Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 15:39:07 +0100
From: Al Viro <viro@ftp.linux.org.uk>
To: Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>
Cc: Russell King <rmk+lkml@arm.linux.org.uk>,
       Linux Kernel List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
       Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
Subject: Re: p = kmalloc(sizeof(*p), )
Message-ID: <20050918143907.GK19626@ftp.linux.org.uk>
References: <20050918100627.GA16007@flint.arm.linux.org.uk> <1127041474.8932.4.camel@localhost.localdomain>
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On Sun, Sep 18, 2005 at 12:04:34PM +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
 
> Other good practice in many cases is a single routine which allocates
> and initialises the structure and is used by all allocators of that
> object. That removes duplicate initialisers, stops people forgetting to
> update all cases, allows better debug and far more.

Indeed.  IMO, argument for sizeof(*p) is bullshit - "I've changed a pointer
type and forgot to update the allocation and initialization, but this will
magically save my arse" is missing "except that initialization will remain
bogus" part.

I've seen a lot of bugs around bogus kmalloc+initialization, but I can't
recall a single case when such bug would be prevented by using that form.
If somebody has a different experience, please post pointers to changesets
in question.
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