bitmap: extend comment to bitmap_print_bitmask/list_to_buf

Extend comment to new function to warn potential users about caveats.

Signed-off-by: Yury Norov <yury.norov@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Barry Song <song.bao.hua@hisilicon.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20210806110251.560-6-song.bao.hua@hisilicon.com
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/lib/bitmap.c b/lib/bitmap.c
index 73746d96af81..663dd81967d4 100644
--- a/lib/bitmap.c
+++ b/lib/bitmap.c
@@ -568,6 +568,24 @@ static int bitmap_print_to_buf(bool list, char *buf, const unsigned long *maskp,
  * and it can break the size limit of converted decimal list and hexadecimal
  * bitmask.
  *
+ * WARNING!
+ *
+ * This function is not a replacement for sprintf() or bitmap_print_to_pagebuf().
+ * It is intended to workaround sysfs limitations discussed above and should be
+ * used carefully in general case for the following reasons:
+ *  - Time complexity is O(nbits^2/count), comparing to O(nbits) for snprintf().
+ *  - Memory complexity is O(nbits), comparing to O(1) for snprintf().
+ *  - @off and @count are NOT offset and number of bits to print.
+ *  - If printing part of bitmap as list, the resulting string is not a correct
+ *    list representation of bitmap. Particularly, some bits within or out of
+ *    related interval may be erroneously set or unset. The format of the string
+ *    may be broken, so bitmap_parselist-like parser may fail parsing it.
+ *  - If printing the whole bitmap as list by parts, user must ensure the order
+ *    of calls of the function such that the offset is incremented linearly.
+ *  - If printing the whole bitmap as list by parts, user must keep bitmap
+ *    unchanged between the very first and very last call. Otherwise concatenated
+ *    result may be incorrect, and format may be broken.
+ *
  * Returns the number of characters actually printed to @buf
  */
 int bitmap_print_bitmask_to_buf(char *buf, const unsigned long *maskp,