From 8d836581f9b1f57ceaa2b47654754ef1260b410b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Niklas Cassel Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 15:00:32 +0200 Subject: ata: libata-scsi: fix ata_dsm_trim_pages() kernel-doc make htmldocs fails with: Documentation/driver-api/libata:604: ./drivers/ata/libata-scsi.c:2301: ERROR: Unexpected indentation. [docutils] The Return: section of ata_dsm_trim_pages() ends its first sentence with a colon and continues with an indented bullet list. reStructuredText requires a blank line before an indented block, so docutils chokes on the list. Simply adding the missing blank line does not work either: Return: is a kernel-doc "special section", which is terminated by the first blank line, so the bullet list would end up in the Description section, detached from the sentence introducing it. Spell the two bounds out as prose instead, so that the Return: section stays self-contained. Documentation-only change. Fixes: e64e6b5dc867 ("ata: libata-scsi: scale DSM TRIM payload by MAX PAGES PER DSM COMMAND") Reported-by: Thomas Huth Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ide/b0a0b8e8-cc4f-4c7b-8bc5-fee0712d405a@redhat.com/ Reviewed-by: Damien Le Moal Reviewed-by: Thomas Huth Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260916130031.29990-2-cassel@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Niklas Cassel --- .../process/debugging/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst | 184 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 184 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/process/debugging/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst (limited to 'Documentation/process/debugging/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst') diff --git a/Documentation/process/debugging/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst b/Documentation/process/debugging/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..53e225760 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/process/debugging/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst @@ -0,0 +1,184 @@ +.. highlight:: none + +Debugging kernel and modules via gdb +==================================== + +The kernel debugger kgdb, hypervisors like QEMU or JTAG-based hardware +interfaces allow to debug the Linux kernel and its modules during runtime +using gdb. Gdb comes with a powerful scripting interface for python. The +kernel provides a collection of helper scripts that can simplify typical +kernel debugging steps. This is a short tutorial about how to enable and use +them. It focuses on QEMU/KVM virtual machines as target, but the examples can +be transferred to the other gdb stubs as well. + + +Requirements +------------ + +- gdb 7.2+ (recommended: 7.4+) with python support enabled (typically true + for distributions) + + +Setup +----- + +- Create a virtual Linux machine for QEMU/KVM (see www.linux-kvm.org and + www.qemu.org for more details). For cross-development, + https://landley.net/aboriginal/bin keeps a pool of machine images and + toolchains that can be helpful to start from. + +- Build the kernel with CONFIG_GDB_SCRIPTS enabled, but leave + CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_REDUCED off. If your architecture supports + CONFIG_FRAME_POINTER, keep it enabled. + +- Install that kernel on the guest, turn off KASLR if necessary by adding + "nokaslr" to the kernel command line. + Alternatively, QEMU allows to boot the kernel directly using -kernel, + -append, -initrd command line switches. This is generally only useful if + you do not depend on modules. See QEMU documentation for more details on + this mode. In this case, you should build the kernel with + CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_BASE disabled if the architecture supports KASLR. + +- Build the gdb scripts (required on kernels v5.1 and above):: + + make scripts_gdb + +- Enable the gdb stub of QEMU/KVM, either + + - at VM startup time by appending "-s" to the QEMU command line + + or + + - during runtime by issuing "gdbserver" from the QEMU monitor + console + +- cd /path/to/linux-build + +- Start gdb: gdb vmlinux + + Note: Some distros may restrict auto-loading of gdb scripts to known safe + directories. In case gdb reports to refuse loading