[PATCH v3 0/2] selftests/livepatch: fix building and running outside the host kernel

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* [PATCH v3 0/2] selftests/livepatch: fix building and running outside the host kernel
@ 2026-11-03 22:27 Sasha Levin
  2026-11-03 22:27 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel Sasha Levin
  2026-11-03 22:27 ` [PATCH v3 2/2] selftests/livepatch: skip based on the test modules instead of KDIR Sasha Levin
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Sasha Levin @ 2026-11-03 22:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Josh Poimboeuf, Miroslav Benes, Petr Mladek, Joe Lawrence
  Cc: Song Liu, Marcos Paulo de Souza, Eva Kurchatova, Yafang Shao,
	Shuah Khan, live-patching, linux-kselftest, linux-kernel

The livepatch test modules are built against the running host kernel
even when the selftests are built for a kernel in an output directory,
and the scripts skip every test on a machine without a kernel build
tree, even when the modules were built and installed with the
selftests.

Patch 1 picks KDIR from O or KBUILD_OUTPUT, stops passing O and
KBUILD_OUTPUT on to the module build, and skips the modules for kernels
without CONFIG_LIVEPATCH. Patch 2 makes the scripts check for the test
modules instead of a kernel build tree.

Tested on v7.4-rc1 with an x86_64 kernel with CONFIG_LIVEPATCH built in
an output directory. The modules build against it with relative and
absolute O and KDIR, through tools/testing/selftests and through the
kernel's kselftest targets, and clean removes them in all of those
cases, also after Module.symvers is gone. The installed tree was run in
a VM that has no build directory for that kernel: all 8 livepatch tests
pass, and they skip cleanly when test_modules/ is missing.

Changes since v2:
- Patch 1: clean test_modules through the kernel source tree that
  contains them, so that clean no longer skips them for a relative O, a
  missing Module.symvers or a missing /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build,
  and pass a KDIR given on the command line on as an absolute path.
  Both found by Sashiko.
- Patch 2 is unchanged.

v2: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20261103140218.17568-1-sashal@kernel.org/
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20261014200154.1365200-1-sashal@kernel.org/

Sasha Levin (2):
  selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel
  selftests/livepatch: skip based on the test modules instead of KDIR

 tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile    | 28 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh  | 17 ++++-------
 .../selftests/livepatch/test_modules/Makefile | 11 ++++----
 3 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

-- 
2.53.0

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

* [PATCH v3 1/2] selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel
  2026-11-03 22:27 [PATCH v3 0/2] selftests/livepatch: fix building and running outside the host kernel Sasha Levin
@ 2026-11-03 22:27 ` Sasha Levin
  2026-11-03 22:43   ` sashiko-bot
  2026-11-03 22:27 ` [PATCH v3 2/2] selftests/livepatch: skip based on the test modules instead of KDIR Sasha Levin
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Sasha Levin @ 2026-11-03 22:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Josh Poimboeuf, Miroslav Benes, Petr Mladek, Joe Lawrence
  Cc: Song Liu, Marcos Paulo de Souza, Eva Kurchatova, Yafang Shao,
	Shuah Khan, live-patching, linux-kselftest, linux-kernel

The livepatch test modules are built against /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build
unless KDIR is set, and they are built unconditionally. This has three
problems:

- When the selftests are built for a kernel in an output directory
  (make O=...), the modules are still built against the running host
  kernel, or fail when the host has no build directory.

- The top-level selftests Makefile passes O to every suite, and the
  test_modules Makefile hands it on to the kernel build. Even an empty
  O= on the command line overrides the KBUILD_OUTPUT set by the
  Makefile of a kernel build directory, so the build fails against
  output directories and distribution headers such as Debian's:
  "make -C tools/testing/selftests TARGETS=livepatch" builds no
  modules at all.

- A kernel configured without CONFIG_LIVEPATCH cannot build the
  modules, although the installed scripts would correctly skip.

Select KDIR from O or KBUILD_OUTPUT when it is a prepared kernel build
directory containing Module.symvers, then from the source tree when the
kernel was built in place, and otherwise from the running kernel. An
explicit KDIR still takes precedence. Pass KDIR to test_modules as an
absolute path, also when it was given on the command line, and stop
forwarding O and KBUILD_OUTPUT to the kernel build, including when the
selftests are built through the kernel's kselftest targets, since KDIR
already names the output directory.

Read CONFIG_LIVEPATCH from the selected .config and skip the modules
only when the configuration is readable and the option is not enabled. A
KDIR without a readable configuration still attempts the build, so that
a directory that is not a prepared kernel tree fails the build instead
of silently producing an installation without modules. A KDIR that does
not exist keeps being skipped, as before.

Always clean test_modules, through the kernel source tree that contains
them. Cleaning external modules needs neither a configuration nor
Module.symvers, and unlike the build targets, the clean target of the
selftests Makefile does not pass the absolute O on, so the kernel the
modules were built against cannot always be found at that point.

