pt_prev in net_rx_action()

[samudrala@us.ibm.com]

I am trying to understand the following piece of code in net_rx_action()

          struct packet_type *ptype, *pt_prev;
            unsigned short type = skb->protocol;

            pt_prev = NULL;
            for (ptype = ptype_all; ptype; ptype = ptype->next) {
                if (!ptype->dev || ptype->dev == skb->dev) {
                    if (pt_prev) {
                        if (!pt_prev->data) {
                            deliver_to_old_ones(pt_prev, skb, 0);
                        } else {
                            atomic_inc(&skb->users);
                            pt_prev->func(skb,
                                      skb->dev,
                                      pt_prev);
                        }
                    }
                    pt_prev = ptype;
                }
            }


Is there any reason why pt_prev is used instead of directly calling
ptype->func()? This causes the packet handler to be called during the next
iteration after it was found.

Thanks
Sridhar


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