vmlinux-gdb.py, add:: + + add-auto-load-safe-path /path/to/linux-build + + to ~/.gdbinit. See gdb help for more details. + +- Attach to the booted guest:: + + (gdb) target remote :1234 + + +Examples of using the Linux-provided gdb helpers +------------------------------------------------ + +- Load module (and main kernel) symbols:: + + (gdb) lx-symbols + loading vmlinux + scanning for modules in /home/user/linux/build + loading @0xffffffffa0020000: /home/user/linux/build/net/netfilter/xt_tcpudp.ko + loading @0xffffffffa0016000: /home/user/linux/build/net/netfilter/xt_pkttype.ko + loading @0xffffffffa0002000: /home/user/linux/build/net/netfilter/xt_limit.ko + loading @0xffffffffa00ca000: /home/user/linux/build/net/packet/af_packet.ko + loading @0xffffffffa003c000: /home/user/linux/build/fs/fuse/fuse.ko + ... + loading @0xffffffffa0000000: /home/user/linux/build/drivers/ata/ata_generic.ko + +- Set a breakpoint on some not yet loaded module function, e.g.:: + + (gdb) b btrfs_init_sysfs + Function "btrfs_init_sysfs" not defined. + Make breakpoint pending on future shared library load? (y or [n]) y + Breakpoint 1 (btrfs_init_sysfs) pending. + +- Continue the target:: + + (gdb) c + +- Load the module on the target and watch the symbols being loaded as well as + the breakpoint hit:: + + loading @0xffffffffa0034000: /home/user/linux/build/lib/libcrc32c.ko + loading @0xffffffffa0050000: /home/user/linux/build/lib/lzo/lzo_compress.ko + loading @0xffffffffa006e000: /home/user/linux/build/lib/zlib_deflate/zlib_deflate.ko + loading @0xffffffffa01b1000: /home/user/linux/build/fs/btrfs/btrfs.ko + + Breakpoint 1, btrfs_init_sysfs () at /home/user/linux/fs/btrfs/sysfs.c:36 + 36 btrfs_kset = kset_create_and_add("btrfs", NULL, fs_kobj); + +- Dump the log buffer of the target kernel:: + + (gdb) lx-dmesg + [ 0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset + [ 0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu + [ 0.000000] Linux version 3.8.0-rc4-dbg+ (... + [ 0.000000] Command line: root=/dev/sda2 resume=/dev/sda1 vga=0x314 + [ 0.000000] e820: BIOS-provided physical RAM map: + [ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000009fbff] usable + [ 0.000000] BIOS-e820: [mem 0x000000000009fc00-0x000000000009ffff] reserved + .... + +- Examine fields of the current task struct(supported by x86 and arm64 only):: + + (gdb) p $lx_current().pid + $1 = 4998 + (gdb) p $lx_current().comm + $2 = "modprobe\000\000\000\000\000\000\000" + +- Make use of the per-cpu function for the current or a specified CPU:: + + (gdb) p $lx_per_cpu(runqueues).nr_running + $3 = 1 + (gdb) p $lx_per_cpu(runqueues, 2).nr_running + $4 = 0 + +- Dig into hrtimers using the container_of helper:: + + (gdb) set $leftmost = $lx_per_cpu(hrtimer_bases).clock_base[0].active.rb_root.rb_leftmost + (gdb) p *$container_of($leftmost, "struct hrtimer", "node") + $5 = { + node = { + node = { + __rb_parent_color = 18446612686384860673, + rb_right = 0xffff888231da8b00, + rb_left = 0x0 + }, + expires = 1228461000000 + }, + _softexpires = 1228461000000, + function = 0xffffffff8137ab20 , + base = 0xffff888231d9b4c0, + state = 1 '\001', + is_rel = 0 '\000', + is_soft = 0 '\000', + is_hard = 1 '\001' + } + + +List of commands and functions +------------------------------ + +The number of commands and convenience functions may evolve over the time, +this is just a snapshot of the initial version:: + + (gdb) apropos lx + function lx_current -- Return current task + function lx_module -- Find module by name and return the module variable + function lx_per_cpu -- Return per-cpu variable + function lx_task_by_pid -- Find Linux task by PID and return the task_struct variable + function lx_thread_info -- Calculate Linux thread_info from task variable + lx-dmesg -- Print Linux kernel log buffer + lx-lsmod -- List currently loaded modules + lx-symbols -- (Re-)load symbols of Linux kernel and currently loaded modules + +Detailed help can be obtained via "help " for commands and "help +function " for convenience functions. + +Debugging GDB scripts +--------------------- + +GDB does not enable a full Python backtrace which can make debugging GDB +scripts more difficult than necessary. The following will allow for printing a +full backtrace of the python environment:: + + (gdb) set python print-stack full -- cgit v1.3.1