From: Xiaomeng Tong > Sent: 03 March 2022 02:27 > > On Wed, 2 Mar 2022 14:04:06 +0000, David Laight > <David.Laight@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > I think that it would be better to make any alternate loop macro > > just set the variable to NULL on the loop exit. > > That is easier to code for and the compiler might be persuaded to > > not redo the test. > > No, that would lead to a NULL dereference. Why, it would make it b ethe same as the 'easy to use': for (item = head; item; item = item->next) { ... if (...) break; ... } if (!item) return; > The problem is the mis-use of iterator outside the loop on exit, and > the iterator will be the HEAD's container_of pointer which pointers > to a type-confused struct. Sidenote: The *mis-use* here refers to > mistakely access to other members of the struct, instead of the > list_head member which acutally is the valid HEAD. The problem is that the HEAD's container_of pointer should never be calculated at all. This is what is fundamentally broken about the current definition. > IOW, you would dereference a (NULL + offset_of_member) address here. Where? > Please remind me if i missed something, thanks. > > Can you share your "alternative definitions" details? thanks! The loop should probably use as extra variable that points to the 'list node' in the next structure. Something like: for (xxx *iter = head->next; iter == &head ? ((item = NULL),0) : ((item = list_item(iter),1)); iter = item->member->next) { ... With a bit of casting you can use 'item' to hold 'iter'. > > > OTOH there may be alternative definitions that can be used to get > > the compiler (or other compiler-like tools) to detect broken code. > > Even if the definition can't possibly generate a working kerrnel. > > The "list_for_each_entry_inside(pos, type, head, member)" way makes > the iterator invisiable outside the loop, and would be catched by > compiler if use-after-loop things happened. It is also a compete PITA for anything doing a search. David - Registered Address Lakeside, Bramley Road, Mount Farm, Milton Keynes, MK1 1PT, UK Registration No: 1397386 (Wales)