The advantage of kcalloc is, that will prevent integer overflows which could result from the multiplication of number of elements and size and it is also a bit nicer to read. The semantic patch that makes this change is available in https://lkml.org/lkml/2011/11/25/107 Signed-off-by: Thomas Meyer <thomas@xxxxxxxx> --- diff -u -p a/mm/vmalloc.c b/mm/vmalloc.c --- a/mm/vmalloc.c 2011-11-28 19:36:48.210120310 +0100 +++ b/mm/vmalloc.c 2011-11-28 20:06:49.925235983 +0100 @@ -2348,8 +2348,8 @@ struct vm_struct **pcpu_get_vm_areas(con return NULL; } - vms = kzalloc(sizeof(vms[0]) * nr_vms, GFP_KERNEL); - vas = kzalloc(sizeof(vas[0]) * nr_vms, GFP_KERNEL); + vms = kcalloc(nr_vms, sizeof(vms[0]), GFP_KERNEL); + vas = kcalloc(nr_vms, sizeof(vas[0]), GFP_KERNEL); if (!vas || !vms) goto err_free; -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxx. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Fight unfair telecom internet charges in Canada: sign http://stopthemeter.ca/ Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx";> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>