This is one of the many remnants of struct parse that have annoyed me
for too long. There are two separate commits in this diff:

1. in ta_validate() and cert_free() do a simple s/\<p\>/cert/g.

2. in cert_buffer() and cert_read() prepare a purely mechanical
   replacement step for these two functions that doesn't result in
   overlong lines.

I left out the third commit that does the actual replacement in
cert_buffer() and cert_read() because the resulting diff isn't
very readable. Not sure it makes much sense to send that out.

Index: cert.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.sbin/rpki-client/cert.c,v
diff -u -p -r1.220 cert.c
--- cert.c	28 Jan 2026 08:42:07 -0000	1.220
+++ cert.c	29 Jan 2026 07:57:34 -0000
@@ -2050,27 +2050,27 @@ ta_check_validity(const char *fn, struct
  * Returns cert passed in on success or NULL on failure.
  */
 struct cert *
-ta_validate(const char *fn, struct cert *p, const unsigned char *spki,
+ta_validate(const char *fn, struct cert *cert, const unsigned char *spki,
     size_t spkisz)
 {
-	if (p == NULL)
+	if (cert == NULL)
 		return NULL;
 
-	if (p->purpose != CERT_PURPOSE_TA) {
+	if (cert->purpose != CERT_PURPOSE_TA) {
 		warnx("%s: expected trust anchor purpose, got %s", fn,
-		    purpose2str(p->purpose));
+		    purpose2str(cert->purpose));
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	if (!ta_check_pubkey(fn, p, spki, spkisz))
+	if (!ta_check_pubkey(fn, cert, spki, spkisz))
 		goto out;
-	if (!ta_check_validity(fn, p))
+	if (!ta_check_validity(fn, cert))
 		goto out;
 
-	return p;
+	return cert;
 
  out:
-	cert_free(p);
+	cert_free(cert);
 	return NULL;
 }
 
@@ -2100,25 +2100,25 @@ cert_parse_ta(const char *fn, const unsi
  * Passing NULL is a noop.
  */
 void
-cert_free(struct cert *p)
+cert_free(struct cert *cert)
 {
-	if (p == NULL)
+	if (cert == NULL)
 		return;
 
-	free(p->crl);
-	free(p->repo);
-	free(p->path);
-	free(p->mft);
-	free(p->notify);
-	free(p->signedobj);
-	free(p->ips);
-	free(p->ases);
-	free(p->aia);
-	free(p->aki);
-	free(p->ski);
-	free(p->pubkey);
-	X509_free(p->x509);
-	free(p);
+	free(cert->crl);
+	free(cert->repo);
+	free(cert->path);
+	free(cert->mft);
+	free(cert->notify);
+	free(cert->signedobj);
+	free(cert->ips);
+	free(cert->ases);
+	free(cert->aia);
+	free(cert->aki);
+	free(cert->ski);
+	free(cert->pubkey);
+	X509_free(cert->x509);
+	free(cert);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -2165,7 +2165,8 @@ cert_buffer(struct ibuf *b, const struct
 		io_str_buffer(b, p->ski);
 		io_str_buffer(b, p->pubkey);
 	} else {
-		errx(1, "%s: unexpected %s", __func__, purpose2str(p->purpose));
+		errx(1, "%s: unexpected %s", __func__,
+		    purpose2str(p->purpose));
 	}
 }
 
@@ -2191,15 +2192,19 @@ cert_read(struct ibuf *b)
 	io_read_buf(b, &p->num_ases, sizeof(p->num_ases));
 
 	if (p->num_ips > 0) {
-		if ((p->ips = calloc(p->num_ips, sizeof(p->ips[0]))) == NULL)
+		p->ips = calloc(p->num_ips, sizeof(p->ips[0]));
+		if (p->ips == NULL)
 			err(1, NULL);
-		io_read_buf(b, p->ips, p->num_ips * sizeof(p->ips[0]));
+		io_read_buf(b, p->ips,
+		    p->num_ips * sizeof(p->ips[0]));
 	}
 
 	if (p->num_ases > 0) {
-		if ((p->ases = calloc(p->num_ases, sizeof(p->ases[0]))) == NULL)
+		p->ases = calloc(p->num_ases, sizeof(p->ases[0]));
+		if (p->ases == NULL)
 			err(1, NULL);
-		io_read_buf(b, p->ases, p->num_ases * sizeof(p->ases[0]));
+		io_read_buf(b, p->ases,
+		    p->num_ases * sizeof(p->ases[0]));
 	}
 
 	io_read_str(b, &p->path);
@@ -2228,7 +2233,8 @@ cert_read(struct ibuf *b)
 		io_read_str(b, &p->ski);
 		io_read_str(b, &p->pubkey);
 	} else {
-		errx(1, "%s: unexpected %s", __func__, purpose2str(p->purpose));
+		errx(1, "%s: unexpected %s", __func__,
+		    purpose2str(p->purpose));
 	}
 
 	return p;