RE: [PATCH 02/32] Introduce flexible array struct memcpy() helpers

[David Laight <David.Laight@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Johannes Berg
> Sent: 05 May 2022 21:13
> On Thu, 2022-05-05 at 13:08 -0700, Keith Packard wrote:
> 
> 
> > I bet you've already considered the simpler form:
> >
> >         struct something *instance = mem_to_flex_dup(byte_array, count, 
> > GFP_KERNEL);
> >         if (IS_ERR(instance))
> >             return PTR_ERR(instance);
> >
> 
> Sadly, this doesn't work in any way because mem_to_flex_dup() needs to
> know at least the type, hence passing 'instance', which is simpler than
> passing 'struct something'.

You can use:
         struct something *instance;
         mem_to_flex_dup(instance, byte_array, count, GFP_KERNEL);
         if (IS_ERR(instance))
             return PTR_ERR(instance);
and have mem_to_flex_dup() (which must be a #define) update 'instance'.
(You can require &instance - and just precede all the uses with
an extra '*' to make it more obvious the variable is updated.
But there is little point requiring it be NULL.)

If you really want to define the variable mid-block you can use:
         mem_to_flex_dup(struct something *, instance, byte_array, count, 
GFP_KERNEL);

but I really hate having declarations anywhere other than the top of
a function because it makes them hard for the 'mk1 eyeball' to spot.

        David

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