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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700 |
| commit | 22098763a10d9c1340827fcf6edab66f153b27f0 (patch) | |
| tree | 3962f95a34df034652ff93686cdd156c7197f2d9 /Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-22098763a10d9c1340827fcf6edab66f153b27f0.tar.gz linux-stable-22098763a10d9c1340827fcf6edab66f153b27f0.zip | |
Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt:
- Don't destroy user event fields when removal fails
User event fields are destroyed before the event is removed from
visibility. But that can fail leaving the still visible event with no
fields. Move the destroying of the fields to after the event is
successfully removed from visibility.
- Initialize function graph state is fork before calling
copy_exec_state()
For non-CLONE_VM forks, copy_exec_state() allocates a new
task_exec_state. If that allocation fails, ftrace_graph_exit_task()
will free the tasks ret_stack pointer. Since that pointer is still
using the parent's ret_stack, it mistakenly frees the parent's
pointer too.
Call ftrace_graph_init() on the task first which will NULL out the
new tasks's ret_stack and if the copy fails, it will not free
anything.
- Remove FGRAPH_MAX_INDEX
The macro FGRAPH_MAX_INDEX was added but never used. Remove it.
- Save ent_size in function graph printing of nested functions
The function graph tracer needs to look at the next event to see if
the next event is the return of the current function entry. If it is,
it prints a single line:
ktime_get();
Otherwise it prints it like a nested function:
tick_nohz_irq_exit() {
ktime_get();
kcpustat_irq_exit();
}
In order to look at the next event, it must save the current event so
that it has the information to print from it. It saves the event in
the iterator descriptor called "ent". What it doesn't save is the
ent_size of the event which is now used to know if the function graph
arguments are to be printed. The peek doesn't save the size so the
size used happens to be that of the size of the last event that was
seen.
Save the entry event size in the iterator descriptor so that the
correct size is used.
- Fix several errors with freeing data in the histogram code
The histogram code had a lot of leaked or or incorrect accounting
when failures happen. Correct them.
- Fix histogram regression of .percent and .graph modifiers
Up until 6.3 histogram values could have "percent" or "graph"
modifiers that changed how they were printed. But a change that added
restricting histograms values from being strings, stack traces and
other modifiers inadvertently prevented them from using the percent
and graph modifiers, which were legal use cases for values.
Put back the percent and graph modifiers.
- Fix various typos in the comments
- Set the trace_clock before initializing a histogram with clock
argument
The histogram API allows the user to specific which trace clock to
use via a "clock=" string. The histogram is set up first before the
clock is checked. If the passed in clock is not valid, it exits
without fully fixing up the histogram leaving it on the list and a
use-after-free can trigger.
Update the clock argument first and if it fails then exit gracefully
before the histogram trigger is placed on any lists.
- Restore :mod: trailer after parsing in ftrace_set_clr_event
The function ftrace_set_clr_event() modifies the parse string and
needs to put it back to what was passed in. It searches for ":mod:"
via a strsep() but fails to put back the first ':' in the string.
Add back the ':' in the passed in string.
- Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file
The options files are dynamically created and some tracers add their
own options. When a tracer adds their own list of options, the
trace_array holding them has an array to hold the list of options for
each tracer. This array increases in size via a krealloc(), and the
new entry gets a newly allocated array to hold the options of the new
tracer being added.
The element in each entry of the tracer's option array holds a
pointer back to the trace_array, a pointer to the tracer it is
associated to, a pointer to the flags of the option.
The issue is that these arrays are freed when the trace_array is
freed when its instance it represents is removed from the instances
directory. There's a race that an open of one of these options files
can happen when the instance is being removed.
Add a new helper function to be called by the open function of the
options file to iterate all existing trace_arrays under a lock and
find the one that has the given option element in one of it's tracer
arrays. If found, then update the associated trace_array's reference
counter to keep it from being freed. If not found, have the open call
return -ENODEV.
- Disable interrupts when acquiring the lock in rb_wake_up_waiters()
The function rb_wake_up_waiters() assumes it will be called in
interrupt context and does not disable irqs when taking
cpu_buffer->reader_lock, which can be called in hard interrupt
context. The issue is in PREEMPT_RT, this function is called in
thread context leaving this lock open to a deadlock.
