Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted

Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt:

 - Fix error output of boot instance creation failure

   Currently if a boot instance creation fails, instead of printing out
   the name of the instance that failed, it prints "(null)". That is
   because it prints "cur_str" that had already been processed by
   strsep(). Print the saved name instead.

   While at it, print the error code of the failure.

 - Fix use-after-free for same named historgrams

   Histograms can be named so that they can be used in multiple events.
   But if the named histogram has a variable attached, the second event
   that uses the named histogram which duplicates it and needs to free
   the original after duplication leaves the old variable in place and
   still visible. If another histogram uses than variable, it will use
   the stale one which will try to reference the freed duplicate
   histogram and crash the kernel.

   Free the duplicate variables along with the duplicated histogram
   data.

 - Check return value of kthread_run() in event self test

   The events self tests uses a kthread for testing but does not check
   if it succeeded in creating a kthread. If the kthread creation were
   to fail, the code will still try to call kthread_stop() on the error
   returned.

 - Fix race between reading trace_pipe and updating subbuffer size

   If a user is reading the trace_pipe file at the same time they update
   the ring buffer sub-buffer size, can cause the trace_pipe read to
   read stale data. Add trace_access_lock() around updating the ring
   buffer sub-buffer size.

 - Fix eventfs_inode on failure path in creation of the events directory

   In the creation of the "events" directory, if after allocating the
   eventfs_inode a failure is detected, it calls cleanup_ei() which
   calls free_ei(). The free_ei() will test if eventfs_inode being freed
   has no children. It is a bug if it does. But on the failure case of
   the creation of the "events" directory, the children lists have not
   yet been initialized and the free will trigger a warning because
   list_empty() on an uninitialized list returns false.

   Move the initialization into init_ei() where it makes more sense and
   makes sure that a created eventfs_inode has its lists initialized
   upon creation.

 - Check return value of kthread_run() in ftrace direct sample code

   The sample code that shows how to use the ftrace direct calls does
   not test the return of kthread_run() to see if it succeeds. Return a
   failure if the kthread_run() doesn't succeed.

 - Clear user events state on fork in case of alloc failure

   On fork, the child gets a pointer to the parent's user events state.
   It makes a copy of it then updates the child's pointer to it. But if
   the allocation fails, the duplication function leaves the child with
   a pointer to its parent's descriptor. When the child cleans up its
   data, it will free the parent's descriptor while the parent is still
   using it.

   In the duplication function, set the child's user_event_mm to NULL
   before testing if the allocation succeeded, and when it exits it will
   not free the parent's descriptor.

 - Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap

   simple_ring_buffer_swap_reader_page() starts with retry set to 8 and
   post-decrements it only after a failed link replacement. On the final
   attempt, a successful replacement leaves retry at zero, while a
   failed replacement leaves it at -1.

   But the check for success expects the retry value to be non-zero and
   exits with an error on zero. This is the opposite result. Fix it.

 - Fail nicely when the remote swap_reader_page() returns an error

   Currently, if the swap_reader_page() of a remote buffer fails, it
   triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() and continues normally. Instead, have it
   exit with an error and a pr_warn() print instead of a full WARNING.

* tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace:
  ring-buffer: Stop remote reader update when page swap fails
  tracing: Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap
  tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication
  samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-multi-modify
  samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-modify
  eventfs: Initialize ei->children and ei->list in init_ei()
  tracing: Fix use-after-free in trace_pipe read on sub-buffer order change
  tracing: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop()
  tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers
  tracing: Fix logged instance name on creation failure

