This patch (as1286) changes usb_serial_get_by_index(). Now the
routine will check whether the serial device has been disconnected; if
it has then the return value will be NULL. If the device hasn't been
disconnected then the routine will return with serial->disc_mutex
held, so that the caller can use the structure without fear of racing
against driver unloads.
This permits the scope of table_mutex in destroy_serial() to be
reduced. Instead of protecting the entire function, it suffices to
protect the part that actually uses serial_table[], i.e., the call to
return_serial(). There's no longer any danger of the refcount being
incremented after it reaches 0 (which was the reason for having the
large scope previously), because it can't reach 0 until the serial
device has been disconnected.
Also, the patch makes serial_install() check that serial is non-NULL
before attempting to use it.