From: Neil Horman Clean up module initalization for apm.c. I had started by auditing for proper return code checks in misc_register, but I found that in the event of an initalization failure, a proc file and a kernel thread were left hanging out. this patch properly cleans up those loose ends on any initalization failure. Signed-off-by: Neil Horman Acked-by: Stephen Rothwell Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton --- arch/i386/kernel/apm.c | 9 ++++++++- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff -puN arch/i386/kernel/apm.c~apm-clean-up-module-initalization arch/i386/kernel/apm.c --- a/arch/i386/kernel/apm.c~apm-clean-up-module-initalization +++ a/arch/i386/kernel/apm.c @@ -2339,6 +2339,7 @@ static int __init apm_init(void) ret = kernel_thread(apm, NULL, CLONE_KERNEL | SIGCHLD); if (ret < 0) { printk(KERN_ERR "apm: disabled - Unable to start kernel thread.\n"); + remove_proc_entry("apm", NULL); return -ENOMEM; } @@ -2348,7 +2349,13 @@ static int __init apm_init(void) return 0; } - misc_register(&apm_device); + /* + * Note we don't actually care if the misc_device cannot be registered. + * this driver can do its job without it, even if userspace can't + * control it. just log the error + */ + if (misc_register(&apm_device)) + printk(KERN_WARNING "apm: Could not register misc device.\n"); if (HZ != 100) idle_period = (idle_period * HZ) / 100; _