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authorKumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>2026-09-04 10:43:19 +0200
committerAlexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>2026-09-04 07:58:36 -0700
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tree58e8288fead484f6755ad0815fc74c3742663761 /Documentation/trace/remotes.rst
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selftests/bpf: Reject graph kptr use after RCU unlockgrafted
Add a sleepable verifier test that loads a graph-node local kptr in an explicit RCU read-side critical section, then passes its node to bpf_rbtree_remove() after the section ends. Before the verifier fix, the stale NON_OWN_REF flag makes the node look like a live borrowed reference and the program is accepted. After the fix, the pointer is demoted without NON_OWN_REF and the graph kfunc argument is rejected. Also exercise a graph kptr loaded while a spin lock provides implicit RCU protection. The pointer must be invalidated when the lock is released, which guards the required ordering between non-owning-reference invalidation and RCU demotion. Update the existing fault-protected load test state description. The post-unlock pointer no longer carries NON_OWN_REF, but remains readable because the load is rewritten to use BPF_PROBE_MEM. Signed-off-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260904084325.52250-7-memxor@gmail.com Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+===============
+Tracing Remotes
+===============
+
+:Author: Vincent Donnefort <vdonnefort@google.com>
+
+Overview
+========
+Firmware and hypervisors are black boxes to the kernel. Having a way to see what
+they are doing can be useful to debug both. This is where remote tracing buffers
+come in. A remote tracing buffer is a ring buffer executed by the firmware or
+hypervisor into memory that is memory mapped to the host kernel. This is similar
+to how user space memory maps the kernel ring buffer but in this case the kernel
+is acting like user space and the firmware or hypervisor is the "kernel" side.
+With a trace remote ring buffer, the firmware and hypervisor can record events
+for which the host kernel can see and expose to user space.
+
+Register a remote
+=================
+A remote must provide a set of callbacks `struct trace_remote_callbacks` whom
+description can be found below. Those callbacks allows Tracefs to enable and
+disable tracing and events, to load and unload a tracing buffer (a set of
+ring-buffers) and to swap a reader page with the head page, which enables
+consuming reading.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/trace_remote.h
+
+Once registered, an instance will appear for this remote in the Tracefs
+directory **remotes/**. Buffers can then be read using the usual Tracefs files
+**trace_pipe** and **trace**.
+
+Declare a remote event
+======================
+Macros are provided to ease the declaration of remote events, in a similar
+fashion to in-kernel events. A declaration must provide an ID, a description of
+the event arguments and how to print the event:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ REMOTE_EVENT(foo, EVENT_FOO_ID,
+ RE_STRUCT(
+ re_field(u64, bar)
+ ),
+ RE_PRINTK("bar=%lld", __entry->bar)
+ );
+
+Then those events must be declared in a C file with the following:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ #define REMOTE_EVENT_INCLUDE_FILE foo_events.h
+ #include <trace/define_remote_events.h>
+
+This will provide a `struct remote_event remote_event_foo` that can be given to
+`trace_remote_register`.
+
+Registered events appear in the remote directory under **events/**.
+
+Simple ring-buffer
+==================
+A simple implementation for a ring-buffer writer can be found in
+kernel/trace/simple_ring_buffer.c.
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/simple_ring_buffer.h