Take the lock with interrupts disabled.
- Use rcu_assign_pointer() for tmp_ops filter hash
The tmp_ops used in update_ftrace_direct_mod() assigns its
filter_hash field directly, but that field is annotated as __rcu and
sparse complains. Assign it with rcu_assign_pointer()
- Fix use-after-free in enable_trigger_private_data_free()
The trace_event_call is accessed through the event_trigger_data's
trace_event_file pointer to put the trace_event_call on freeing. The
issue is that the trace_event_file data may have been freed already
causing a use-after-free. Add a field to the event_trigger_data that
points directly to the trace_event_call so that it can decrement its
reference directly without needing to go through the
trace_event_file.
- Fix accounting of buffer data remote headers
trace_buffer_desc_size() and trace_remote_alloc_buffer() undercount
the number of pages is needed for the asked for size as it doesn't
take into account the meta data on each page. Add a helper function
to do the calculation properly and use that in these functions.
- Catch nr_page_va overflow in ring_buffer_desc sizing
The number of pages per remote ring buffer is capped by
ring_buffer_desc::nr_page_va (32 bits). A buffer_size large enough to
overflow that field would silently allocate a descriptor smaller than
what was asked for.
- Do not resize the subbuf order if any per_cpu buffer is disabled
The mmapping of ring buffers disables resizing the subbuffers, but it
is done per-cpu whereas the subbuf size change is done for all the
per_cpu buffers under the buffer->mutex. It could change the size of
some while the mapping is happening on others. Have the resize of the
subbuf order check all the per_cpu buffers under the lock to see if
any of them is disabled before starting and causing an inconsistency
between buffers that are being mapped.
* tag 'trace-v7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: (25 commits)
ring-buffer: Check resize_disabled before publishing the new subbuf order
tracing/remotes: Catch nr_page_va overflow in ring_buffer_desc sizing
tracing/remotes: Account for ring buffer page header in size calculation
tracing: Don't dereference trace_event_file in deferred trigger free
ftrace: Use rcu_assign_pointer() for tmp_ops filter hash
ring-buffer: Acquire the lock with irqsave in rb_wake_up_waiters()
tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file
tracing: Fix ring_buffer_read_page_size() kernel-doc
tracing: Restore :mod: trailer after parsing in ftrace_set_clr_event()
tracing: Fix memory corruption from a "STACKTRACE" histogram key
tracing: Fix memory corruption from the histogram stacktrace modifier
tracing: Undo the registration when enabling the histogram trigger fails
tracing: Take the reference before publishing the named histogram trigger
tracing: Set the trace clock before registering the histogram trigger
tracing: Fix typo "preceeded" in comment
tracing: Fix typo "availabe" in comment
tracing: Let histogram values keep the percent and graph modifiers
tracing: Keep the entry count when the histogram stats allocation fails
tracing: Free histogram the field rejected for a bad modifier
tracing: Free histogram the var ref when its initialization fails
...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst | 454 |
1 files changed, 454 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..64c0ec742 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst @@ -0,0 +1,454 @@ +====================== +Linux Kernel Selftests +====================== + +The kernel contains a set of "self tests" under the tools/testing/selftests/ +directory. These are intended to be small tests to exercise individual code +paths in the kernel. Tests are intended to be run after building, installing +and booting a kernel. + +Kselftest from mainline can be run on older stable kernels. Running tests +from mainline offers the best coverage. Several test rings run mainline +kselftest suite on stable releases. The reason is that when a new test +gets added to test existing code to regression test a bug, we should be +able to run that test on an older kernel. Hence, it is important to keep +code that can still test an older kernel and make sure it skips the test +gracefully on newer releases. + +On some systems, hot-plug tests could hang forever waiting for cpu and +memory to be ready to be offlined. A special hot-plug target is created +to run the full range of hot-plug tests. In default mode, hot-plug tests run +in safe mode with a limited scope. In limited mode, cpu-hotplug test is +run on a single cpu as opposed to all hotplug capable cpus, and memory +hotplug test is run on 2% of hotplug capable memory instead of 10%. + +kselftest runs as a userspace process. Tests that can be written/run in +userspace may wish to use the `Test Harness`_. Tests that