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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
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| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
| commit | 034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c (patch) | |
| tree | 2536f4b2d7893ccd916b5abdf3c454ad6edc03c2 /Documentation/dev-tools/container.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c.tar.gz linux-stable-034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c.zip | |
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
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/dev-tools/container.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/dev-tools/container.rst | 227 |
1 files changed, 227 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/container.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/container.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..9e23f79d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/container.rst @@ -0,0 +1,227 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only +.. Copyright (C) 2025 Guillaume Tucker + +==================== +Containerized Builds +==================== + +The ``container`` tool can be used to run any command in the kernel source tree +from within a container. Doing so facilitates reproducing builds across +various platforms, for example when a test bot has reported an issue which +requires a specific version of a compiler or an external test suite. While +this can already be done by users who are familiar with containers, having a +dedicated tool in the kernel tree lowers the barrier to entry by solving common +problems once and for all (e.g. user id management). It also makes it easier +to share an exact command line leading to a particular result. The main use +case is likely to be kernel builds but virtually anything can be run: KUnit, +checkpatch etc. provided a suitable image is available. + + +Options +======= + +Command line syntax:: + + scripts/container -i IMAGE [OPTION]... CMD... + +Available options: + +``-e, --env-file ENV_FILE`` + + Path to an environment file to load in the container. + +``-g, --gid GID`` + + Group id to use inside the container. + +``-i, --image IMAGE`` + + Container image name (required). + +``-r, --runtime RUNTIME`` + + Container runtime name. Supported runtimes: ``podman``, ``docker``. + + If not specified, the first one found on the system will be used + i.e. Podman if present, otherwise Docker. + +``-s, --shell`` + + Run the container in an interactive shell. + +``-u, --uid UID`` + + User id to use inside the container. + + If the ``-g`` option is not specified, the user id will also be used for + the group id. + +``-v, --verbose`` + + Enable verbose output. + +``-h, --help`` + + Show the help message and exit. + + +Usage +===== + +It's entirely up to the user to choose which image to use and the ``CMD`` +arguments are passed directly as an arbitrary command line to run in the +container. The tool will take care of mounting the source tree as the current +working directory and adjust the user and group id as needed. + +The container image which would typically include a compiler toolchain is +provided by the user and selected via the ``-i`` option. The container runtime +can be selected with the ``-r`` option, which can be either ``podman`` or +``docker``. If none is specified, the first one found on the system will be +used while giving priority to Podman. Support for other runtimes may be added +later depending on their popularity among users. + +By default, commands are run non-interactively. The user can abort a running +container with SIGINT (Ctrl-C). To run commands interactively with a TTY, the +``--shell`` or ``-s`` option can be used. Signals will then be received by the +shell directly rather than the parent ``container`` process. To exit an +interactive shell, use Ctrl-D or ``exit``. + +.. note:: + + The only host requirement aside from a container runtime is Python 3.10 or + later. + +.. note:: + + Out-of-tree builds are not fully supported yet. The ``O=`` option can + however already be used with a relative path inside the source tree to keep + separate build outputs. A workaround to build outside the tree is to use + ``mount --bind``, see the examples section further down. + + +Environment Variables +===================== + +Environment variables are not propagated to the container so they have to be +either defined in the image itself or via the ``-e`` option using an +environment file. In some cases it makes more sense to have them defined in +the Containerfile used to create the image. For example, a Clang-only compiler +toolchain image may have ``LLVM=1`` defined. + +The local environment file is more useful for user-specific variables added +during development. It is