Checkpatch suggests the use of strscpy() instead of strncpy(). The advantages are that it always adds a NUL terminator and it prevents a read overflow if the src string is not properly terminated. One potential disadvantage is that it doesn't zero pad the string like strncpy() does. In this code, strscpy() and strncpy() are equivalent and it does not affect runtime behavior. The string is zeroed on the line before using memset(). The resulting string was always NUL terminated and PRISM2_USB_FWFILE is string literal "prism2_ru.fw" so it's NUL terminated. However, even though using strscpy() does not fix any bugs, it's still nicer and makes checkpatch happy. Signed-off-by: Calvince Otieno <calvncce@xxxxxxxxx> --- Patch version v4: Provide a valid description of the patch Patch version v3: Correct the patch subject headline. staging: wlan-ng: remove strncpy() use in favor of strscpy() Patch version v2 : Correct implementation of the strscpy() drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c b/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c index 5d03b2b9aab4..3ccd11041646 100644 --- a/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c +++ b/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c @@ -725,7 +725,7 @@ static int plugimage(struct imgchunk *fchunk, unsigned int nfchunks, if (j == -1) { /* plug the filename */ memset(dest, 0, s3plug[i].len); - strncpy(dest, PRISM2_USB_FWFILE, s3plug[i].len - 1); + strscpy(dest, PRISM2_USB_FWFILE, s3plug[i].len); } else { /* plug a PDR */ memcpy(dest, &pda->rec[j]->data, s3plug[i].len); } Patch version v1: Replacing strncpy() with strscpy() drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c b/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c index 5d03b2b9aab4..57a99dd12143 100644 --- a/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c +++ b/drivers/staging/wlan-ng/prism2fw.c @@ -725,7 +725,7 @@ static int plugimage(struct imgchunk *fchunk, unsigned int nfchunks, if (j == -1) { /* plug the filename */ memset(dest, 0, s3plug[i].len); - strncpy(dest, PRISM2_USB_FWFILE, s3plug[i].len - 1); + strscpy(dest, PRISM2_USB_FWFILE, s3plug[i].len - 1); } else { /* plug a PDR */ memcpy(dest, &pda->rec[j]->data, s3plug[i].len); } -- Calvince Otieno