[PATCH] phylib: update mdiobus_alloc() to allocate extra private space

[Andy Fleming]

On Dec 15, 2011, at 11:51 AM, Timur Tabi wrote:

> Augment mdiobus_alloc() to take a parameter indicating the number of extra
> bytes to allocate for private data.  Almost all callers of mdiobus_alloc()
> separately allocate a private data structure.  By allowing mdiobus_alloc()
> to allocate extra memory, the two allocations can be merged into one.
> 
> This patch does not change any of the callers to actually take advantage
> of this feature, however.  That change can be made by the individual
> maintainers at their leisure.  For now, all callers ask for zero additional
> bytes, which mimics the previous behavior.


Why? Doesn't this just obfuscate things a little, while providing no immediate benefit?

Andy