passed as-is to the container runtime so its format +may vary. Typically, it will look like the output of ``env``. For example:: + + INSTALL_MOD_STRIP=1 + SOME_RANDOM_TEXT=One upon a time + +Please also note that ``make`` options can still be passed on the command line, +so while this can't be done since the first argument needs to be the +executable:: + + scripts/container -i docker.io/tuxmake/korg-clang LLVM=1 make # won't work + +this will work:: + + scripts/container -i docker.io/tuxmake/korg-clang make LLVM=1 + + +User IDs +======== + +This is an area where the behaviour will vary slightly depending on the +container runtime. The goal is to run commands as the user invoking the tool. +With Podman, a namespace is created to map the current user id to a different +one in the container (1000 by default). With Docker, while this is also +possible with recent versions it requires a special feature to be enabled in +the daemon so it's not used here for simplicity. Instead, the container is run +with the current user id directly. In both cases, this will provide the same +file permissions for the kernel source tree mounted as a volume. The only +difference is that when using Docker without a namespace, the user id may not +be the same as the default one set in the image. + +Say, we're using an image which sets up a default user with id 1000 and the +current user calling the ``container`` tool has id 1234. The kernel source +tree was checked out by this same user so the files belong to user 1234. With +Podman, the container will be running as user id 1000 with a mapping to id 1234 +so that the files from the mounted volume appear to belong to id 1000 inside +the container. With Docker and no namespace, the container will be running +with user id 1234 which can access the files in the volume but not in the user +1000 home directory. This shouldn't be an issue when running commands only in +the kernel tree but it is worth highlighting here as it might matter for +special corner cases. + +.. note:: + + Podman's `Docker compatibility + <https://podman-desktop.io/docs/migrating-from-docker/managing-docker-compatibility>`__ + mode to run ``docker`` commands on top of a Podman backend is more complex + and not fully supported yet. As such, Podman will take priority if both + runtimes are available on the system. + + +Examples +======== + +The TuxMake project provides a variety of prebuilt container images available +on `Docker Hub <https://hub.docker.com/u/tuxmake>`__. Here's the shortest +example to build a kernel using a TuxMake Clang image:: + + scripts/container -i docker.io/tuxmake/korg-clang -- make LLVM=1 defconfig + scripts/container -i docker.io/tuxmake/korg-clang -- make LLVM=1 -j$(nproc) + +.. note:: + + When running a command with options within the container, it should be + separated with a double dash ``--`` to not confuse them with the + ``container`` tool options. Plain commands with no options don't strictly + require the double dashes e.g.:: + + scripts/container -i docker.io/tuxmake/korg-clang make mrproper + +To run ``checkpatch.pl`` in a ``patches`` directory with a generic Perl image:: + + scripts/container -i perl:slim-trixie scripts/checkpatch.pl patches/* + +As an alternative to the TuxMake images, the examples below refer to +``kernel.org`` images which are based on the `kernel.org compiler toolchains +<https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/tools/>`__. These aren't (yet) officially +available in any public registry but users can build their own locally instead +using this `experimental repository +<https://gitlab.com/gtucker/korg-containers>`__ by running ``make +PREFIX=kernel.org/``. + +To build just ``bzImage`` using Clang:: + + scripts/container -i kernel.org/clang -- make bzImage -j$(nproc) + +Same with GCC 15 as a particular version tag:: + + scripts/container -i kernel.org/gcc:15 -- make bzImage -j$(nproc) + +For an out-of-tree build, a trick is to bind-mount the destination directory to +a relative path inside the source tree:: + + mkdir -p $HOME/tmp/my-kernel-build + mkdir -p build + sudo mount --bind $HOME/tmp/my-kernel-build build + scripts/container -i kernel.org/gcc -- make mrproper + scripts/container -i kernel.org/gcc -- make O=build defconfig + scripts/container -i kernel.org/gcc -- make O=build -j$(nproc) + +To run KUnit in an interactive shell and get the full output:: + + scripts/container -s -i kernel.org/gcc:kunit -- \ + tools/testing/kunit/kunit.py \ + run \ + --arch=x86_64 \ + --cross_compile=x86_64-linux- + +To just start an interactive shell:: + + scripts/container -si kernel.org/gcc bash + +To build the HTML documentation, which requires the ``kdocs`` image built with +``make PREFIX=kernel.org/ extra`` as it's not a compiler toolchain:: + + scripts/container -i kernel.org/kdocs make htmldocs |
