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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700 |
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| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700 |
| commit | 22098763a10d9c1340827fcf6edab66f153b27f0 (patch) | |
| tree | 3962f95a34df034652ff93686cdd156c7197f2d9 /Documentation/networking/netdev-features.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/networking/netdev-features.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/networking/netdev-features.rst | 220 |
1 files changed, 220 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/netdev-features.rst b/Documentation/networking/netdev-features.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..f9e1f3921 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/netdev-features.rst @@ -0,0 +1,220 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +===================================================== +Netdev features mess and how to get out from it alive +===================================================== + +Author: + Michał Mirosław <mirq-linux@rere.qmqm.pl> + + + +Part I: Feature sets +==================== + +Long gone are the days when a network card would just take and give packets +verbatim. Today's devices add multiple features and bugs (read: offloads) +that relieve an OS of various tasks like generating and checking checksums, +splitting packets, classifying them. Those capabilities and their state +are commonly referred to as netdev features in Linux kernel world. + +There are currently three main sets of features on each netdevice, +first and second are initialized by the driver: + + 1. netdev->hw_features set contains features whose state may possibly + be changed (enabled or disabled) for a particular device by user's + request. Drivers normally initialize this set before registration or + in the ndo_init callback. Changes after registration should be made + very carefully as other parts of the code may assume hw_features are + static. At the very least changes must be made under rtnl_lock and + the netdev instance lock, and followed by netdev_update_features(). + + 2. netdev->features set contains features which are currently enabled + for a device. This should be changed only by network core or in + error paths of ndo_set_features callback. + + 3. netdev->wanted_features set contains feature set requested by user. + This set is filtered by ndo_fix_features callback whenever it or + some device-specific conditions change. This set is internal to + networking core and should not be referenced in drivers. + +On top of those three main sets, each netdev has: + + 1. Sets which control features inherited by child devices (VLAN, MPLS, + hw_enc for L3/L4 tunnels). These sets allow the driver to limit which + netdev->features are propagated, in case HW cannot perform the offloads + with the extra headers present. + + 2. netdev->mangleid_features, TSO features which are supported only when + IP ID field can be mangled (constant instead of incrementing) during TSO. + + 3. netdev->gso_partial_features, additional TSO features which HW can + support via NETIF_F_GSO_PARTIAL. + +Part II: Controlling enabled features +===================================== + +When current feature set (netdev->features) is to be changed, new set +is calculated and filtered by calling ndo_fix_features callback +and netdev_fix_features(). If the resulting set differs from current +set, it is passed to ndo_set_features callback and (if the callback +returns success) replaces value stored in netdev->features. +NETDEV_FEAT_CHANGE notification is issued after that whenever current +set might have changed. + +The following events trigger recalculation: + 1. device's registration, after ndo_init returned success + 2. user requested changes in features state + 3. netdev_update_features() is called + +ndo_*_features callbacks are called with rtnl_lock held. Missing callbacks +are treated as always returning success. + +A driver that wants to trigger recalculation must do so by calling +netdev_update_features() while holding rtnl_lock. If the device uses the +netdev instance lock, that lock must be held as well. This should not be +done from ndo_*_features callbacks. netdev->features should not be modified +by driver except by means of ndo_fix_features callback. + +For "ops locked" drivers (see Documentation/networking/netdevices.rst), +ethtool callbacks that may end up invoking netdev_update_features() must +opt back into rtnl_lock by setting the matching ETHTOOL_OP_NEEDS_RTNL_* +bit in ``ethtool_ops::op_needs_rtnl``. The ethtool core then keeps +rtnl_lock held across those SET callbacks so the contract above still +holds. + +ndo_features_check is called for each skb before that skb is passed to +ndo_start_xmit. Driver may perform any non-trivial checks (e.g. exact +header geometry / length) and withdraw features like HW_CSUM or TSO, +requesting the networking stack to fall back to the software