From: Ihor Solodrai <ihor.solodrai@linux.dev>
To: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>,
Andrii Nakryiko <andrii@kernel.org>,
Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>,
Eduard Zingerman <eddyz87@gmail.com>,
Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>,
Quentin Monnet <qmo@kernel.org>
Cc: bpf@vger.kernel.org, Alan Maguire <alan.maguire@oracle.com>,
Cupertino Miranda <cupertino.miranda@oracle.com>,
David Faust <david.faust@oracle.com>,
Ian Rogers <irogers@google.com>,
"Jose E . Marchesi" <jose.marchesi@oracle.com>,
Vineet Gupta <vineet.gupta@linux.dev>,
Yonghong Song <yonghong.song@linux.dev>
Subject: [PATCH bpf-next v1 3/8] bpftool: Apply __bpf_core_pai per record on BTF dump
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 2026 17:00:07 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261016000012.2232059-4-ihor.solodrai@linux.dev> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20261016000012.2232059-1-ihor.solodrai@linux.dev>
bpftool wraps the C dump in a clang attribute pragma that applies
preserve_access_index to every struct and union, so field accesses
through vmlinux.h types get CO-RE relocations. GCC-BPF supports the
attribute but not the pragma, so it gets no CO-RE from the header.
Jose proposed replacing the Clang pragmas with per-record attributes
in May 2024 [1]. The declaration attribute support in btf_dump [2]
now provides the per-type control discussed in that thread.
Apply the attribute to each struct and union definition instead, as
kflagged decl tags on the detached BTF copy, rendered by btf_dump. The
tags use the __bpf_core_pai macro, which expands to
preserve_access_index where supported and to nothing under
BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX.
The attribute covers the same records as the pragma, so Clang output
is unchanged.
[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20240503111836.25275-1-jose.marchesi@oracle.com/
[2]: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260929234608.48503-1-ihor.solodrai@linux.dev/
Signed-off-by: Ihor Solodrai <ihor.solodrai@linux.dev>
---
tools/bpf/bpftool/btf.c | 34 +++++++++++++++----
.../bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_sorted.expected | 16 ++++-----
.../bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_unsorted.expected | 16 ++++-----
3 files changed, 44 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)
diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/btf.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/btf.c
index cc15989643cf..6182f2c41db0 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/btf.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/btf.c
@@ -1121,6 +1121,24 @@ static struct btf *btf_c_detached_copy(const struct btf *src)
return copy;
}
+static int btf_c_annotate_records(struct btf *btf)
+{
+ __u32 i, cnt = btf__type_cnt(btf);
+ int err;
+
+ for (i = 1; i < cnt; i++) {
+ const struct btf_type *t = btf__type_by_id(btf, i);
+
+ if (!btf_is_composite(t))
+ continue;
+ err = btf__add_decl_attr(btf, "__bpf_core_pai", i, -1);
+ if (err < 0)
+ return err;
+ }
+
+ return 0;
+}
+
static int dump_btf_c(const struct btf *btf,
__u32 *root_type_ids, int root_type_cnt, bool sort_dump)
{
@@ -1133,6 +1151,10 @@ static int dump_btf_c(const struct btf *btf,
if (!copy)
return -errno;
+ err = btf_c_annotate_records(copy);
+ if (err)
+ goto done_free;
+
d = btf_dump__new(copy, btf_dump_printf, NULL, NULL);
if (!d) {
err = -errno;
@@ -1142,8 +1164,12 @@ static int dump_btf_c(const struct btf *btf,
printf("#ifndef __VMLINUX_H__\n");
printf("#define __VMLINUX_H__\n");
printf("\n");
- printf("#ifndef BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX\n");
- printf("#pragma clang attribute push (__attribute__((preserve_access_index)), apply_to = record)\n");
+ printf("#ifndef __bpf_core_pai\n");
+ printf("#if !defined(BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX) && __has_attribute(preserve_access_index)\n");
+ printf("#define __bpf_core_pai preserve_access_index\n");
+ printf("#else\n");
+ printf("#define __bpf_core_pai\n");
+ printf("#endif\n");
printf("#endif\n\n");
printf("#ifndef __ksym\n");
printf("#define __ksym __attribute__((section(\".ksyms\")))\n");
@@ -1187,10 +1213,6 @@ static int dump_btf_c(const struct btf *btf,
goto done;
}
- printf("#ifndef BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX\n");
