From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1753772AbeEWBrH (ORCPT ); Tue, 22 May 2018 21:47:07 -0400 Received: from mail-pg0-f67.google.com ([74.125.83.67]:38439 "EHLO mail-pg0-f67.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753689AbeEWBrF (ORCPT ); Tue, 22 May 2018 21:47:05 -0400 X-Google-Smtp-Source: AB8JxZrT1AypUh2pRPixgoFyH9uQwl/JJrwzTb1XZwXm+5S+u8soIjLvvrZZPMnqFUb1dBcXcwv09g== Date: Tue, 22 May 2018 18:47:02 -0700 From: Stephen Hemminger To: Bo Chen Cc: jeffrey.t.kirsher@intel.com, davem@davemloft.net, intel-wired-lan@lists.osuosl.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] e1000: check the return of pci_get_drvdata() in e1000_remove() Message-ID: <20180522184702.64cd62f6@xeon-e3> In-Reply-To: <20180523001743.8492-1-chenbo@pdx.edu> References: <20180523001743.8492-1-chenbo@pdx.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, 22 May 2018 17:17:43 -0700 Bo Chen wrote: > This check on pci_get_drvdata() prevents potential invalid pointer dereferences, > and is a common practice in *_remove() functions from other drivers, such as > 'intel/e100.c', 'amd/pcnet32.c', 'realtek/8139too.c', and 'broadcom/tg3.c'. > > Signed-off-by: Bo Chen Why check for something that can never be true. You are creating dead code paths that can never be exercised.