Messages in this thread | | | From | Linus Torvalds <> | Date | Thu, 24 Feb 2022 09:45:05 -0800 | Subject | Re: Use of void pointer arithmetic? |
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On Thu, Feb 24, 2022 at 1:59 AM Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org> wrote: > > > What does -Wpointer-arith buy us? > > A good question. I have always just thought we should avoid void pointer > arithmetic due to the C standard, but now that you mention it void > pointers can indeed simplify the code. So I'm not so sure anymore. > > Any opinions? Is there a kernel wide recommendation for this?
We consciously use arithmetic on 'void *' in some places, although it's not exactly _hugely_ common.
It's much more common to turn a pointer into an 'unsigned long' and then doing basic operations on that.
The advantage of 'void *' is that it does avoid the need to cast the pointer back.
But at the same time it will never replace the 'cast to an actual integer type', because the 'void *' arithmetic only does simple addition and subtraction, and many pointer operations need more (ie alignment needs to do the bitops).
So I think it's mostly a personal preference. I *do* think that doing arithmetic on 'void *' is generally superior to doing it the old-fashioned C way on 'char *' - unless, of course, 'char *' is simply the native type in question.
So if 'char *' casts (and casting back) is the alternative, then by all means use 'void *' as a kind of generic and type-independent "byte pointer". That is how it is meant to be used in the gcc extension.
And no, nobody should ever use -Wpointer-arith on the kernel in general. Our use of it is not _hugely_ common, but it's does exist, and it's not really frowned upon.
Linus
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