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Network devices can allocate reasources and private memory using netdev_ops->ndo_init(). However, the release of these resources can occur in one of two different places. Either netdev_ops->ndo_uninit() or netdev->destructor(). The decision of which operation frees the resources depends upon whether it is necessary for all netdev refs to be released before it is safe to perform the freeing. netdev_ops->ndo_uninit() presumably can occur right after the NETDEV_UNREGISTER notifier completes and the unicast and multicast address lists are flushed. netdev->destructor(), on the other hand, does not run until the netdev references all go away. Further complicating the situation is that netdev->destructor() almost universally does also a free_netdev(). This creates a problem for the logic in register_netdevice(). Because all callers of register_netdevice() manage the freeing of the netdev, and invoke free_netdev(dev) if register_netdevice() fails. If netdev_ops->ndo_init() succeeds, but something else fails inside of register_netdevice(), it does call ndo_ops->ndo_uninit(). But it is not able to invoke netdev->destructor(). This is because netdev->destructor() will do a free_netdev() and then the caller of register_netdevice() will do the same. However, this means that the resources that would normally be released by netdev->destructor() will not be. Over the years drivers have added local hacks to deal with this, by invoking their destructor parts by hand when register_netdevice() fails. Many drivers do not try to deal with this, and instead we have leaks. Let's close this hole by formalizing the distinction between what private things need to be freed up by netdev->destructor() and whether the driver needs unregister_netdevice() to perform the free_netdev(). netdev->priv_destructor() performs all actions to free up the private resources that used to be freed by netdev->destructor(), except for free_netdev(). netdev->needs_free_netdev is a boolean that indicates whether free_netdev() should be done at the end of unregister_netdevice(). Now, register_netdevice() can sanely release all resources after ndo_ops->ndo_init() succeeds, by invoking both ndo_ops->ndo_uninit() and netdev->priv_destructor(). And at the end of unregister_netdevice(), we invoke netdev->priv_destructor() and optionally call free_netdev(). Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net> |
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Linux kernel ============ This file was moved to Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst Please notice that there are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or ``make pdfdocs``. There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory, several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation. See Documentation/00-INDEX for a list of what is contained in each file. Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.