[PATCH 00/13] wifi: drop redundant USB device references

Johan Hovold johan at kernel.org
Thu Mar 5 03:07:00 PST 2026


Driver core holds a reference to the USB interface and its parent USB
device while the interface is bound to a driver and there is no need to
take additional references unless the structures are needed after
disconnect.

Drop redundant device references to reduce cargo culting, make it easier
to spot drivers where an extra reference is needed, and reduce the risk
of memory leaks when drivers fail to release them.

Note that I sent an ath9k patch separately here:

	https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260305105803.17011-1-johan@kernel.org/

but I guess these can all be picked up by Johannes.

Johan


Johan Hovold (13):
  wifi: at76c50x: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: libertas: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: libertas_tf: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: mwifiex: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: mt76: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: mt76x0u: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: mt76x2u: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: mt76: mt792xu: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: mt7601u: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: rt2x00: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: rtl818x: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: rtl8xxxu: drop redundant device reference
  wifi: rtlwifi: usb: drop redundant device reference

 drivers/net/wireless/atmel/at76c50x-usb.c          | 12 ++++--------
 drivers/net/wireless/marvell/libertas/if_usb.c     |  3 ---
 drivers/net/wireless/marvell/libertas_tf/if_usb.c  |  2 --
 drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/usb.c         |  4 ----
 drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7615/usb.c    |  3 ---
 drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x0/usb.c    |  3 ---
 drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x2/usb.c    |  4 ----
 drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7921/usb.c    |  2 --
 drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7925/usb.c    |  2 --
 drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt792x_usb.c    |  1 -
 drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt7601u/usb.c        |  3 ---
 drivers/net/wireless/ralink/rt2x00/rt2x00usb.c     | 12 +-----------
 drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl818x/rtl8187/dev.c |  4 ----
 drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtl8xxxu/core.c       | 11 +++--------
 drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/usb.c         |  4 ----
 15 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 62 deletions(-)

-- 
2.52.0




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