- printf("#pragma clang attribute pop\n");
- printf("#endif\n");
- printf("\n");
printf("#endif /* __VMLINUX_H__ */\n");
done:
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_sorted.expected b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_sorted.expected
index 5470b2b43229..02c8fe8b4859 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_sorted.expected
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_sorted.expected
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
#ifndef __VMLINUX_H__
#define __VMLINUX_H__
-#ifndef BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX
-#pragma clang attribute push (__attribute__((preserve_access_index)), apply_to = record)
+#ifndef __bpf_core_pai
+#if !defined(BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX) && __has_attribute(preserve_access_index)
+#define __bpf_core_pai preserve_access_index
+#else
+#define __bpf_core_pai
+#endif
#endif
#ifndef __ksym
@@ -30,19 +34,15 @@ struct holey {
long: 32;
long: 32;
int tail;
-};
+} __attribute__((__bpf_core_pai));
struct s {
int f;
-};
+} __attribute__((__bpf_core_pai));
/* BPF kfuncs */
#ifndef BPF_NO_KFUNC_PROTOTYPES
#endif
-#ifndef BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX
-#pragma clang attribute pop
-#endif
-
#endif /* __VMLINUX_H__ */
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_unsorted.expected b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_unsorted.expected
index 4310adc2ed51..9b6589d2bda3 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_unsorted.expected
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/bpftool_btf_dump_unsorted.expected
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
#ifndef __VMLINUX_H__
#define __VMLINUX_H__
-#ifndef BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX
-#pragma clang attribute push (__attribute__((preserve_access_index)), apply_to = record)
+#ifndef __bpf_core_pai
+#if !defined(BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX) && __has_attribute(preserve_access_index)
+#define __bpf_core_pai preserve_access_index
+#else
+#define __bpf_core_pai
+#endif
#endif
#ifndef __ksym
@@ -26,7 +30,7 @@ struct holey {
long: 32;
long: 32;
int tail;
-};
+} __attribute__((__bpf_core_pai));
enum {
E0 = 1,
@@ -34,15 +38,11 @@ enum {
struct s {
int f;
-};
+} __attribute__((__bpf_core_pai));
/* BPF kfuncs */
#ifndef BPF_NO_KFUNC_PROTOTYPES
#endif
-#ifndef BPF_NO_PRESERVE_ACCESS_INDEX
-#pragma clang attribute pop
-#endif
-
#endif /* __VMLINUX_H__ */
--
2.56.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-10-16 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-10-16 0:00 [PATCH bpf-next v1 0/8] bpftool: Per-record CO-RE attributes in the C dump Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 0:00 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 1/8] bpftool: Dump C from a detached BTF copy Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 1:18 ` Alexei Starovoitov
2026-10-16 9:44 ` Alan Maguire
2026-10-16 9:25 ` Alan Maguire
2026-10-16 0:00 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 2/8] selftests/bpf: Cover unknown BTF header-extension bytes in btf dump Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 0:00 ` Ihor Solodrai [this message]
2026-10-16 0:39 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 3/8] bpftool: Apply __bpf_core_pai per record on BTF dump bot+bpf-ci
2026-10-16 1:17 ` Alexei Starovoitov
2026-10-16 0:00 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 4/8] bpftool: Skip __bpf_core_pai on verifier-rewritten context types Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 0:00 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 5/8] bpftool: Emit __bpf_core_pso " Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 1:27 ` Alexei Starovoitov
2026-10-16 5:49 ` Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 0:00 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 6/8] selftests/bpf: Cover record attributes in bpftool BTF dumps Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 0:00 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 7/8] selftests/bpf: Cover context and socket accesses through vmlinux.h Ihor Solodrai
2026-10-16 0:00 ` [PATCH bpf-next v1 8/8] bpftool: Document __bpf_core_pai and __bpf_core_pso Ihor Solodrai
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