On Wed, 17 Apr 2019 02:59:43 +0200 Matteo Croce <mcroce@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > In the sysctl code the proc_dointvec_minmax() function is often used to > validate the user supplied value between an allowed range. This function > uses the extra1 and extra2 members from struct ctl_table as minimum and > maximum allowed value. > > On sysctl handler declaration, in every source file there are some readonly > variables containing just an integer which address is assigned to the > extra1 and extra2 members, so the sysctl range is enforced. > > The special values 0, 1 and INT_MAX are very often used as range boundary, > leading duplication of variables like zero=0, one=1, int_max=INT_MAX in > different source files: > > $ git grep -E '\.extra[12].*&(zero|one|int_max)\b' |wc -l > 245 > > This patch adds three const variables for the most commonly used values, > and use them instead of creating a local one for every object file. > Nice. A few thoughts: > --- a/arch/s390/appldata/appldata_base.c > +++ b/arch/s390/appldata/appldata_base.c > @@ -220,15 +220,13 @@ appldata_timer_handler(struct ctl_table *ctl, int write, > void __user *buffer, size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos) > { > int timer_active = appldata_timer_active; > - int zero = 0; > - int one = 1; > int rc; > struct ctl_table ctl_entry = { > .procname = ctl->procname, > .data = &timer_active, > .maxlen = sizeof(int), > - .extra1 = &zero, > - .extra2 = &one, > + .extra1 = (void *)&sysctl_zero, > + .extra2 = (void *)&sysctl_one, The casts are ugly, and by casting away constness they introduce the risk that some errant could could change the value of 0, 1 and INT_MAX! Maybe - perhaps trying to do that would cause a segv but still, they're ugly. A proper fix would require changing extra1 and extra2 to const void *. Perhaps that would be unfeasibly extensive? > ... > > --- a/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c > +++ b/fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c > @@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ static const struct inode_operations proc_sys_inode_operations; > static const struct file_operations proc_sys_dir_file_operations; > static const struct inode_operations proc_sys_dir_operations; > > +/* shared constants to be used in various sysctls */ > +const int sysctl_zero = 0; > +const int sysctl_one = 1; > +const int sysctl_int_max = INT_MAX; Don't these require EXPORT_SYMBOL()?