[PATCH] err.h: use __always_inline on all error pointer helpers

From: Arnd Bergmann

Date: Tue May 26 2026 - 06:19:01 EST


From: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx>

While testing randconfig builds on s390, I came across a
link failure with CONFIG_DMA_SHARED_BUFFER disabled:

ERROR: modpost: "dma_buf_put" [drivers/iommu/iommufd/iommufd.ko] undefined!

The problem here is that IS_ERR() is not inlined and dead code elimination
fails as a consequence.

The err.h helpers all turn into a trivial assignment ot a bit mask
and should never result in a function call, so force them to always be
inline. This should generally result in better object code aside from
avoiding the link failure above.

Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/err.h | 12 ++++++------
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/err.h b/include/linux/err.h
index 8c37be0620ab..d3e38d5b3a98 100644
--- a/include/linux/err.h
+++ b/include/linux/err.h
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
*
* Return: A pointer with @error encoded within its value.
*/
-static inline void * __must_check ERR_PTR(long error)
+static __always_inline void * __must_check ERR_PTR(long error)
{
return (void *) error;
}
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ static inline void * __must_check ERR_PTR(long error)
* @ptr: An error pointer.
* Return: The error code within @ptr.
*/
-static inline long __must_check PTR_ERR(__force const void *ptr)
+static __always_inline long __must_check PTR_ERR(__force const void *ptr)
{
return (long) ptr;
}
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ static inline long __must_check PTR_ERR(__force const void *ptr)
* @ptr: The pointer to check.
* Return: true if @ptr is an error pointer, false otherwise.
*/
-static inline bool __must_check IS_ERR(__force const void *ptr)
+static __always_inline bool __must_check IS_ERR(__force const void *ptr)
{
return IS_ERR_VALUE((unsigned long)ptr);
}
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ static inline bool __must_check IS_ERR(__force const void *ptr)
*
* Like IS_ERR(), but also returns true for a null pointer.
*/
-static inline bool __must_check IS_ERR_OR_NULL(__force const void *ptr)
+static __always_inline bool __must_check IS_ERR_OR_NULL(__force const void *ptr)
{
return unlikely(!ptr) || IS_ERR_VALUE((unsigned long)ptr);
}
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ static inline bool __must_check IS_ERR_OR_NULL(__force const void *ptr)
* Explicitly cast an error-valued pointer to another pointer type in such a
* way as to make it clear that's what's going on.
*/
-static inline void * __must_check ERR_CAST(__force const void *ptr)
+static __always_inline void * __must_check ERR_CAST(__force const void *ptr)
{
/* cast away the const */
return (void *) ptr;
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ static inline void * __must_check ERR_CAST(__force const void *ptr)
*
* Return: The error code within @ptr if it is an error pointer; 0 otherwise.
*/
-static inline int __must_check PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(__force const void *ptr)
+static __always_inline int __must_check PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(__force const void *ptr)
{
if (IS_ERR(ptr))
return PTR_ERR(ptr);
--
2.39.5