need to be +run in kernel space may wish to use a `Test Module`_. + +Documentation on the tests +========================== + +For documentation on the kselftests themselves, see: + +.. toctree:: + + testing-devices + +Running the selftests (hotplug tests are run in limited mode) +============================================================= + +To build the tests:: + + $ make headers + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests + +To run the tests:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests run_tests + +To build and run the tests with a single command, use:: + + $ make kselftest + +Note that some tests will require root privileges. + +Kselftest supports saving output files in a separate directory and then +running tests. To locate output files in a separate directory two syntaxes +are supported. In both cases the working directory must be the root of the +kernel src. This is applicable to "Running a subset of selftests" section +below. + +To build, save output files in a separate directory with O= :: + + $ make O=/tmp/kselftest kselftest + +To build, save output files in a separate directory with KBUILD_OUTPUT :: + + $ export KBUILD_OUTPUT=/tmp/kselftest; make kselftest + +The O= assignment takes precedence over the KBUILD_OUTPUT environment +variable. + +The above commands by default run the tests and print full pass/fail report. +Kselftest supports "summary" option to make it easier to understand the test +results. Please find the detailed individual test results for each test in +/tmp/testname file(s) when summary option is specified. This is applicable +to "Running a subset of selftests" section below. + +To run kselftest with summary option enabled :: + + $ make summary=1 kselftest + +Running a subset of selftests +============================= + +You can use the "TARGETS" variable on the make command line to specify +single test to run, or a list of tests to run. + +To run only tests targeted for a single subsystem:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests TARGETS=ptrace run_tests + +You can specify multiple tests to build and run:: + + $ make TARGETS="size timers" kselftest + +To build, save output files in a separate directory with O= :: + + $ make O=/tmp/kselftest TARGETS="size timers" kselftest + +To build, save output files in a separate directory with KBUILD_OUTPUT :: + + $ export KBUILD_OUTPUT=/tmp/kselftest; make TARGETS="size timers" kselftest + +Additionally you can use the "SKIP_TARGETS" variable on the make command +line to specify one or more targets to exclude from the TARGETS list. + +To run all tests but a single subsystem:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests SKIP_TARGETS=ptrace run_tests + +You can specify multiple tests to skip:: + + $ make SKIP_TARGETS="size timers" kselftest + +You can also specify a restricted list of tests to run together with a +dedicated skiplist:: + + $ make TARGETS="breakpoints size timers" SKIP_TARGETS=size kselftest + +See the top-level tools/testing/selftests/Makefile for the list of all +possible targets. + +Requiring all targets to build successfully +=========================================== + +By default, the build succeeds as long as at least one target builds +without error. Set ``FORCE_TARGETS=1`` to instead require every target to +build successfully; make will abort as soon as any target fails:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests FORCE_TARGETS=1 + +This applies to both the ``all`` and ``install`` targets and is useful in +CI environments where a silent partial build would be misleading. + +Running the full range hotplug selftests +======================================== + +To build the hotplug tests:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests hotplug + +To run the hotplug tests:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests run_hotplug + +Note that some tests will require root privileges. + + +Install selftests +================= + +You can use the "install" target of "make" (which calls the `kselftest_install.sh` +tool) to install selftests in the default location (`tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_install`), +or in a user specified location via the `INSTALL_PATH` "make" variable. + +To install selftests in default location:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests install + +To install selftests in a user specified location:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests install INSTALL_PATH=/some/other/path + +Running installed selftests +=========================== + +Found in the install directory, as well as in the Kselftest tarball, +is a script named `run_kselftest.sh` to run the tests. + +You can simply do the following to run the installed Kselftests. Please +note some tests will require root privileges:: + + $ cd kselftest_install + $ ./run_kselftest.sh + +To see the list of available tests, the `-l` option can be used:: + + $ ./run_kselftest.sh -l + +The `-c` option can be used to run all the tests from a test collection, or +the `-t` option for specific single tests. Either can be used multiple times:: + + $ ./run_kselftest.sh -c size -c seccomp -t timers:posix_timers -t timer:nanosleep + +For other features see the script usage output, seen with the `-h` option. + +Timeout for selftests +===================== + +Selftests are designed to be quick and so a default timeout is used of 45 +seconds for each test. Tests can override the default timeout by adding +a settings file in their directory and set a timeout variable there to the +configured a desired upper timeout for the test. Only a few tests override +the timeout with a value higher than 45 seconds, selftests strives to keep +it that way. Timeouts in selftests are not considered fatal because the +system under which a test runs may change and this can also modify the +expected time it takes to run a test. If you have control over the systems +which will run the tests you can configure a test runner on those systems to +use a greater or lower timeout on the command line as with the `-o` or +the `--override-timeout` argument. For example to use 165 seconds instead +one would use:: + + $ ./run_kselftest.sh --override-timeout 165 + +You can look at the TAP output to see if you ran into the timeout. Test +runners which know a test must run under a specific time can then optionally +treat these timeouts then as fatal. + +Packaging selftests +=================== + +In some cases packaging is desired, such as when tests need to run on a +different system. To package selftests, run:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests gen_tar + +This generates a tarball in the `INSTALL_PATH/kselftest-packages` directory. By +default, `.gz` format is used. The tar compression format can be overridden by +specifying a `FORMAT` make variable. Any value recognized by `tar's auto-compress`_ +option is supported, such as:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests gen_tar FORMAT=.xz + +`make gen_tar` invokes `make install` so you can use it to package a subset of +tests by using variables specified in `Running a subset of selftests`_ +section:: + + $ make -C tools/testing/selftests gen_tar TARGETS="size" FORMAT=.xz + +.. _tar's auto-compress: https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/manual/html_node/gzip.html#auto_002dcompress + +Contributing new tests +====================== + +In general, the rules for selftests are + + * Do as much as you can if you're not root; + + * Don't take too long; + + * Don't break the build on any architecture, and + + * Don't cause the top-level "make run_tests" to fail if your feature is + unconfigured. + + * The output of tests must conform to the TAP standard to ensure high + testing quality and to capture failures/errors with specific details. + The kselftest.h and kselftest_harness.h headers provide wrappers for + outputting test results. These wrappers should be used for pass, + fail, exit, and skip messages. CI systems can easily parse TAP output + messages to detect test results. + +Contributing new tests (details) +================================ + + * In your Makefile, use facilities from lib.mk by including it instead of + reinventing the wheel. Specify flags and binaries generation flags on + need basis before including lib.mk. :: + + CFLAGS = $(KHDR_INCLUDES) + TEST_GEN_PROGS := close_range_test + include ../lib.mk + + * Use TEST_GEN_XXX if such binaries or files are generated during + compiling. + + TEST_PROGS, TEST_GEN_PROGS mean it is the executable tested by + default. + + TEST_GEN_MODS_DIR should be used by tests that require modules to be built + before the test starts. The variable will contain the name of the directory + containing the modules. + + TEST_CUSTOM_PROGS should be used by tests that require custom build + rules and prevent common build rule use. + + TEST_PROGS are for test shell scripts. Please ensure shell script has + its exec bit set. Otherwise, lib.mk run_tests will generate a warning. + + TEST_CUSTOM_PROGS and TEST_PROGS will be run by common run_tests. + + TEST_PROGS_EXTENDED, TEST_GEN_PROGS_EXTENDED mean it is the + executable which is not tested by default. + + TEST_FILES, TEST_GEN_FILES mean it is the file which is used by + test. + + TEST_INCLUDES is similar to TEST_FILES, it lists files which should be + included when exporting or installing the tests, with the following + differences: + + * symlinks to files in other directories are preserved + * the part of paths below tools/testing/selftests/ is preserved when + copying the files to the output directory + + TEST_INCLUDES is meant