[PATCH] perf/x86: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

[PATCH] perf/x86: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

[Gustavo A. R. Silva]

The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
introduced in C99:

struct foo {
        int stuff;
        struct boo array[];
};

By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.

Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
this change:

"Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]

sizeof(flexible-array-member) triggers a warning because flexible array
members have incomplete type[1]. There are some instances of code in
which the sizeof operator is being incorrectly/erroneously applied to
zero-length arrays and the result is zero. Such instances may be hiding
some bugs. So, this work (flexible-array member conversions) will also
help to get completely rid of those sorts of issues.

This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.

[1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
[2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
[3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")

Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org>
---
 arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c    | 2 +-
 arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c b/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c
index 6a3b599ee0fe..731dd8d0dbb1 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ struct bts_buffer {
 	local_t		head;
 	unsigned long	end;
 	void		**data_pages;
-	struct bts_phys	buf[0];
+	struct bts_phys	buf[];
 };
 
 static struct pmu bts_pmu;
diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h b/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h
index 0da4a4605536..b469ddd45515 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ struct intel_uncore_box {
 	struct list_head list;
 	struct list_head active_list;
 	void __iomem *io_addr;
-	struct intel_uncore_extra_reg shared_regs[0];
+	struct intel_uncore_extra_reg shared_regs[];
 };
 
 /* CFL uncore 8th cbox MSRs */
-- 
2.26.2

[tip: perf/core] perf/x86: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

[tip-bot2 for Gustavo A. R. Silva]

The following commit has been merged into the perf/core branch of tip:

Commit-ID:     8ac7571a8cd3c11da24c3c3555f6e40e33049609
Gitweb:        https://git.kernel.org/tip/8ac7571a8cd3c11da24c3c3555f6e40e33049609
Author:        Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org>
AuthorDate:    Mon, 11 May 2020 15:09:11 -05:00
Committer:     Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
CommitterDate: Tue, 19 May 2020 20:34:16 +02:00

perf/x86: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
introduced in C99:

struct foo {
        int stuff;
        struct boo array[];
};

By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.

Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
this change:

"Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]

sizeof(flexible-array-member) triggers a warning because flexible array
members have incomplete type[1]. There are some instances of code in
which the sizeof operator is being incorrectly/erroneously applied to
zero-length arrays and the result is zero. Such instances may be hiding
some bugs. So, this work (flexible-array member conversions) will also
help to get completely rid of those sorts of issues.

This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.

[1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
[2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
[3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")

Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200511200911.GA13149@embeddedor
---
 arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c    | 2 +-
 arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c b/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c
index 6a3b599..731dd8d 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/bts.c
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ struct bts_buffer {
 	local_t		head;
 	unsigned long	end;
 	void		**data_pages;
-	struct bts_phys	buf[0];
+	struct bts_phys	buf[];
 };
 
 static struct pmu bts_pmu;
diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h b/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h
index 0da4a46..b469ddd 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/uncore.h
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ struct intel_uncore_box {
 	struct list_head list;
 	struct list_head active_list;
 	void __iomem *io_addr;
-	struct intel_uncore_extra_reg shared_regs[0];
+	struct intel_uncore_extra_reg shared_regs[];
 };
 
 /* CFL uncore 8th cbox MSRs */