implementation. + +Part III: Implementation hints +============================== + + * ndo_fix_features: + +All dependencies between features should be resolved here. The resulting +set can be reduced further by networking core imposed limitations (as coded +in netdev_fix_features()). For this reason it is safer to disable a feature +when its dependencies are not met instead of forcing the dependency on. + +This callback should not modify hardware nor driver state (should be +stateless). It can be called multiple times between successive +ndo_set_features calls. + +Callback must not alter features contained in NETIF_F_SOFT_FEATURES or +NETIF_F_NEVER_CHANGE, except that NETIF_F_VLAN_CHALLENGED may be changed. +Care must be taken as changes to NETIF_F_VLAN_CHALLENGED won't affect already +configured VLANs. + + * ndo_set_features: + +Hardware should be reconfigured to match passed feature set. The set +should not be altered unless some error condition happens that can't +be reliably detected in ndo_fix_features. In this case, the callback +should update netdev->features to match resulting hardware state. +Errors returned are not (and cannot be) propagated anywhere except dmesg. +(Note: successful return is zero, >0 means silent error.) + + + +Part IV: Features +================= + +For current list of features, see include/linux/netdev_features.h. +This section describes semantics of some of them. + + * Transmit checksumming + +For complete description, see comments near the top of include/linux/skbuff.h. + +Note: NETIF_F_HW_CSUM is a superset of NETIF_F_IP_CSUM + NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM. +It means that device can fill TCP/UDP-like checksum anywhere in the packets +whatever headers there might be. + + * Transmit TCP segmentation offload + +NETIF_F_TSO_ECN means that hardware can properly split packets with CWR bit +set, be it TCPv4 (when NETIF_F_TSO is enabled) or TCPv6 (NETIF_F_TSO6). + + * Transmit UDP segmentation offload + +NETIF_F_GSO_UDP_L4 accepts a single UDP header with a payload that exceeds +gso_size. On segmentation, it segments the payload on gso_size boundaries and +replicates the network and UDP headers (fixing up the last one if less than +gso_size). + + * Transmit DMA from high memory + +On platforms where this is relevant, NETIF_F_HIGHDMA signals that +ndo_start_xmit can handle skbs with frags in high memory. + + * Transmit scatter-gather + +Those features say that ndo_start_xmit can handle fragmented skbs: +NETIF_F_SG --- paged skbs (skb_shinfo()->frags), NETIF_F_FRAGLIST --- +chained skbs (skb->next/prev list). + + * Software features + +Features contained in NETIF_F_SOFT_FEATURES are features of networking +stack. Driver should not change behaviour based on them. + + * VLAN challenged + +NETIF_F_VLAN_CHALLENGED should be set for devices which can't cope with VLAN +headers. Some drivers set this because the cards can't handle the bigger MTU. +[FIXME: Those cases could be fixed in VLAN code by allowing only reduced-MTU +VLANs. This may be not useful, though.] + +* rx-fcs + +This requests that the NIC append the Ethernet Frame Checksum (FCS) +to the end of the skb data. This allows sniffers and other tools to +read the CRC recorded by the NIC on receipt of the packet. + +* rx-all + +This requests that the NIC receive all possible frames, including errored +frames (such as bad FCS, etc). This can be helpful when sniffing a link with +bad packets on it. Some NICs may receive more packets if also put into normal +PROMISC mode. + +* rx-gro-hw + +This requests that the NIC enables Hardware GRO (generic receive offload). +Hardware GRO is basically the exact reverse of TSO, and is generally +stricter than Hardware LRO. A packet stream merged by Hardware GRO must +be re-segmentable by GSO or TSO back to the exact original packet stream. +Hardware GRO is dependent on RXCSUM since every packet successfully merged +by hardware must also have the checksum verified by hardware. + +* hsr-tag-ins-offload + +This should be set for devices which insert an HSR (High-availability Seamless +Redundancy) or PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) tag automatically. + +* hsr-tag-rm-offload + +This should be set for devices which remove HSR (High-availability Seamless +Redundancy) or PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) tags automatically. + +* hsr-fwd-offload + +This should be set for devices which forward HSR (High-availability Seamless +Redundancy) frames from one port to another in hardware. + +* hsr-dup-offload + +This should be set for devices which duplicate outgoing HSR (High-availability +Seamless Redundancy) or PRP (Parallel Redundancy Protocol) frames +automatically in hardware. + +Part V: Related device flags +============================ + +* netdev->netmem_tx + +This is not a netdev feature bit. Drivers support netmem TX by setting +netdev->netmem_tx to one of the values in enum netmem_tx_mode. +See Documentation/networking/netmem.rst. |
