From: Heiner Kallweit <hkallwe...@gmail.com> Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2018 23:18:25 +0100
> Several functions accessing the device driver_data field don't need the > net_device. All needed parameters can be accessed via struct > rtl8169_private, therefore change type of driver_data accordingly. > > Signed-off-by: Heiner Kallweit <hkallwe...@gmail.com> This doesn't work. The pci_set_drvdata() call happens after register_netdevice(). At the exact moment register_netdevice() is called, any part of the driver can be invoked before it returns. Therefore this change will result in crashes because the drvdata won't be initialized early enough. I really think you're taking things too far with the cleanups of this driver. It is a reasonably old driver used by a lot of people, and I think avoiding regressions is 1000 times more important than "streamlining" control plane functions that have not effect whatsoever on real driver performance. Thank you.
