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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-09-05 11:59:05 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-09-05 11:59:05 -0700 |
| commit | 9f0346dcbea363787186c94ef94dd01aaa215afa (patch) | |
| tree | b81c168f4d0dbe4c7f4750f4598d48a6deb72094 /tools/include/uapi/README | |
| download | linux-stable-9f0346dcbea363787186c94ef94dd01aaa215afa.tar.gz linux-stable-9f0346dcbea363787186c94ef94dd01aaa215afa.zip | |
Merge tag 'driver-core-7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/driver-core/driver-coregrafted
Pull driver core fixes from Danilo Krummrich:
- Fix kernfs listxattr() not returning security xattr names (e.g.
SELinux labels) when the kernfs node has no allocated kernfs_iattrs
- Fix silent truncation of IRQ vector indices in the Rust PCI
abstractions
- Don't select OF from DRIVER_PE_KUNIT_TEST; skip the test when OF is
disabled instead of silently enabling extra kernel functionality
- Russ Weight is retiring from kernel development; update the Firmware
Loader sysfs contact to the driver-core mailing list, add a CREDITS
entry for Firmware Upload, and update MAINTAINERS accordingly
* tag 'driver-core-7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/driver-core/driver-core:
MAINTAINERS: Remove Russ Weight from Firmware Loader
CREDITS: Add CREDITS entry for Firmware Upload
firmware_loader: Change contact for sysfs nodes
rust: pci: reject IRQ vector indices that do not fit in u32
kernfs: preserve security xattrs without allocating iattrs
drivers: base: test: DRIVER_PE_KUNIT_TEST should not select OF
Diffstat (limited to 'tools/include/uapi/README')
| -rw-r--r-- | tools/include/uapi/README | 73 |
1 files changed, 73 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/tools/include/uapi/README b/tools/include/uapi/README new file mode 100644 index 000000000..7147b1b2c --- /dev/null +++ b/tools/include/uapi/README @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@ +Why we want a copy of kernel headers in tools? +============================================== + +There used to be no copies, with tools/ code using kernel headers +directly. From time to time tools/perf/ broke due to legitimate kernel +hacking. At some point Linus complained about such direct usage. Then we +adopted the current model. + +The way these headers are used in perf are not restricted to just +including them to compile something. + +There are sometimes used in scripts that convert defines into string +tables, etc, so some change may break one of these scripts, or new MSRs +may use some different #define pattern, etc. + +E.g.: + + $ ls -1 tools/perf/trace/beauty/*.sh | head -5 + tools/perf/trace/beauty/arch_errno_names.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/drm_ioctl.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/fadvise.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/fsconfig.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/fsmount.sh + $ + $ tools/perf/trace/beauty/fadvise.sh + static const char *fadvise_advices[] = { + [0] = "NORMAL", + [1] = "RANDOM", + [2] = "SEQUENTIAL", + [3] = "WILLNEED", + [4] = "DONTNEED", + [5] = "NOREUSE", + }; + $ + +The tools/perf/check-headers.sh script, part of the tools/ build +process, points out changes in the original files. + +So its important not to touch the copies in tools/ when doing changes in +the original kernel headers, that will be done later, when +check-headers.sh inform about the change to the perf tools hackers. + +Another explanation from Ingo Molnar: +It's better than all the alternatives we tried so far: + + - Symbolic links and direct #includes: this was the original approach but + was pushed back on from the kernel side, when tooling modified the + headers and broke them accidentally for kernel builds. + + - Duplicate self-defined ABI headers like glibc: double the maintenance + burden, double the chance for mistakes, plus there's no tech-driven + notification mechanism to look at new kernel side changes. + +What we are doing now is a third option: + + - A software-enforced copy-on-write mechanism of kernel headers to + tooling, driven by non-fatal warnings on the tooling side build when + kernel headers get modified: + + Warning: Kernel ABI header differences: + diff -u tools/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h + diff -u tools/include/uapi/linux/fs.h include/uapi/linux/fs.h + diff -u tools/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h include/uapi/linux/kvm.h + ... + + The tooling policy is to always pick up the kernel side headers as-is, + and integate them into the tooling build. The warnings above serve as a + notification to tooling maintainers that there's changes on the kernel + side. + +We've been using this for many years now, and it might seem hacky, but +works surprisingly well. + |
