Self assigning variable, ie x = x

Hi all,

I am curious if there is a reason why there are instances of self-re-assignment of a variable?
For example: contrib/libbegemot/rpoll.c, in the function infunc(), we have this:

mask = mask;

In some cases I see the comment: /* LINT */

If no reason or perhaps there was a legacy reason, is something like this a candidate for removal? I found several instances of this in the kernel tree.

--
Farhan Khan