[PATCH bpf-next v10 0/8] bpf: Extend the bpf_list family of APIs

Kaitao cheng
2026-04-27T16:59:30Z

In BPF, a list can only be used to implement a stack structure.
Due to an incomplete API set, only FIFO or LIFO operations are
supported. The patches enhance the BPF list API, making it more
list-like.

Five new kfuncs have been added:
bpf_list_del: remove a node from the list
bpf_list_add_impl: insert a node after a given list node
bpf_list_is_first: check if a node is the first in the list
bpf_list_is_last: check if a node is the last in the list
bpf_list_empty: check if the list is empty

And add test cases for the aforementioned kfuncs.

Changes in v10:
- Remove the table-driven approach (Ihor Solodrai)
- Use the __nonown_allowed suffix for bpf_list_del/front/back
- Add test cases for __nonown_allowed

Changes in v9:
- Expand table-driven approach coverage (Emil Tsalapatis)
- Clear list node owner and unlink before drop (Emil Tsalapatis)
- Remove warnings caused by WARN_ON_ONCE() (Emil Tsalapatis)
- Introduce the __nonown_allowed suffix (Alexei Starovoitov)

Changes in v8:
- Use [patch v7 5/5] as the start of the patch series (Leon Hwang)
- Introduce double pointer prev_ptr in __bpf_list_del
(Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi)
- Extract refactored __bpf_list_del/add into separate patches (Leon Hwang)
- Allow bpf_list_front/back result as the prev argument of bpf_list_add
- Split test cases (Leon Hwang)

Changes in v7:
- Replace bpf_list_node_is_edge with bpf_list_is_first/is_last
- Reimplement __bpf_list_del and __bpf_list_add (Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi)
- Simplify test cases (Mykyta Yatsenko)

Changes in v6:
- Merge [patch v5 (2,4,6)/6] into [patch v6 4/5] (Leon Hwang)
- If list_head was 0-initialized, init it
- refactor kfunc checks to table-driven approach (Leon Hwang)

Changes in v5:
- Fix bpf_obj leak on bpf_list_add_impl error

Changes in v4:
- [patch v3 1/6] Revert to version v1 (Alexei Starovoitov)
- Change the parameters of bpf_list_add_impl to (head, new, prev, ...)

Changes in v3:
- Add a new lock_rec member to struct bpf_reference_state for lock
holding detection.
- Add test cases to verify that the verifier correctly restricts calls
to bpf_list_del when the spin_lock is not held.

Changes in v2:
- Remove the head parameter from bpf_list_del (Alexei Starovoitov)
- Add bpf_list_add/is_first/is_last/empty to API and test cases
(Alexei Starovoitov)

Link to v9:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260329140506.9595-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v8:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260316112843.78657-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v7:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260308134614.29711-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v6:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260304143459.78059-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v5:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260304031606.43884-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v4:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260303135219.33726-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v3:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260302124028.82420-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v2:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260225092651.94689-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Link to v1:
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260209025250.55750-1-pilgrimtao@gmail.com/

Kaitao Cheng (8):
bpf: refactor __bpf_list_del to take list node pointer
bpf: clear list node owner and unlink before drop
bpf: Introduce the bpf_list_del kfunc.
bpf: refactor __bpf_list_add to take insertion point via **prev_ptr
bpf: Add bpf_list_add to insert node after a given list node
bpf: add bpf_list_is_first/last/empty kfuncs
bpf: allow non-owning list-node args via __nonown_allowed
selftests/bpf: Add test cases for
bpf_list_del/add/is_first/is_last/empty

Documentation/bpf/kfuncs.rst | 22 +-
kernel/bpf/helpers.c | 139 ++++--
kernel/bpf/verifier.c | 44 +-
.../selftests/bpf/progs/refcounted_kptr.c | 421 ++++++++++++++++++
4 files changed, 593 insertions(+), 33 deletions(-)

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2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)