[PATCH v4] char/nvram: Remove redundant nvram_mutex

[Venkat]

> On 7 Apr 2026, at 12:11 PM, Tellakula Yeswanth Krishna <yeswanth at linux.ibm.com> wrote:
> 
> Please add this tag
> 
> 
> Tested-by: yeswanth <yeswanth at linux.ibm.com>
> 
> On 02/04/26 9:33 pm, Tellakula Yeswanth Krishna wrote:
>> 
>> On 30/03/26 4:05 pm, Venkat Rao Bagalkote wrote:
>>> The global nvram_mutex in drivers/char/nvram.c is redundant and unused,
>>> and this triggers compiler warnings on some configurations.
>>> 
>>> All platform-specific nvram operations already provide their own internal
>>> synchronization, meaning the wrapper-level mutex does not provide any
>>> additional safety.
>>> 
>>> Remove the nvram_mutex definition along with all remaining lock/unlock
>>> users across PPC32, x86, and m68k code paths, and rely entirely on the
>>> per-architecture nvram implementations for locking.
>>> 
>>> Suggested-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd at arndb.de>
>>> Signed-off-by: Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88 at linux.ibm.com>
>>> ---

Hi Arnd,

Thanks for the earlier review and suggestion on this change.

I’m not entirely sure which tree would be the best home for this patch, 
given that the change touches common NVRAM code used across multiple architectures (PPC32, x86, and m68k). 

If there are no further comments or objections from others, would you be able to pick this up through your tree?

Please let me know if this should instead go via some other tree or maintainer.

Regards,
Venkat.
>> Without Fix
>> ===============
>> make -j 33 -s && make modules_install && make install
>> In file included from ./include/linux/seqlock.h:20,
>>                 from ./include/linux/mmzone.h:17,
>>                 from ./include/linux/gfp.h:7,
>>                 from ./include/linux/umh.h:4,
>>                 from ./include/linux/kmod.h:9,
>>                 from ./include/linux/module.h:18,
>>                 from drivers/char/nvram.c:34:
>> drivers/char/nvram.c:56:21: warning: 'nvram_mutex' defined but not used [-Wunused-variable]
>>   56 | static DEFINE_MUTEX(nvram_mutex);
>>      |                     ^~~~~~~~~~~
>> ./include/linux/mutex.h:87:22: note: in definition of macro 'DEFINE_MUTEX'
>>   87 |         struct mutex mutexname = __MUTEX_INITIALIZER(mutexname)
>>      |                      ^~~~~~~~~
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> With this patch issue is fixed
>> 
>> 
>> Please add below tag
>> 
>> yeswanth <yeswanth at linux.ibm.com>
>> 
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> 
>> Yeswanth Krishna
>> 
>>> v4:
>>>   - Remove all remaining nvram_mutex call sites, completing the mutex removal
>>> 
>>> v3:
>>>   - Removed global nvram_mutex definition
>>> 
>>>  drivers/char/nvram.c | 16 +++-------------
>>>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)
>>> 
>>> diff --git a/drivers/char/nvram.c b/drivers/char/nvram.c
>>> index 9eff426a9286..e89cc1f1c89e 100644
>>> --- a/drivers/char/nvram.c
>>> +++ b/drivers/char/nvram.c
>>> @@ -53,7 +53,6 @@
>>>  #include <asm/nvram.h>
>>>  #endif
>>>  -static DEFINE_MUTEX(nvram_mutex);
>>>  static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(nvram_state_lock);
>>>  static int nvram_open_cnt;    /* #times opened */
>>>  static int nvram_open_mode;    /* special open modes */
>>> @@ -310,11 +309,8 @@ static long nvram_misc_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd,
>>>          break;
>>>  #ifdef CONFIG_PPC32
>>>      case IOC_NVRAM_SYNC:
>>> -        if (ppc_md.nvram_sync != NULL) {
>>> -            mutex_lock(&nvram_mutex);
>>> +        if (ppc_md.nvram_sync)
>>>              ppc_md.nvram_sync();
>>> -            mutex_unlock(&nvram_mutex);
>>> -        }
>>>          ret = 0;
>>>          break;
>>>  #endif
>>> @@ -324,11 +320,8 @@ static long nvram_misc_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd,
>>>          if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
>>>              return -EACCES;
>>>  -        if (arch_nvram_ops.initialize != NULL) {
>>> -            mutex_lock(&nvram_mutex);
>>> +        if (arch_nvram_ops.initialize)
>>>              ret = arch_nvram_ops.initialize();
>>> -            mutex_unlock(&nvram_mutex);
>>> -        }
>>>          break;
>>>      case NVRAM_SETCKS:
>>>          /* just set checksum, contents unchanged (maybe useful after
>>> @@ -336,11 +329,8 @@ static long nvram_misc_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd,
>>>          if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
>>>              return -EACCES;
>>>  -        if (arch_nvram_ops.set_checksum != NULL) {
>>> -            mutex_lock(&nvram_mutex);
>>> +        if (arch_nvram_ops.set_checksum)
>>>              ret = arch_nvram_ops.set_checksum();
>>> -            mutex_unlock(&nvram_mutex);
>>> -        }
>>>          break;
>>>  #endif /* CONFIG_X86 || CONFIG_M68K */
>>>      }