
>
> And the few bytes and cycles the change saves do not worth the churn.

Makes sense to me.

But most early boot callers of memblock_reserve() don't check the
return value, so I thought we already rely on its internal behavior
anyway. So the few remaining checks just looked a bit inconsistent to
me.

Would you still prefer to keep these checks? If so, I'm fine with
dropping this patch series. It's not a big deal :)

Thank you for taking the time to review this series.

> --
> Sincerely yours,
> Mike.

Best Regards,
Sang-Heon Jeon

Re: [PATCH v2 0/5] treewide: remove unreachable memblock_reserve() return value checks in early boot

[Mike Rapoport]

On Tue, Jul 07, 2026 at 10:24:09PM +0900, Sang-Heon Jeon wrote:
> Hi Mike,
> 
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2026 at 3:17 PM Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Sang-Heon,
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 07, 2026 at 01:37:48AM +0900, Sang-Heon Jeon wrote:
> > > memblock_reserve() can only return an error after memblock_allow_resize()
> > > has been called. Before that it either succeeds or panics, never returning
> > > an error.
> > >
> > > Before memblock_allow_resize() is called, the return value checks of
> > > memblock_reserve() are unreachable and can be removed.
> >
> > I'd rather keep these checks.
> >
> > Removing them relies on internal details of memblock_reserve() implementation
> > and the existing event sequence. If the code would move around relying on
> > panic in memblock_reserve() may not be correct.
> >
> > And the few bytes and cycles the change saves do not worth the churn.
> 
> Makes sense to me.
> 
> But most early boot callers of memblock_reserve() don't check the
> return value, so I thought we already rely on its internal behavior
> anyway. So the few remaining checks just looked a bit inconsistent to
> me.

In reality it's very unlikely for memblock_reserve() to fail, especially
after resize is allowed. 
And if it does fail, the system would trip on a memory error, usually
sooner than later.

> Would you still prefer to keep these checks? If so, I'm fine with
> dropping this patch series. It's not a big deal :)

Let's keep the checks as they are now.
 
> Best Regards,
> Sang-Heon Jeon

-- 
Sincerely yours,
Mike.