Re: kfree(NULL)

[Nick Piggin <nickpiggin@yahoo.com.au>]

Hua Zhong wrote:
>  > There is a judgement to be made at each call site of kfree 
>
> > (and similar functions) about whether the argument is rarely 
> > NULL, or could often be NULL.  If the janitors have been 
> > making this judgement, I apologise, but I haven't seen them 
> > doing that.
> >
> > Paul.
>
>
> Even if the caller passes NULL most of the time, the check should be removed.
>
> It's just crazy talk to say "you should not check NULL before calling kfree, as long as you make sure it's not NULL most of the
> time".

It can reduce readability of the code [unless it is used in error path
simplification, kfree(something) usually suggests kfree-an-object].

If the caller passes NULL most of the time, it could be in need of
redesign.

I don't actually like kfree(NULL) any time except error paths. It is
subjective, not crazy talk.

--
SUSE Labs, Novell Inc.
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