1 files changed, 192 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysfs-rules.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysfs-rules.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..abad33526
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysfs-rules.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+Rules on how to access information in sysfs
+===========================================
+
+The kernel-exported sysfs exports internal kernel implementation details
+and depends on internal kernel structures and layout. It is agreed upon
+by the kernel developers that the Linux kernel does not provide a stable
+internal API. Therefore, there are aspects of the sysfs interface that
+may not be stable across kernel releases.
+
+To minimize the risk of breaking users of sysfs, which are in most cases
+low-level userspace applications, with a new kernel release, the users
+of sysfs must follow some rules to use an as-abstract-as-possible way to
+access this filesystem. The current udev and HAL programs already
+implement this and users are encouraged to plug, if possible, into the
+abstractions these programs provide instead of accessing sysfs directly.
+
+But if you really do want or need to access sysfs directly, please follow
+the following rules and then your programs should work with future
+versions of the sysfs interface.
+
+- Do not use libsysfs
+    It makes assumptions about sysfs which are not true. Its API does not
+    offer any abstraction, it exposes all the kernel driver-core
+    implementation details in its own API. Therefore it is not better than
+    reading directories and opening the files yourself.
+    Also, it is not actively maintained, in the sense of reflecting the
+    current kernel development. The goal of providing a stable interface
+    to sysfs has failed; it causes more problems than it solves. It
+    violates many of the rules in this document.
+
+- sysfs is always at ``/sys``
+    Parsing ``/proc/mounts`` is a waste of time. Other mount points are a
+    system configuration bug you should not try to solve. For test cases,
+    possibly support a ``SYSFS_PATH`` environment variable to overwrite the
+    application's behavior, but never try to search for sysfs. Never try
+    to mount it, if you are not an early boot script.
+
+- devices are only "devices"
+    There is no such thing like class-, bus-, physical devices,
+    interfaces, and such that you can rely on in userspace. Everything is
+    just simply a "device". Class-, bus-, physical, ... types are just
+    kernel implementation details which should not be expected by
+    applications that look for devices in sysfs.
+
+    The properties of a device are:
+
+    - devpath (``/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2:1.0``)
+
+      - identical to the DEVPATH value in the event sent from the kernel
+        at device creation and removal
+      - the unique key to the device at that point in time
+      - the kernel's path to the device directory without the leading
+        ``/sys``, and always starting with a slash
+      - all elements of a devpath must be real directories. Symlinks
+        pointing to /sys/devices must always be resolved to their real
+        target and the target path must be used to access the device.
+        That way the devpath to the device matches the devpath of the
+        kernel used at event time.
+      - using or exposing symlink values as elements in a devpath string
+        is a bug in the application
+
+    - kernel name (``sda``, ``tty``, ``0000:00:1f.2``, ...)
+
+      - a directory name, identical to the last element of the devpath
+      - applications need to handle spaces and characters like ``!`` in
+        the name
+
+    - subsystem (``block``, ``tty``, ``pci``, ...)
+
+      - simple string, never a path or a link
+      - retrieved by reading the "subsystem"-link and using only the
+        last element of the target path
+
+    - driver (``tg3``, ``ata_piix``, ``uhci_hcd``)
+
+      - a simple string, which may contain spaces, never a path or a
+        link
+      - it is retrieved by reading the "driver"-link and using only the
+        last element of the target path
+      - devices which do not have "driver"-link just do not have a
+        driver; copying the driver value in a child device context is a
+        bug in the application
+
+    - attributes
+
+      - the files in the device directory or files below subdirectories
+        of the same device directory
+      - accessing attributes reached by a symlink pointing to another device,
+        like the "device"-link, is a bug in the application
+
+    Everything else is just a kernel driver-core implementation detail
+    that should not be assumed to be stable across kernel releases.
+
+- Properties of parent devices never belong into a child device.
+    Always look at the parent devices themselves for determining device
+    context properties. If the device ``eth0`` or ``sda`` does not have a
+    "driver"-link, then this device does not have a driver. Its value is empty.
