Valentine Barshak schrieb: > Oliver Neukum wrote: > > Am Montag 22 Oktober 2007 schrieb Valentine Barshak: > >> static int asix_mdio_read(struct net_device *netdev, int phy_id, int loc) > >> { > >> struct usbnet *dev = netdev_priv(netdev); > >> + void *buf; > >> u16 res; > >> > >> mutex_lock(&dev->phy_mutex); > >> asix_set_sw_mii(dev); > >> + > >> + buf = kmalloc(2, GFP_KERNEL); > > > > This is done under lock. Can you allocate the buffer once and reuse it? > I think we can use 2 bytes of the usbnet data buffer for this. > I'll submit a new patch soon.
If this cannot be done for some reason, then you can at least kmalloc() before you do "mutex_lock(&dev->phy_mutex);" and kfree() after you did "mutex_unlock(&dev->phy_mutex);" The reason to can do this, is that "buf" has a life time limited to this function. The reason you should do this, is that kmalloc(, GFP_KERNEL) is allowed to sleep, which will block the mutex for that time. While this is technically ok, since mutexes can sleep, it is not desireable, since other users of that mutex are blocked until the allocation is done. If you are able to implement the "2 bytes of usbnet data buffer" version, please ignore that mail :-) Best Regards Ingo Oeser - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe netdev" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html