Re: [PATCH v2 07/16] dell-smbios: don't return an SMBIOS buffer from dell_smbios_send_request()

From: MichaÅ KÄpieÅ
Date: Tue Feb 09 2016 - 08:27:46 EST


> > An SMBIOS buffer pointer does not need to be returned by
> > dell_smbios_send_request(), because SMBIOS call results are stored in
> > the buffer passed as input.
>
> This should come before 6/16, update the commit message to reflect the module
> exported buffer (not the one passed as input), or possibly just merge this patch
> and 6/16 as correcting the use of SMBIOS buffer within the module.

I have only now noticed that I phrased the commit message for this patch
rather unfortunately as it inappropriately conveyed my reasoning. What
I meant by "the buffer passed as input" was not "the buffer passed as an
argument to dell_smbios_send_request()", but rather "the buffer passed
to the SMI handler". In other words, there is no reason to return a
buffer from dell_smbios_send_request(), because each caller will simply
find their output in the same buffer they used to provide input (no
matter whether the latter is passed as a function argument or accessed
using a module-wide variable).

Anyway, as even the above explanation is hardly a stellar demonstration
of clarity, I believe your idea of resolving this issue may simply be
the best one, thanks.

--
Best regards,
MichaÅ KÄpieÅ