to list dependencies located in other directories of + the selftests hierarchy. + + * First use the headers inside the kernel source and/or git repo, and then the + system headers. Headers for the kernel release as opposed to headers + installed by the distro on the system should be the primary focus to be able + to find regressions. Use KHDR_INCLUDES in Makefile to include headers from + the kernel source. + + * If a test needs specific kernel config options enabled, add a config file in + the test directory to enable them. + + e.g: tools/testing/selftests/android/config + + * Create a .gitignore file inside test directory and add all generated objects + in it. + + * Add new test name in TARGETS in selftests/Makefile:: + + TARGETS += android + + * All changes should pass:: + + kselftest-{all,install,clean,gen_tar} + kselftest-{all,install,clean,gen_tar} O=abo_path + kselftest-{all,install,clean,gen_tar} O=rel_path + make -C tools/testing/selftests {all,install,clean,gen_tar} + make -C tools/testing/selftests {all,install,clean,gen_tar} O=abs_path + make -C tools/testing/selftests {all,install,clean,gen_tar} O=rel_path + +Test Module +=========== + +Kselftest tests the kernel from userspace. Sometimes things need +testing from within the kernel, one method of doing this is to create a +test module. We can tie the module into the kselftest framework by +using a shell script test runner. ``kselftest/module.sh`` is designed +to facilitate this process. There is also a header file provided to +assist writing kernel modules that are for use with kselftest: + +- ``tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_module.h`` +- ``tools/testing/selftests/kselftest/module.sh`` + +Note that test modules should taint the kernel with TAINT_TEST. This will +happen automatically for modules which are in the ``tools/testing/`` +directory, or for modules which use the ``kselftest_module.h`` header above. +Otherwise, you'll need to add ``MODULE_INFO(test, "Y")`` to your module +source. selftests which do not load modules typically should not taint the +kernel, but in cases where a non-test module is loaded, TEST_TAINT can be +applied from userspace by writing to ``/proc/sys/kernel/tainted``. + +How to use +---------- + +Here we show the typical steps to create a test module and tie it into +kselftest. We use kselftests for lib/ as an example. + +1. Create the test module + +2. Create the test script that will run (load/unload) the module + e.g. ``tools/testing/selftests/lib/bitmap.sh`` + +3. Add line to config file e.g. ``tools/testing/selftests/lib/config`` + +4. Add test script to makefile e.g. ``tools/testing/selftests/lib/Makefile`` + +5. Verify it works: + +.. code-block:: sh + + # Assumes you have booted a fresh build of this kernel tree + cd /path/to/linux/tree + make kselftest-merge + make modules + sudo make modules_install + make TARGETS=lib kselftest + +Example Module +-------------- + +A bare bones test module might look like this: + +.. code-block:: c + + // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ + + #define pr_fmt(fmt) KBUILD_MODNAME ": " fmt + + #include "../tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_module.h" + + KSTM_MODULE_GLOBALS(); + + /* + * Kernel module for testing the foobinator + */ + + static int __init test_function() + { + ... + } + + static void __init selftest(void) + { + KSTM_CHECK_ZERO(do_test_case("", 0)); + } + + KSTM_MODULE_LOADERS(test_foo); + MODULE_AUTHOR("John Developer <jd@fooman.org>"); + MODULE_LICENSE("GPL"); + MODULE_INFO(test, "Y"); + +Example test script +------------------- + +.. code-block:: sh + + #!/bin/bash + # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ + $(dirname $0)/../kselftest/module.sh "foo" test_foo + + +Test Harness +============ + +The kselftest_harness.h file contains useful helpers to build tests. The +test harness is for userspace testing, for kernel space testing see `Test +Module`_ above. + +The tests from tools/testing/selftests/seccomp/seccomp_bpf.c can be used as +example. + +Example +------- + +.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h + :doc: example + + +Helpers +------- + +.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h + :functions: TH_LOG TEST TEST_SIGNAL FIXTURE FIXTURE_DATA FIXTURE_SETUP + FIXTURE_TEARDOWN TEST_F TEST_HARNESS_MAIN FIXTURE_VARIANT + FIXTURE_VARIANT_ADD + +Operators +--------- + +.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h + :doc: operators + +.. kernel-doc:: tools/testing/selftests/kselftest_harness.h + :functions: ASSERT_EQ ASSERT_NE ASSERT_LT ASSERT_LE ASSERT_GT ASSERT_GE + ASSERT_NULL ASSERT_TRUE ASSERT_NULL ASSERT_TRUE ASSERT_FALSE + ASSERT_STREQ ASSERT_STRNE EXPECT_EQ EXPECT_NE EXPECT_LT + EXPECT_LE EXPECT_GT EXPECT_GE EXPECT_NULL EXPECT_TRUE + EXPECT_FALSE EXPECT_STREQ EXPECT_STRNE |
