Re: [PATCH 2/6] device: Add #define dev_fmt similar to #define pr_fmt

[Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Fri, Jul 06, 2018 at 08:41:34AM -0700, Joe Perches wrote:
> On Fri, 2018-07-06 at 17:30 +0200, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> > On Wed, May 09, 2018 at 08:15:46AM -0700, Joe Perches wrote:
> > > Add a prefixing macro to dev_<level> uses similar to the pr_fmt
> > > prefixing macro used in pr_<level> calls.
> > > 
> > > This can help avoid some string duplication in dev_<level> uses.
> > > 
> > > The default, like pr_fmt, is an empty #define dev_fmt(fmt) fmt
> > > 
> > > Rename the existing dev_<level> functions to _dev_<level> and
> > > introduce #define dev_<level> _dev_<level> macros that use the
> > > new #define dev_fmt
> > > 
> > > Miscellanea:
> > > 
> > > o Consistently use #defines with fmt, ... and ##__VA_ARGS__
> > > o Remove unnecessary externs
> > 
> > SHouldn't these be separate patches please?
> 
> Multiple patches touching the same lines are unnecessary work.
> 
> So I don't think so as it's just touching bits that need change
> anyway.  
> 
> > > Signed-off-by: Joe Perches <joe@perches.com>
> > > ---
> > >  drivers/base/core.c    |  12 +++---
> > >  include/linux/device.h | 103 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------
> > >  2 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 51 deletions(-)
> > 
> > Ok this seems like a lot of churn for no real apparent gain.  What is
> > all of this getting us?
> >
> > What is the benifit, you have more code now,
> > why is that good?
> 
> IPMI and a few other subsystems prefix all their output
> dev_<level> with specific duplicated content.

That's crazy and strange as the whole idea was that dev_* would uniquely
identify the driver/device such that "prefixes" would not be needed.

Ugh.

> This centralizes those prefixes just like pr_fmt.
> 
> The IPMI changes are already in mainline and now
> need this mechanism to maintain their output content.
> 
> IPMI and a few other subsystems prefix all their output
> dev_<level> with specific duplicated content.
> 
> This centralizes those prefixes just like pr_fmt.
> 
> commit a2d70dfdda6f ("ipmi: msghandler: Add and use pr_fmt and dev_fmt,
> remove PFX")

Ok, I'll take this.  I don't like it, as drivers should really not need
this at all.  But ipmi is known for doing "odd" things anyway...

greg k-h