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

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