From: David Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:43:05 -0800 (PST) > I think we can fix this easily by using __attribute_const_ > on the print_mac() declaration. Let me play with that. Actually it seems the 'pure' attribute is more important here. Although it's not semantically a perfect match, what we need to tell the compiler is basically that: 1) the return value depends upon the inputs 2) if the input is not used, it's safe to avoid the call and 'pure' accomplishes that without any unwanted side-effects. I think this will not result in any unwanted over-optimization. Because if the inputs change in any way GCC has to emit the call. Any objections? commit 8f789c48448aed74fe1c07af76de8f04adacec7d Author: David S. Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon Feb 18 16:50:22 2008 -0800 [NET]: Elminate spurious print_mac() calls. Patrick McHardy notes that print_mac() can get invoked even if the result it unused (f.e. as an argument to pr_debug() when DEBUG is not defined). Mark this function as "__pure" to eliminate this problem. Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> diff --git a/include/linux/if_ether.h b/include/linux/if_ether.h index 7a1e011..42dc6a3 100644 --- a/include/linux/if_ether.h +++ b/include/linux/if_ether.h @@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ extern ssize_t sysfs_format_mac(char *buf, const unsigned char *addr, int len); /* * Display a 6 byte device address (MAC) in a readable format. */ -extern char *print_mac(char *buf, const unsigned char *addr); +extern __pure char *print_mac(char *buf, const unsigned char *addr); #define MAC_BUF_SIZE 18 #define DECLARE_MAC_BUF(var) char var[MAC_BUF_SIZE] __maybe_unused - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wireless" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html