In some functions, returning a -ve decimal value is actually a valid
return condition when the function is returning a value, however, it
can also be misused for returning an error value that should ideally
be a valid error code defined in include/uapi/asm-generic/errno-base.h
or include/uapi/asm-generic/errno.h
Considering typical newbie error of doing the following:
int fn(void)
{
/* ... error condition ... */
return -1;
}
void fn1(void)
{
/* some code */
if (fn() < 0) {
pr_err("Error occurred\n");
return;
}
/* other cases... */
}
Flag this as a check case for developer verification.
Signed-off-by: Nishanth Menon <n...@ti.com>
---
scripts/checkpatch.pl | 6 ++++++
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)
diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 4904ced676d4..f6fa07fe33a5 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -4351,6 +4351,12 @@ sub process {
}
}
+# return with a value is not usually a good sign, unless the function is
supposed to return a value
+ if (defined($stat) && $stat =~ /^.\s*return\s*-[0-9]+\s*;/s) {
+ CHK("RETURN_NUMBER",
+ "Suspect error return with a value, If this is
error value, refer to include/uapi/asm-generic/errno-base.h and
include/uapi/asm-generic/errno.h\n" . $herecurr);
+ }
+
# unnecessary return in a void function
# at end-of-function, with the previous line a single leading tab, then return;
# and the line before that not a goto label target like "out:"
--
2.8.0
