Claude review: drm: Rename drm_atomic_state

[Claude Code Review Bot <claude-review@example.com>]

Overall Series Review

Subject: drm: Rename drm_atomic_state
Author: Maxime Ripard <mripard@kernel.org>
Patches: 2
Reviewed: 2026-04-01T07:41:18.012570

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This is a v2 of a long-discussed mechanical rename: `drm_atomic_state` → `drm_atomic_commit`, addressing a genuine source of confusion documented in the DRM TODO. The rename clarifies that this struct represents a partial atomic commit (a state update for some objects), not the entire device state — while per-object state structs (`drm_crtc_state`, `drm_plane_state`, etc.) remain correctly named as full object state.

The series is 2 patches: a massive tree-wide rename (354 files, ~3400 line changes) and a trivial todo cleanup. Only patch 2/2 is present in the mbox — patch 1/2 (the actual rename) was likely too large for the mailing list filter. This limits what can be reviewed in detail.

**Key observations:**

1. **Naming choice is reasonable.** v1 proposed `drm_atomic_update`; v2 changed to `drm_atomic_commit`, which aligns well with existing terminology (`drm_atomic_helper_commit`, `drm_atomic_nonblocking_commit`, etc.) and with what the struct actually represents — a commit transaction.

2. **Conflict risk is very high.** Touching 354 files means this will conflict with virtually any in-flight DRM work. The cover letter correctly notes this should go through drm-next directly to minimize impact, but coordination with subsystem maintainers (i915, amdgpu, msm, nouveau, vc4, etc.) will be essential.

3. **Cannot verify completeness** of the rename without patch 1/2. The diffstat looks thorough, covering core DRM, all major drivers, headers, tests, and documentation. But any missed instances would cause build failures.

4. **The `drm_atomic_commit` name creates a potential naming collision** with the existing function `drm_atomic_commit()` in `drm_atomic.c`. The struct and function would share the same base name. While C allows this (struct tags and function names are in different namespaces), it could cause confusion in documentation and conversation — "drm_atomic_commit" could refer to either the struct or the function. This should be explicitly acknowledged.

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