Have the scripts report a skip after the root check when the running
kernel does not provide livepatch.

Fixes: c4bbe83d27c2 ("livepatch: Move tests from lib/livepatch to selftests/livepatch")
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile    | 28 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh  |  1 +
 .../selftests/livepatch/test_modules/Makefile | 11 ++++----
 3 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile
index a080eb54a215d..5c631812575dc 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,26 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
 
+ifndef KDIR
+LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE := $(firstword $(O) $(KBUILD_OUTPUT))
+ifneq ($(and $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE),$(wildcard $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE)/Module.symvers)),)
+KDIR := $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE)
+else ifneq ($(wildcard ../../../../Module.symvers),)
+KDIR := ../../../..
+else
+KDIR := /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build
+endif
+endif
+override KDIR := $(abspath $(KDIR))
+export KDIR
+MAKEOVERRIDES := $(filter-out KDIR=%,$(MAKEOVERRIDES))
+
+LIVEPATCH_CONFIG := $(shell if [ -r "$(KDIR)/.config" ]; then \
+	grep -qx 'CONFIG_LIVEPATCH=y' "$(KDIR)/.config" && echo y || echo n; fi)
+
 TEST_GEN_FILES := test_klp-call_getpid
+ifneq ($(LIVEPATCH_CONFIG),n)
 TEST_GEN_MODS_DIR := test_modules
+endif
 TEST_PROGS_EXTENDED := functions.sh
 TEST_PROGS := \
 	test-livepatch.sh \
@@ -16,3 +35,12 @@ TEST_PROGS := \
 TEST_FILES := settings
 
 include ../lib.mk
+
+ifeq ($(LIVEPATCH_CONFIG),n)
+clean: clean_livepatch_mods
+
+clean_livepatch_mods:
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) -C test_modules clean
+
+.PHONY: clean_livepatch_mods
+endif
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh
index 429fce1f31431..8b26b70f92d8c 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh
@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ function cleanup() {
 #		 the ftrace_enabled sysctl.
 function setup_config() {
 	is_root
+	[[ -d "$SYSFS_KLP_DIR" ]] || skip "livepatch is not available"
 	has_kdir
 	push_config
 	set_dynamic_debug
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/test_modules/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/test_modules/Makefile
index a13d398585dcb..62cb724c6b333 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/test_modules/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/test_modules/Makefile
@@ -16,14 +16,15 @@ obj-m += test_klp_atomic_replace.o \
 	test_klp_state3.o \
 	test_klp_syscall.o
 
+modules clean: MAKEOVERRIDES := $(filter-out O=% KBUILD_OUTPUT=%,$(MAKEOVERRIDES))
+
 # Ensure that KDIR exists, otherwise skip the compilation
 modules:
 ifneq ("$(wildcard $(KDIR))", "")
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) modules KBUILD_EXTMOD=$(TESTMODS_DIR)
+	$(Q)env -u KBUILD_OUTPUT $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) modules KBUILD_EXTMOD=$(TESTMODS_DIR)
 endif
 
-# Ensure that KDIR exists, otherwise skip the clean target
+# Any kernel tree can clean the test modules, so use the one containing them
 clean:
-ifneq ("$(wildcard $(KDIR))", "")
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) clean KBUILD_EXTMOD=$(TESTMODS_DIR)
-endif
+	$(Q)env -u KBUILD_OUTPUT $(MAKE) -C $(TESTMODS_DIR)/../../../../.. \
+		clean KBUILD_EXTMOD=$(TESTMODS_DIR)
-- 
2.53.0


^ permalink raw reply related	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

* Re: [PATCH v3 1/2] selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel
  2026-11-03 22:27 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel Sasha Levin
@ 2026-11-03 22:43   ` sashiko-bot
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: sashiko-bot @ 2026-11-03 22:43 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Sasha Levin, Josh Poimboeuf, Miroslav Benes, Petr Mladek,
	Joe Lawrence
  Cc: Song Liu, Marcos Paulo de Souza, Eva Kurchatova, Yafang Shao,
	Shuah Khan, live-patching

Thank you for your contribution! Sashiko AI review found 1 potential issue(s) to consider:
- [Medium] selftests/livepatch: KDIR selection ignores .config without Module.symvers
--

commit ae4848cae1b2b7420ab6ac44f707bd616ad82b5a
Author: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>

selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel

This commit updates the livepatch selftests build and test scripts to select
KDIR from O, KBUILD_OUTPUT, or the source tree before falling back to the
running kernel's build directory, stops forwarding O and KBUILD_OUTPUT to the
external module build, and skips building or running tests when
CONFIG_LIVEPATCH is disabled.

> diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile
> index a080eb54a215d..5c631812575dc 100644
> --- a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile
> +++ b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/Makefile
> @@ -1,7 +1,26 @@
>  # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
>  
> +ifndef KDIR
> +LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE := $(firstword $(O) $(KBUILD_OUTPUT))
> +ifneq ($(and $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE),$(wildcard $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE)/Module.symvers)),)
> +KDIR := $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE)
> +else ifneq ($(wildcard ../../../../Module.symvers),)
> +KDIR := ../../../..
> +else
> +KDIR := /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build
> +endif
> +endif
> +override KDIR := $(abspath $(KDIR))
> +export KDIR
> +MAKEOVERRIDES := $(filter-out KDIR=%,$(MAKEOVERRIDES))
> +
> +LIVEPATCH_CONFIG := $(shell if [ -r "$(KDIR)/.config" ]; then \
> +	grep -qx 'CONFIG_LIVEPATCH=y' "$(KDIR)/.config" && echo y || echo n; fi)

[Severity: Medium]
When KDIR is not explicitly set, KDIR only selects $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE) or
../../../.. if Module.symvers exists in that directory, falling back to
/lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build otherwise. Then LIVEPATCH_CONFIG checks
$(KDIR)/.config for CONFIG_LIVEPATCH=y.

If a kernel is configured and built with CONFIG_MODULES=n (so CONFIG_LIVEPATCH
is also disabled), the top-level Makefile clears KBUILD_MODULES and
scripts/Makefile.modpost sets output-symdump to vmlinux.symvers instead of
Module.symvers:

scripts/Makefile.modpost:
output-symdump := $(if $(KBUILD_MODULES), Module.symvers, vmlinux.symvers)

Because Module.symvers is never created in that build, or when running make
kselftest-all or building only a kernel image target before modules, .config
exists in $(LIVEPATCH_OBJTREE) or ../../../.. without Module.symvers.

In those cases, wouldn't KDIR ignore the target kernel directory and fall back
to /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build, causing LIVEPATCH_CONFIG to read the
running host kernel's .config and attempt to build test_modules against the
host kernel instead of skipping or using the target kernel tree? Conversely,
if O= points to an unprepared kernel build tree configured with
CONFIG_LIVEPATCH=y, wouldn't KDIR silently fall back to ../../../.. or
/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build instead of using O=?

-- 
Sashiko AI review · https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20261103222706.1642224-1-sashal@kernel.org?part=1

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

* [PATCH v3 2/2] selftests/livepatch: skip based on the test modules instead of KDIR
  2026-11-03 22:27 [PATCH v3 0/2] selftests/livepatch: fix building and running outside the host kernel Sasha Levin
  2026-11-03 22:27 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel Sasha Levin
@ 2026-11-03 22:27 ` Sasha Levin
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Sasha Levin @ 2026-11-03 22:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Josh Poimboeuf, Miroslav Benes, Petr Mladek, Joe Lawrence
  Cc: Song Liu, Marcos Paulo de Souza, Eva Kurchatova, Yafang Shao,
	Shuah Khan, live-patching, linux-kselftest, linux-kernel

setup_config() skips every test when there is no kernel build directory
at $KDIR or /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build. The test modules are built
together with the selftests and the scripts load them from
test_modules/, so nothing needs a build directory at run time. A
machine running an installed kselftest tree usually has none, and the
tests are skipped there although the modules were built and installed.

Check for the modules that __load_mod() loads instead, and remove
has_kdir(), which has no other users.

Fixes: 54ee3526796f ("selftests: livepatch: Avoid running the tests if kernel-devel is missing")
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh | 16 +++++-----------
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh
index 8b26b70f92d8c..14fc9cade4de3 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/livepatch/functions.sh
@@ -44,16 +44,10 @@ function is_root() {
 	fi
 }
 
-# Check if we can compile the modules before loading them
-function has_kdir() {
-	if [ -z "$KDIR" ]; then
-		KDIR="/lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build"
-	fi
-
-	if [ ! -d "$KDIR" ]; then
-		echo "skip all tests: KDIR ($KDIR) not available to compile modules."
-		exit $ksft_skip
-	fi
+# Check that the test modules were built before loading them
+function has_test_modules() {
+	compgen -G "test_modules/*.ko" > /dev/null ||
+		skip "test modules are not available"
 }
 
 # die(msg) - game over, man
@@ -151,7 +145,7 @@ function cleanup() {
 function setup_config() {
 	is_root
 	[[ -d "$SYSFS_KLP_DIR" ]] || skip "livepatch is not available"
-	has_kdir
+	has_test_modules
 	push_config
 	set_dynamic_debug
 	set_ftrace_enabled 1
-- 
2.53.0


^ permalink raw reply related	[flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2026-11-03 22:43 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2026-11-03 22:27 [PATCH v3 0/2] selftests/livepatch: fix building and running outside the host kernel Sasha Levin
2026-11-03 22:27 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] selftests/livepatch: build test modules against the selected kernel Sasha Levin
2026-11-03 22:43   ` sashiko-bot
2026-11-03 22:27 ` [PATCH v3 2/2] selftests/livepatch: skip based on the test modules instead of KDIR Sasha Levin

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