Subject: Re: [net-next,V5,10/15] net/mlx5: Add a shared devlink instance for PFs on same chip

From: Jakub Kicinski <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 19:41:35 -0800

On Wed, 21 Jan 2026 19:39:59 -0800 Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> > +int mlx5_shd_init(struct mlx5_core_dev *dev)
> > +{
> > +	u8 *vpd_data __free(kfree) = NULL;  
> 
> The __free(kfree) annotation here combined with the early return below
> looks problematic.

__free() should be considered banned for netdev.
Please.
It clearly adds more bugs than it fixes.