HI ! Stumbled across the somewhat inconsistent treatement of functions returning ERR_PTR() in the kernel with respect to coding style, while trying to write some static code checks. The two forms which seem comon are: if (PTR_ERR(var) == -EINVAL) { and if (var == ERR_PTR(-EINVAL)) { of which I think the first is the intended construct. my understanding of ERR_PTR is that it is intended to be used in the form ret = ERR_PTR(-EINVAL); ... retrurn ret; or return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL); but not as in the second if() above - technically its the same thing Is there an "official" preference to the one or other form ? thx! hofrat