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dmaengine: uniphier-mdmac: replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

PATCH Applied Gustavo A. R. Silva 3 participants 3 messages Feb 13, 2020 – Feb 18, 2020

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PATCH 1/1 dmaengine: uniphier-mdmac: replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

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")

---
 drivers/dma/uniphier-mdmac.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
drivers/dma/uniphier-mdmac.c +1 -1
index 21b8f1131d55..618839df0748 100644
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ struct uniphier_mdmac_device {
 	struct dma_device ddev;
 	struct clk *clk;
 	void __iomem *reg_base;
-	struct uniphier_mdmac_chan channels[0];
+	struct uniphier_mdmac_chan channels[];
 };
 
 static struct uniphier_mdmac_chan *
Signature · 1 line
2.23.0
maintainer Applied
#1 lore raw
Quoted 22 lines · 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]

Quoted 5 lines

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")

Applied, thanks

Signature · 1 line
~Vinod
Acked-by on v1 1/1
#2 lore raw
In reply to Gustavo A. R. Silva
Quoted 23 lines · 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]

Quoted 7 lines

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")

Quoted 20 lines
---
 drivers/dma/uniphier-mdmac.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
drivers/dma/uniphier-mdmac.c +1 -2
index 21b8f1131d55..618839df0748 100644
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ struct uniphier_mdmac_device {
        struct dma_device ddev;
        struct clk *clk;
        void __iomem *reg_base;
-       struct uniphier_mdmac_chan channels[0];
+       struct uniphier_mdmac_chan channels[];
 };
 
 static struct uniphier_mdmac_chan *
--

2.23.0

Signature · 2 lines
Best Regards
Masahiro Yamada