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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700 |
| commit | 034dd340b08be1f2f0477ad16131d609f9dbd53c (patch) | |
| tree | 2536f4b2d7893ccd916b5abdf3c454ad6edc03c2 /Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace | |
| 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/driver-api/early-userspace')
3 files changed, 297 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/buffer-format.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/buffer-format.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..4597a9110 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/buffer-format.rst @@ -0,0 +1,132 @@ +======================= +initramfs buffer format +======================= + +Al Viro, H. Peter Anvin + +With kernel 2.5.x, the old "initial ramdisk" protocol was complemented +with an "initial ramfs" protocol. The initramfs content is passed +using the same memory buffer protocol used by initrd, but the content +is different. The initramfs buffer contains an archive which is +expanded into a ramfs filesystem; this document details the initramfs +buffer format. + +The initramfs buffer format is based around the "newc" or "crc" CPIO +formats, and can be created with the cpio(1) utility. The cpio +archive can be compressed using gzip(1), or any other algorithm provided +via CONFIG_DECOMPRESS_*. One valid version of an initramfs buffer is +thus a single .cpio.gz file. + +The full format of the initramfs buffer is defined by the following +grammar, where:: + + * is used to indicate "0 or more occurrences of" + (|) indicates alternatives + + indicates concatenation + GZIP() indicates gzip compression of the operand + BZIP2() indicates bzip2 compression of the operand + LZMA() indicates lzma compression of the operand + XZ() indicates xz compression of the operand + LZO() indicates lzo compression of the operand + LZ4() indicates lz4 compression of the operand + ZSTD() indicates zstd compression of the operand + ALGN(n) means padding with null bytes to an n-byte boundary + + initramfs := ("\0" | cpio_archive | cpio_compressed_archive)* + + cpio_compressed_archive := (GZIP(cpio_archive) | BZIP2(cpio_archive) + | LZMA(cpio_archive) | XZ(cpio_archive) | LZO(cpio_archive) + | LZ4(cpio_archive) | ZSTD(cpio_archive)) + + cpio_archive := cpio_file* + (<nothing> | cpio_trailer) + + cpio_file := ALGN(4) + cpio_header + filename + "\0" + ALGN(4) + data + + cpio_trailer := ALGN(4) + cpio_header + "TRAILER!!!\0" + ALGN(4) + + +In human terms, the initramfs buffer contains a collection of +compressed and/or uncompressed cpio archives (in the "newc" or "crc" +formats); arbitrary amounts zero bytes (for padding) can be added +between members. + +The cpio "TRAILER!!!" entry (cpio end-of-archive) is optional, but is +not ignored; see "handling of hard links" below. + +The structure of the cpio_header is as follows (all fields contain +hexadecimal ASCII numbers fully padded with '0' on the left to the +full width of the field, for example, the integer 4780 is represented +by the ASCII string "000012ac"): + +============= ================== ============================================== +Field name Field size Meaning +============= ================== ============================================== +c_magic 6 bytes The string "070701" or "070702" +c_ino 8 bytes File inode number +c_mode 8 bytes File mode and permissions +c_uid 8 bytes File uid +c_gid 8 bytes File gid +c_nlink 8 bytes Number of links +c_mtime 8 bytes Modification time +c_filesize 8 bytes Size of data field +c_maj 8 bytes Major part of file device number +c_min 8 bytes Minor part of file device number +c_rmaj 8 bytes Major part of device node reference +c_rmin 8 bytes Minor part of device node reference +c_namesize 8 bytes Length of filename, including final \0 +c_chksum 8 bytes Checksum of data field if c_magic is 070702; + otherwise zero +============= ================== ============================================== + +The c_mode field matches the contents of st_mode returned by stat(2) +on Linux, and encodes the file type and file permissions. + +c_mtime is ignored unless CONFIG_INITRAMFS_PRESERVE_MTIME=y is set. + +The c_filesize should be zero for any file which is not a regular file +or symlink. + +c_namesize may account for more than one trailing '\0', as long as the +value doesn't exceed PATH_MAX. This can be useful for ensuring that a +subsequent file data segment is aligned, e.g. to a filesystem block +boundary. + +The c_chksum field contains a simple 32-bit unsigned sum of all the +bytes in the data field. cpio(1) refers to this as "crc", which is +clearly incorrect (a cyclic redundancy check is a different and +significantly stronger integrity check), however, this is the +algorithm used. + +If the filename is "TRAILER!!!" this is actually an end-of-archive +marker; the c_filesize for an end-of-archive marker must be zero. + + +Handling of hard links +====================== + +When a nondirectory with c_nlink > 1 is seen, the (c_maj,c_min,c_ino) +tuple is looked up in a tuple buffer. If not found, it is entered in +the tuple buffer and the entry is created as usual; if found, a hard +link rather than a second copy of the file is created. It is not +necessary (but permitted) to include a second copy of the file +contents; if the file contents is not included, the c_filesize field +should be set to zero to indicate no data section follows. If data is +present, the previous instance of the file is overwritten; this allows +the data-carrying instance of a file to occur anywhere in the sequence +(GNU cpio is reported to attach the data to the last instance of a +file only.) + +c_filesize must not be zero for a symlink. + +When a "TRAILER!!!" end-of-archive marker is seen, the tuple buffer is +reset. This permits archives which are generated independently to be +concatenated. + +To combine file data from different sources (without having to +regenerate the (c_maj,c_min,c_ino) fields), therefore, either one of +the following techniques can be used: + +a) Separate the different file data sources with a "TRAILER!!!" + end-of-archive marker, or + +b) Make sure c_nlink == 1 for all nondirectory entries. diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/early_userspace_support.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/early_userspace_support.