checkpatch.pl false positive: FSF mailing address

checkpatch.pl false positive: FSF mailing address

[Brian Norris]

Hi Joe,

I found this false positive amusing:

$ curl http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/577786/mbox/ | scripts/checkpatch.pl -
[...]
ERROR: Do not include the paragraph about writing to the Free Software
Foundation's mailing address from the sample GPL notice. The FSF has
changed addresses in the past, and may do so again. Linux already
includes a copy of the GPL.
#1489: FILE: drivers/mtd/nand/qcom_nandc.c:1335:
+^I^I * write to the free oob area.$
[...]

The patch is:
  http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/577786/
  [PATCH v8,2/3] mtd: nand: Qualcomm NAND controller driver

and the comment text is:

  "For the last codeword, we skip the bbm positions and write to the
  free oob area."

which matches on this:

# Check for FSF mailing addresses.
                if ($rawline =~ /\bwrite to the Free/i ||

I'm just writing as recommended by the closing text of your tool.

Regards,
Brian

Re: checkpatch.pl false positive: FSF mailing address

[Joe Perches]

On Thu, 2016-03-10 at 11:00 -0800, Brian Norris wrote:
> Hi Joe,

Hi Brian.

> I found this false positive amusing:
> 
> $ curl http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/577786/mbox/ | scripts/checkpatch.pl -
> [...]
> ERROR: Do not include the paragraph about writing to the Free Software
> Foundation's mailing address from the sample GPL notice. The FSF has
> changed addresses in the past, and may do so again. Linux already
> includes a copy of the GPL.
> #1489: FILE: drivers/mtd/nand/qcom_nandc.c:1335:
> +^I^I * write to the free oob area.$
> [...]
> 
> The patch is:
>   http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/577786/
>   [PATCH v8,2/3] mtd: nand: Qualcomm NAND controller driver
> 
> and the comment text is:
> 
>   "For the last codeword, we skip the bbm positions and write to the
>   free oob area."
> 
> which matches on this:
> 
> # Check for FSF mailing addresses.
>                 if ($rawline =~ /\bwrite to the Free/i ||
> 
> I'm just writing as recommended by the closing text of your tool.

Thanks.

Yeah, it's amusing.  It's also likely not something worth
bothering with though as the likelihood of fixing it is low
and eventually the FSF warning will be minimized or removed
as no longer necessary.

checkpatch is stupid, false positives will always exist.

cheers, Joe

Re: checkpatch.pl false positive: FSF mailing address

[Brian Norris]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Joe Perches <joe@perches.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 2016-03-10 at 11:00 -0800, Brian Norris wrote:
>> Hi Joe,
>
> Hi Brian.
>
>> I found this false positive amusing:
>>
>> $ curl http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/577786/mbox/ | scripts/checkpatch.pl -
>> [...]
>> ERROR: Do not include the paragraph about writing to the Free Software
>> Foundation's mailing address from the sample GPL notice. The FSF has
>> changed addresses in the past, and may do so again. Linux already
>> includes a copy of the GPL.
>> #1489: FILE: drivers/mtd/nand/qcom_nandc.c:1335:
>> +^I^I * write to the free oob area.$
>> [...]
>>
>> The patch is:
>>   http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/577786/
>>   [PATCH v8,2/3] mtd: nand: Qualcomm NAND controller driver
>>
>> and the comment text is:
>>
>>   "For the last codeword, we skip the bbm positions and write to the
>>   free oob area."
>>
>> which matches on this:
>>
>> # Check for FSF mailing addresses.
>>                 if ($rawline =~ /\bwrite to the Free/i ||
>>
>> I'm just writing as recommended by the closing text of your tool.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Yeah, it's amusing.  It's also likely not something worth
> bothering with though as the likelihood of fixing it is low
> and eventually the FSF warning will be minimized or removed
> as no longer necessary.

An easy improvement: don't use "ignore case" for the regex.

> checkpatch is stupid, false positives will always exist.

Regards,
Brian

Re: checkpatch.pl false positive: FSF mailing address

[Joe Perches]

On Thu, 2016-03-10 at 11:15 -0800, Brian Norris wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Joe Perches <joe@perches.com> wrote:

Hey again Brian.

> > Yeah, it's amusing.  It's also likely not something worth
> > bothering with though as the likelihood of fixing it is low
> > and eventually the FSF warning will be minimized or removed
> > as no longer necessary.
> An easy improvement: don't use "ignore case" for the regex.

Maybe, but:

drivers/pcmcia/bfin_cf_pcmcia.c: * if not, write to the free software foundation,

Of course there's only one of those too.

Mostly, it's a "I just don't care very much" warning.

If you care enough to submit a patch removing the "/i"
from the regex, please do and cc Andrew Morton too.

> > checkpatch is stupid, false positives will always exist.

I'd almost rather have people understand this.

Re: checkpatch.pl false positive: FSF mailing address

[Brian Norris]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:25:55AM -0800, Joe Perches wrote:
> On Thu, 2016-03-10 at 11:15 -0800, Brian Norris wrote:
> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Joe Perches <joe@perches.com> wrote:
> 
> Hey again Brian.
> 
> > > Yeah, it's amusing.  It's also likely not something worth
> > > bothering with though as the likelihood of fixing it is low
> > > and eventually the FSF warning will be minimized or removed
> > > as no longer necessary.
> > An easy improvement: don't use "ignore case" for the regex.
> 
> Maybe, but:
> 
> drivers/pcmcia/bfin_cf_pcmcia.c: * if not, write to the free software foundation,
> 
> Of course there's only one of those too.
> 
> Mostly, it's a "I just don't care very much" warning.
> 
> If you care enough to submit a patch removing the "/i"
> from the regex, please do and cc Andrew Morton too.

Maybe I will.

> > > checkpatch is stupid, false positives will always exist.
> 
> I'd almost rather have people understand this.

Then perhaps I'll also patch this note out:

NOTE: If any of the errors are false positives, please report
      them to the maintainer, see CHECKPATCH in MAINTAINERS.

Regards,
Brian

Re: checkpatch.pl false positive: FSF mailing address

[Joe Perches]

On Thu, 2016-03-10 at 11:28 -0800, Brian Norris wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:25:55AM -0800, Joe Perches wrote:
> > On Thu, 2016-03-10 at 11:15 -0800, Brian Norris wrote:
> > > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:08 AM, Joe Perches <joe@perches.com> wrote:
> > > > checkpatch is stupid, false positives will always exist.
> > I'd almost rather have people understand this.
> Then perhaps I'll also patch this note out:
> 
> NOTE: If any of the errors are false positives, please report
>       them to the maintainer, see CHECKPATCH in MAINTAINERS.

Maybe add: "but remember, CHECKPATCH is stupid, you're not".