+    Never copy any property of the parent-device into a child-device. Parent
+    device properties may change dynamically without any notice to the
+    child device.
+
+- Hierarchy in a single device tree
+    There is only one valid place in sysfs where hierarchy can be examined
+    and this is below: ``/sys/devices.``
+    It is planned that all device directories will end up in the tree
+    below this directory.
+
+- Classification by subsystem
+    There are currently three places for classification of devices:
+    ``/sys/block,`` ``/sys/class`` and ``/sys/bus.`` It is planned that these will
+    not contain any device directories themselves, but only flat lists of
+    symlinks pointing to the unified ``/sys/devices`` tree.
+    All three places have completely different rules on how to access
+    device information. It is planned to merge all three
+    classification directories into one place at ``/sys/subsystem``,
+    following the layout of the bus directories. All buses and
+    classes, including the converted block subsystem, will show up
+    there.
+    The devices belonging to a subsystem will create a symlink in the
+    "devices" directory at ``/sys/subsystem/<name>/devices``,
+
+    If ``/sys/subsystem`` exists, ``/sys/bus``, ``/sys/class`` and ``/sys/block``
+    can be ignored. If it does not exist, you always have to scan all three
+    places, as the kernel is free to move a subsystem from one place to
+    the other, as long as the devices are still reachable by the same
+    subsystem name.
+
+    Assuming ``/sys/class/<subsystem>`` and ``/sys/bus/<subsystem>``, or
+    ``/sys/block`` and ``/sys/class/block`` are not interchangeable is a bug in
+    the application.
+
+- Block
+    The converted block subsystem at ``/sys/class/block`` or
+    ``/sys/subsystem/block`` will contain the links for disks and partitions
+    at the same level, never in a hierarchy. Assuming the block subsystem to
+    contain only disks and not partition devices in the same flat list is
+    a bug in the application.
+
+- "device"-link and <subsystem>:<kernel name>-links
+    Never depend on the "device"-link. The "device"-link is a workaround
+    for the old layout, where class devices are not created in
+    ``/sys/devices/`` like the bus devices. If the link-resolving of a
+    device directory does not end in ``/sys/devices/``, you can use the
+    "device"-link to find the parent devices in ``/sys/devices/``, That is the
+    single valid use of the "device"-link; it must never appear in any
+    path as an element. Assuming the existence of the "device"-link for
+    a device in ``/sys/devices/`` is a bug in the application.
+    Accessing ``/sys/class/net/eth0/device`` is a bug in the application.
+
+    Never depend on the class-specific links back to the ``/sys/class``
+    directory.  These links are also a workaround for the design mistake
+    that class devices are not created in ``/sys/devices.`` If a device
+    directory does not contain directories for child devices, these links
+    may be used to find the child devices in ``/sys/class.`` That is the single
+    valid use of these links; they must never appear in any path as an
+    element. Assuming the existence of these links for devices which are
+    real child device directories in the ``/sys/devices`` tree is a bug in
+    the application.
+
+    It is planned to remove all these links when all class device
+    directories live in ``/sys/devices.``
+
+- Position of devices along device chain can change.
+    Never depend on a specific parent device position in the devpath,
+    or the chain of parent devices. The kernel is free to insert devices into
+    the chain. You must always request the parent device you are looking for
+    by its subsystem value. You need to walk up the chain until you find
+    the device that matches the expected subsystem. Depending on a specific
+    position of a parent device or exposing relative paths using ``../`` to
+    access the chain of parents is a bug in the application.
+
+- When reading and writing sysfs device attribute files, avoid dependency
+    on specific error codes wherever possible. This minimizes coupling to
+    the error handling implementation within the kernel.
+
+    In general, failures to read or write sysfs device attributes shall
+    propagate errors wherever possible. Common errors include, but are not
+    limited to:
+
+	``-EIO``: The read or store operation is not supported, typically
+	returned by the sysfs system itself if the read or store pointer
+	is ``NULL``.
+
+	``-ENXIO``: The read or store operation failed
+
+    Error codes will not be changed without good reason, and should a change
+    to error codes result in user-space breakage, it will be fixed, or the
+    the offending change will be reverted.
+
+    Userspace applications can, however, expect the format and contents of
+    the attribute files to remain consistent in the absence of a version
+    attribute change in the context of a given attribute.