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..60d1e1bc9 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/early_userspace_support.rst @@ -0,0 +1,154 @@ +======================= +Early userspace support +======================= + +Last update: 2004-12-20 tlh + + +"Early userspace" is a set of libraries and programs that provide +various pieces of functionality that are important enough to be +available while a Linux kernel is coming up, but that don't need to be +run inside the kernel itself. + +It consists of several major infrastructure components: + +- gen_init_cpio, a program that builds a cpio-format archive + containing a root filesystem image. This archive is compressed, and + the compressed image is linked into the kernel image. +- initramfs, a chunk of code that unpacks the compressed cpio image + midway through the kernel boot process. +- klibc, a userspace C library, currently packaged separately, that is + optimized for correctness and small size. + +The cpio file format used by initramfs is the "newc" (aka "cpio -H newc") +format, and is documented in the file "buffer-format.txt". There are +two ways to add an early userspace image: specify an existing cpio +archive to be used as the image or have the kernel build process build +the image from specifications. + +CPIO ARCHIVE method +------------------- + +You can create a cpio archive that contains the early userspace image. +Your cpio archive should be specified in CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE and it +will be used directly. Only a single cpio file may be specified in +CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE and directory and file names are not allowed in +combination with a cpio archive. + +IMAGE BUILDING method +--------------------- + +The kernel build process can also build an early userspace image from +source parts rather than supplying a cpio archive. This method provides +a way to create images with root-owned files even though the image was +built by an unprivileged user. + +The image is specified as one or more sources in +CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE. Sources can be either directories or files - +cpio archives are *not* allowed when building from sources. + +A source directory will have it and all of its contents packaged. The +specified directory name will be mapped to '/'. When packaging a +directory, limited user and group ID translation can be performed. +INITRAMFS_ROOT_UID can be set to a user ID that needs to be mapped to +user root (0). INITRAMFS_ROOT_GID can be set to a group ID that needs +to be mapped to group root (0). + +A source file must be directives in the format required by the +usr/gen_init_cpio utility (run 'usr/gen_init_cpio -h' to get the +file format). The directives in the file will be passed directly to +usr/gen_init_cpio. + +When a combination of directories and files are specified then the +initramfs image will be an aggregate of all of them. In this way a user +can create a 'root-image' directory and install all files into it. +Because device-special files cannot be created by a unprivileged user, +special files can be listed in a 'root-files' file. Both 'root-image' +and 'root-files' can be listed in CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE and a complete +early userspace image can be built by an unprivileged user. + +As a technical note, when directories and files are specified, the +entire CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE is passed to +usr/gen_initramfs.sh. This means that CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE +can really be interpreted as any legal argument to +gen_initramfs.sh. If a directory is specified as an argument then +the contents are scanned, uid/gid translation is performed, and +usr/gen_init_cpio file directives are output. If a file is +specified as an argument to usr/gen_initramfs.sh then the +contents of the file are simply copied to the output. All of the output +directives from directory scanning and file contents copying are +processed by usr/gen_init_cpio. + +See also 'usr/gen_initramfs.sh -h'. + +Where's this all leading? +========================= + +The klibc distribution contains some of the necessary software to make +early userspace useful. The klibc distribution is currently +maintained separately from the kernel. + +You can obtain somewhat infrequent snapshots of klibc from +https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/klibc/ + +For active users, you are better off using the klibc git +repository, at https://git.kernel.org/?p=libs/klibc/klibc.git + +The standalone klibc distribution currently provides three components, +in addition to the klibc library: + +- ipconfig, a program that configures network interfaces. It can + configure them statically, or use DHCP to obtain information + dynamically (aka "IP autoconfiguration"). +- nfsmount, a program that can mount an NFS filesystem. +- kinit, the "glue" that uses ipconfig and nfsmount to replace the old + support for IP autoconfig, mount a filesystem over NFS, and continue + system boot using that filesystem as root. + +kinit is built as a single statically linked binary to save space. + +Eventually, several more chunks of kernel functionality will hopefully +move to early userspace: + +- Almost all of init/do_mounts* (the beginning of this is already in + place) +- ACPI table parsing +- Insert unwieldy subsystem that doesn't really need to be in kernel + space here + +If kinit doesn't meet your current needs and you've got bytes to burn, +the klibc distribution includes a small Bourne-compatible shell (ash) +and a number of other utilities, so you can replace kinit and build +custom initramfs images that meet your needs exactly. + +For questions and help, you can sign up for the early userspace +mailing list at https://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/klibc + +How does it work? +================= + +The kernel has currently 3 ways to mount the root filesystem: + +a) all required device and filesystem drivers compiled into the kernel, no + initrd. init/main.c:init() will call prepare_namespace() to mount the + final root filesystem, based on the root= option and optional init= to run + some other init binary than listed at the end of init/main.c:init(). + +b) some device and filesystem drivers built as modules and stored in an + initrd. The initrd must contain a binary '/linuxrc' which is supposed to + load these driver modules. It is also possible to mount the final root + filesystem via linuxrc and use the pivot_root syscall. The initrd is + mounted and executed via prepare_namespace(). + +c) using initramfs. The call to prepare_namespace() must be skipped. + This means that a binary must do all the work. Said binary can be stored + into initramfs either via modifying usr/gen_init_cpio.c or via the new + initrd format, an cpio archive. It must be called "/init". This binary + is responsible to do all the things prepare_namespace() would do. + + To maintain backwards compatibility, the /init binary will only run if it + comes via an initramfs cpio archive. If this is not the case, + init/main.c:init() will run prepare_namespace() to mount the final root + and exec one of the predefined init binaries. + +Bryan O'Sullivan <bos@serpentine.com> diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/index.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..ff4594712 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/early-userspace/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +=============== +Early Userspace +=============== + +.. toctree:: + :maxdepth: 1 + + early_userspace_support + buffer-format |
