4.9-stable review patch. If anyone has any objections, please let me know. ------------------ From: Wei Yongjun <yongjun_wei@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> commit 62277de758b155dc04b78f195a1cb5208c37b2df upstream. In case of error, the function kthread_run() returns ERR_PTR() and never returns NULL. The NULL test in the return value check should be replaced with IS_ERR(). Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1466184839-14927-1-git-send-email-weiyj_lk@xxxxxxx Fixes: 6c43e554a ("ring-buffer: Add ring buffer startup selftest") Signed-off-by: Wei Yongjun <yongjun_wei@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> --- kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c | 8 ++++---- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) --- a/kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c +++ b/kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c @@ -4870,9 +4870,9 @@ static __init int test_ringbuffer(void) rb_data[cpu].cnt = cpu; rb_threads[cpu] = kthread_create(rb_test, &rb_data[cpu], "rbtester/%d", cpu); - if (WARN_ON(!rb_threads[cpu])) { + if (WARN_ON(IS_ERR(rb_threads[cpu]))) { pr_cont("FAILED\n"); - ret = -1; + ret = PTR_ERR(rb_threads[cpu]); goto out_free; } @@ -4882,9 +4882,9 @@ static __init int test_ringbuffer(void) /* Now create the rb hammer! */ rb_hammer = kthread_run(rb_hammer_test, NULL, "rbhammer"); - if (WARN_ON(!rb_hammer)) { + if (WARN_ON(IS_ERR(rb_hammer))) { pr_cont("FAILED\n"); - ret = -1; + ret = PTR_ERR(rb_hammer); goto out_free; }