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| author | Sang-Heon Jeon <ekffu200098@gmail.com> | 2026-08-24 01:18:14 +0900 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Julia Lawall <Julia.Lawall@inria.fr> | 2026-08-23 22:12:11 +0200 |
| commit | 2bd30b8dc75b823dd7bbef9d7bc68e1fd7ecee5c (patch) | |
| tree | dcc4da1d99f17541c5590ac63c77da4bf372a4ab /Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-2bd30b8dc75b823dd7bbef9d7bc68e1fd7ecee5c.tar.gz linux-stable-2bd30b8dc75b823dd7bbef9d7bc68e1fd7ecee5c.zip | |
coccinelle: alloc_cast: drop removed allocatorsgrafted
- pci_alloc_consistent() and pci_zalloc_consistent() were removed by
commit 7968778914e5
("PCI: Remove the deprecated "pci-dma-compat.h" API")
- kmem_alloc() was removed by commit f078d4ea8276
("xfs: convert kmem_alloc() to kmalloc()")
- kmem_zalloc() was removed by commit 10634530f7ba
("xfs: convert kmem_zalloc() to kzalloc()")
- kmem_zone_alloc() and kmem_zone_zalloc() were removed by commit
bae633a4a283 ("xfs: remove xfs_zone_{alloc,zalloc} helpers")
So drop them from the rules.
No functional change.
Signed-off-by: Sang-Heon Jeon <ekffu200098@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Julia Lawall <Julia.Lawall@inria.fr>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst | 165 |
1 files changed, 165 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..f4f867cab --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst @@ -0,0 +1,165 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: (GPL-2.0+ OR CC-BY-4.0) +.. [see the bottom of this file for redistribution information] + +====================== +Bisecting a regression +====================== + +This document describes how to use a ``git bisect`` to find the source code +change that broke something -- for example when some functionality stopped +working after upgrading from Linux 6.0 to 6.1. + +The text focuses on the gist of the process. If you are new to bisecting the +kernel, better follow Documentation/admin-guide/verify-bugs-and-bisect-regressions.rst +instead: it depicts everything from start to finish while covering multiple +aspects even kernel developers occasionally forget. This includes detecting +situations early where a bisection would be a waste of time, as nobody would +care about the result -- for example, because the problem happens after the +kernel marked itself as 'tainted', occurs in an abandoned version, was already +fixed, or is caused by a .config change you or your Linux distributor performed. + +Finding the change causing a kernel issue using a bisection +=========================================================== + +*Note: the following process assumes you prepared everything for a bisection. +This includes having a Git clone with the appropriate sources, installing the +software required to build and install kernels, as well as a .config file stored +in a safe place (the following example assumes '~/prepared_kernel_.config') to +use as pristine base at each bisection step; ideally, you have also worked out +a fully reliable and straight-forward way to reproduce the regression, too.* + +* Preparation: start the bisection and tell Git about the points in the history + you consider to be working and broken, which Git calls 'good' and 'bad':: + + git bisect start + git bisect good v6.0 + git bisect bad v6.1 + + Instead of Git tags like 'v6.0' and 'v6.1' you can specify commit-ids, too. + +1. Copy your prepared .config into the build directory and adjust it to the + needs of the codebase Git checked out for testing:: + + cp ~/prepared_kernel_.config .config + make olddefconfig + +2. Now build, install, and boot a kernel. This might fail for unrelated reasons, + for example, when a compile error happens at the current stage of the + bisection a later change resolves. In such cases run ``git bisect skip`` and + go back to step 1. + +3. Check if the functionality that regressed works in the kernel you just built. + + If it works, execute:: + + git bisect good + + If it is broken, run:: + + git bisect bad + + Note, getting this wrong just once will send the rest of the bisection + totally off course. To prevent having to start anew later you thus want to + ensure what you tell Git is correct; it is thus often wise to spend a few + minutes more on testing in case your reproducer is unreliable. + + After issuing one of these two commands, Git will usually check out another + bisection point and print something like 'Bisecting: 675 revisions left to + test after this (roughly 10 steps)'. In that case go back to step 1. + + If Git instead prints something like 'cafecaca0c0dacafecaca0c0dacafecaca0c0da + is the first bad commit', then you have finished the bisection. In that case + move to the next point below. Note, right after displaying that line Git will + show some details about the culprit including its patch description; this can + easily fill your terminal, so you might need to scroll up to see the message + mentioning the culprit's commit-id. + + In case you missed Git's output, you can always run ``git bisect log`` to + print the status: it will show how many steps remain or mention the result of + the bisection. + +* Recommended complementary task: put the bisection log and the current .config + file aside for the bug report; furthermore tell Git to reset the sources to + the state before the bisection:: + + git bisect log > ~/bisection-log + cp .config ~/bisection-config-culprit + git bisect reset + +* Recommended optional task: try reverting the culprit on top of the latest + codebase and check if that fixes your bug; if that is the case, it validates + the bisection and enables developers to resolve the regression through a + revert. + + To try this, update your clone and check out latest mainline. Then tell Git + to revert the change by specifying its commit-id:: + + git revert --no-edit cafec0cacaca0 + + Git might reject this, for example when the bisection landed on a merge + commit. In that case, abandon the attempt. Do the same, if Git fails to revert + the culprit on its own because later changes depend on it -- at least unless + you bisected a stable or longterm kernel series, in which case you want to + check out its latest codebase and try a revert there. + + If a revert succeeds, build and test another kernel to check if reverting + resolved your regression. + +With that the process is complete. Now report the regression as described by +Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst. + +Bisecting linux-next +-------------------- + +If you face a problem only happening in linux-next, bisect between the +linux-next branches 'stable' and 'master'. The following commands will start +the process for a linux-next tree you added as a remote called 'next':: + + git bisect start + git bisect good next/stable + git bisect bad next/master + +The 'stable' branch refers to the state of linux-mainline that the current +linux-next release (found in the 'master' branch) is based on -- the former +thus should be free of any problems that show up in -next, but not in Linus' +tree. + +This will bisect across a wide range of changes, some of which you might have +used in earlier linux-next releases without problems. Sadly there is no simple +way to avoid checking them: bisecting from one linux-next release to a later +one (say between 'next-20241020' and 'next-20241021') is impossible, as they +share no common history. + +Additional reading material +--------------------------- + +* The `man page for 'git bisect' <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-bisect>`_ and + `fighting regressions with 'git bisect' <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-bisect-lk2009.html>`_ + in the Git documentation. +* `Working with git bisect <https://nathanchance.dev/posts/working-with-git-bisect/>`_ + from kernel developer Nathan Chancellor. +* `Using Git bisect to figure out when brokenness was introduced <http://webchick.net/node/99>`_. +* `Fully automated bisecting with 'git bisect run' <https://lwn.net/Articles/317154>`_. + +.. + end-of-content +.. + This document is maintained by Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>. If + you spot a typo or small mistake, feel free to let him know directly and + he'll fix it. You are free to do the same in a mostly informal way if you + want to contribute changes to the text -- but for copyright reasons please CC + linux-doc@vger.kernel.org and 'sign-off' your contribution as + Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst explains in the section 'Sign + your work - the Developer's Certificate of Origin'. +.. + This text is available under GPL-2.0+ or CC-BY-4.0, as stated at the top + of the file. If you want to distribute this text under CC-BY-4.0 only, + please use 'The Linux kernel development community' for author attribution + and link this as source: + https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/plain/Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst + +.. + Note: Only the content of this RST file as found in the Linux kernel sources + is available under CC-BY-4.0, as versions of this text that were processed + (for example by the kernel's build system) might contain content taken from + files which use a more restrictive license. |
