From: Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@gmail.com>
To: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>, Jason Baron <jbaron@akamai.com>,
Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>,
Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>,
Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@kernel.org>,
Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@google.com>,
Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@atomlin.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-arch@vger.kernel.org,
linux-modules@vger.kernel.org,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH v4 5/5] dyndbg.lds.S: fix lost dyndbg sections in modules
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 12:37:54 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260630-fix-align-v4-5-42e6ec883342@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260630-fix-align-v4-0-42e6ec883342@gmail.com>
With CONFIG_DRM_USE_DYNAMIC_DEBUG=y, several build configs had
problems with __dyndbg* sections getting lost in drm drivers. Fix
this by following the model demonstrated in codetag.lds.h.
Introduce include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h, to bundle dynamic-debug's
multiple sections together, into 2 macros:
vmlinux.lds.h DATA_DATA: move the 2 BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg*)
calls into dyndbg.lds.h DYNDBG_SECTIONS(). vmlinux.lds.h now includes
the new file and calls the new macro.
MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS keeps the 2 sections by name, aligns them and sets
the output address to 0 when the sections are empty.
dyndbg.lds.h includes (reuses) bounded-section.lds.h
scripts/module.lds.S: now calls MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS right before the
CODETAG macro (consistent with their placements in vmlinux.lds.h), and
also includes dyndbg.lds.h
This isolates vmlinux.lds.h from further __dyndbg section additions.
CC: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Signed-off-by: Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>
---
v3: move #includes to top, drop extra ALIGN(8) in DYNDBG_SECTIONS, add RvBy
v2: Address linker script review feedback for relocatable modules.
MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS() used the BOUNDED_SECTION_BY() macro, which
proved problematic for kernel modules for two reasons:
1. Unwanted Empty Sections:
BOUNDED_SECTION_BY() automatically generates `__start` and `__stop`
symbols. When applied to `MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS()`, the linker assumes
the sections are populated due to the symbol definitions, forcing an
empty `__dyndbg` and `__dyndbg_classes` output section in every
compiled module, even those without dynamic debug configuration.
Since the module loader uses `section_objs()` to locate data via
ELF headers instead of relying on `__start`/`__stop` symbols, these
assignments are completely unnecessary.
2. Non-zero Output Addresses:
During relocatable linking (e.g., `ld.bfd -r`), omitting an explicit
base address causes the section to inherit the current location
counter. This results in non-zero sh_addr values in `.ko` files,
which is confusing, degrades compressibility, and can cause issues
with external tools parsing the ELF.
Fix both issues by dropping `BOUNDED_SECTION_BY()` in favor of a simple
`KEEP(*(...))` constraint and explicitly defining the sections with a `0`
base address: `__dyndbg 0 : ALIGN(8) { ... }`.
fixup-inc-vml
---
MAINTAINERS | 1 +
include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h | 6 ++----
scripts/module.lds.S | 2 ++
4 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 15011f5752a9..cfc2695d9bbe 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -9178,6 +9178,7 @@ DYNAMIC DEBUG
M: Jason Baron <jbaron@akamai.com>
M: Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@gmail.com>
S: Maintained
+F: include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h
F: include/linux/dynamic_debug.h
F: lib/dynamic_debug.c
F: lib/test_dynamic_debug.c
diff --git a/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h b/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9d8951bef688
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only */
+#ifndef __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H
+#define __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H
+
+#include <asm-generic/bounded_sections.lds.h>
+#define DYNDBG_SECTIONS() \
+ BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg, ___dyndbg) \
+ BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg_classes, ___dyndbg_classes)
+
+#define MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS() \
+ __dyndbg 0 : ALIGN(8) { \
+ KEEP(*(__dyndbg)) \
+ } \
+ __dyndbg_classes 0 : ALIGN(8) { \
+ KEEP(*(__dyndbg_classes)) \
+ }
+
+#endif /* __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H */
diff --git a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
index 3758a79d0430..bd60f278f762 100644
--- a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
+++ b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
#include <asm-generic/bounded_sections.lds.h>
#include <asm-generic/codetag.lds.h>
+#include <asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h>
#ifndef LOAD_OFFSET
#define LOAD_OFFSET 0
@@ -344,10 +345,7 @@
*(.data..do_once) \
STRUCT_ALIGN(); \
*(__tracepoints) \
- /* implement dynamic printk debug */ \
- . = ALIGN(8); \
- BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg_classes, ___dyndbg_classes) \
- BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg, ___dyndbg) \
+ DYNDBG_SECTIONS() \
CODETAG_SECTIONS() \
LIKELY_PROFILE() \
BRANCH_PROFILE() \
diff --git a/scripts/module.lds.S b/scripts/module.lds.S
index b62683061d79..2e62dc5bd5d4 100644
--- a/scripts/module.lds.S
+++ b/scripts/module.lds.S
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
#endif
#include <asm-generic/codetag.lds.h>
+#include <asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h>
SECTIONS {
/DISCARD/ : {
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ SECTIONS {
*(.rodata..L*)
}
+ MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS()
MOD_SEPARATE_CODETAG_SECTIONS()
}
--
2.54.0
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-06-30 18:38 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-06-30 18:37 [PATCH v4 0/5] fix section alignment on i386 when CONFIG_DRM_USE_DYNAMIC_DEBUG=Y Jim Cromie
2026-06-30 18:37 ` [PATCH v4 1/5] vmlinux.lds.h: refactor BOUNDED_SECTION_* macros into bounded_sections.lds.h Jim Cromie
2026-06-30 18:37 ` [PATCH v4 2/5] vmlinux.lds.h: drop unused HEADERED_SECTION* macros Jim Cromie
2026-06-30 18:37 ` [PATCH v4 3/5] vmlinux.lds.h: Fix ALIGN(8) omission causing NULL ptr on i386 Jim Cromie
2026-06-30 18:37 ` [PATCH v4 4/5] vmlinux.lds.h: remove redundant ALIGN(8) directives Jim Cromie
2026-06-30 18:37 ` Jim Cromie [this message]
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