[PATCH][next] drm: i915_drm.h: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

[PATCH][next] drm: i915_drm.h: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

[Gustavo A. R. Silva]

The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
introduced in C99:

struct foo {
        int stuff;
        struct boo array[];
};

By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.

Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
this change:

"Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]

This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.

[1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
[2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
[3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")

Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavo@embeddedor.com>
---
 include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h b/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h
index 2813e579b480..413d923b332a 100644
--- a/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h
+++ b/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h
@@ -1729,7 +1729,7 @@ struct i915_context_engines_load_balance {
 
 	__u64 mbz64; /* reserved for future use; must be zero */
 
-	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[0];
+	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[];
 } __attribute__((packed));
 
 #define I915_DEFINE_CONTEXT_ENGINES_LOAD_BALANCE(name__, N__) struct { \
@@ -1767,7 +1767,7 @@ struct i915_context_engines_bond {
 	__u64 flags; /* all undefined flags must be zero */
 	__u64 mbz64[4]; /* reserved for future use; must be zero */
 
-	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[0];
+	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[];
 } __attribute__((packed));
 
 #define I915_DEFINE_CONTEXT_ENGINES_BOND(name__, N__) struct { \
-- 
2.25.0

Re: [PATCH][next] drm: i915_drm.h: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

[Jani Nikula]

On Tue, 03 Mar 2020, "Gustavo A. R. Silva" <gustavo@embeddedor.com> wrote:
> The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
> extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
> variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
> introduced in C99:

My earlier question about making the change in uapi was really about
potentially bumping up userspace compiler requirements, though I did not
actually say so. :)

I guess effectively uapi already requires C99 to build? And we
(i915_drm.h) have both [0] and []. So go for it.

What's your baseline? I think you've missed one instance of struct
i915_engine_class_instance engines[0];

BR,
Jani.


>
> struct foo {
>         int stuff;
>         struct boo array[];
> };
>
> By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
> in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
> will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
> inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.
>
> Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
> this change:
>
> "Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
> may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
> zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]
>
> This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.
>
> [1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
> [2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
> [3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")
>
> Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavo@embeddedor.com>
> ---
>  include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h | 4 ++--
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h b/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h
> index 2813e579b480..413d923b332a 100644
> --- a/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h
> +++ b/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h
> @@ -1729,7 +1729,7 @@ struct i915_context_engines_load_balance {
>  
>  	__u64 mbz64; /* reserved for future use; must be zero */
>  
> -	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[0];
> +	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[];
>  } __attribute__((packed));
>  
>  #define I915_DEFINE_CONTEXT_ENGINES_LOAD_BALANCE(name__, N__) struct { \
> @@ -1767,7 +1767,7 @@ struct i915_context_engines_bond {
>  	__u64 flags; /* all undefined flags must be zero */
>  	__u64 mbz64[4]; /* reserved for future use; must be zero */
>  
> -	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[0];
> +	struct i915_engine_class_instance engines[];
>  } __attribute__((packed));
>  
>  #define I915_DEFINE_CONTEXT_ENGINES_BOND(name__, N__) struct { \

-- 
Jani Nikula, Intel Open Source Graphics Center