Re: [PATCH] watchdog: machzwd : fix warning Using plain integer as NULL pointer

[Guenter Roeck <linux@roeck-us.net>]

On 4/6/19 6:14 AM, Hariprasad Kelam wrote:
> Changes passing function argument 0 to NULL to avoid below sparse
> warning
> 
>   CHECK   drivers/watchdog//machzwd.c
> drivers/watchdog//machzwd.c:321:25: warning: Using plain integer as NULL
> pointer
> 
> Signed-off-by: Hariprasad Kelam <hariprasad.kelam@gmail.com>

[reluctantly]

Reviewed-by: Guenter Roeck <linux@roeck-us.net>

If anyone is still using the HW supported by this driver, it would
be a prime target for conversion to use the watchdog subsystem.
This would reduce code size and improve driver stability.
_That_ would be useful.

The only reason for replacing 0 with NULL is to make a static checker
happy. This kind of change adds zero value to the code. Instead, it
takes time from those who have to review the patches and apply them.

If we ignore such patches, we'll get them again and again, taking
away even more time. If we don't ignore them, we encourage submitters
and get even more useless patches. If we try to discourage them, we
risk being accused of being unfriendly. This is a perfect lose-lose
situation for maintainers.

Guenter

> ---
>   drivers/watchdog/machzwd.c | 2 +-
>   1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/watchdog/machzwd.c b/drivers/watchdog/machzwd.c
> index 88d823d..c3926d0 100644
> --- a/drivers/watchdog/machzwd.c
> +++ b/drivers/watchdog/machzwd.c
> @@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ static long zf_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
>   	case WDIOC_GETBOOTSTATUS:
>   		return put_user(0, p);
>   	case WDIOC_KEEPALIVE:
> -		zf_ping(0);
> +		zf_ping(NULL);
>   		break;
>   	default:
>   		return -ENOTTY;
>