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From: Chen Wandun <chenwandun1@gmail.com>
To: kexec@lists.infradead.org, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, loongarch@lists.linux.dev,
	linux-riscv@lists.infradead.org, devicetree@vger.kernel.org
Cc: akpm@linux-foundation.org, bhe@redhat.com, rppt@kernel.org,
	pasha.tatashin@soleen.com, pratyush@kernel.org,
	ruirui.yang@linux.dev, corbet@lwn.net, skhan@linuxfoundation.org,
	catalin.marinas@arm.com, will@kernel.org, chenhuacai@kernel.org,
	kernel@xen0n.name, pjw@kernel.org, palmer@dabbelt.com,
	aou@eecs.berkeley.edu, robh@kernel.org, saravanak@kernel.org,
	chenwandun@lixiang.com, zhaomeijing@lixiang.com,
	everyzhao@126.com
Subject: [PATCH 11/11] Documentation: admin-guide: kdump: document linux,no-dump DT property
Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:58:31 +0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260429065831.1510858-12-chenwandun@lixiang.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260429065831.1510858-1-chenwandun@lixiang.com>

Describe the new 'linux,no-dump' reserved-memory device tree property
and the automatic exclusion of /memreserve/ entries from the kdump
vmcore.

The section covers:

 - The two mechanisms that exclude reserved memory from the vmcore
   (firmware /memreserve/ entries and linux,no-dump child nodes).
 - Intended use cases (firmware-owned GPU, DSP and modem carveouts).
 - Interaction with the existing 'no-map' and 'reusable' flags, with
   the silent-ignore precedence implemented by the kernel.
 - Architectures honouring the hint (arm64, riscv, loongarch).
 - An illustrative reserved-memory DTS snippet.

The DT binding for the property itself is maintained in dt-schema.

Signed-off-by: Chen Wandun <chenwandun@lixiang.com>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/kdump.rst | 59 +++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 59 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/kdump.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/kdump.rst
index 7587caadbae1..c2246888e84d 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/kdump.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/kdump.rst
@@ -600,6 +600,65 @@ with /sys/kernel/config/crash_dm_crypt_keys for setup,
 3. After the dump-capture kerne get booted, restore the keys to user keyring
    echo yes > /sys/kernel/crash_dm_crypt_keys/restore
 
+Excluding reserved memory regions from the vmcore (device tree)
+===============================================================
+
+On architectures that boot from a device tree and use kexec_file for
+kdump (arm64, riscv, loongarch), specific reserved memory regions can
+be excluded from the ELF PT_LOAD segments of the crash dump.
+
+Two mechanisms contribute to the exclusion:
+
+1) /memreserve/ entries from the FDT header.
+
+   These are firmware-level memory reservations with no associated
+   device tree node and therefore no driver-level description. Their
+   contents are typically firmware scratch areas that carry no value
+   for kernel crash analysis, so they are excluded from the vmcore
+   automatically.
+
+2) Reserved-memory nodes carrying the 'linux,no-dump' property.
+
+   Device tree authors can add this boolean hint to any
+   /reserved-memory child node to request that the kernel skip that
+   region when constructing the elfcorehdr. This is intended for
+   firmware-owned carveouts such as GPU, DSP and modem memory, whose
+   contents tend to significantly inflate the vmcore without aiding
+   kernel crash analysis.
+
+   Example::
+
+       reserved-memory {
+               #address-cells = <2>;
+               #size-cells = <2>;
+               ranges;
+
+               gpu_fw@a0000000 {
+                       reg = <0x0 0xa0000000 0x0 0x01000000>;
+                       no-map;
+                       linux,no-dump;
+               };
+
+               modem_fw@b0000000 {
+                       reg = <0x0 0xb0000000 0x0 0x02000000>;
+                       linux,no-dump;
+               };
+       };
+
+Interaction with other reserved-memory flags:
+
+- 'no-map': the region is already absent from the kernel linear map,
+  so it does not appear in the vmcore to begin with. Combining
+  'linux,no-dump' with 'no-map' is harmless but redundant.
+
+- 'reusable': the region is actively used by the kernel for movable
+  page allocations (CMA) and its contents are relevant to crash
+  analysis. 'linux,no-dump' is silently ignored on a reusable region.
+
+The property is an operating-system hint; DTBs that do not set it
+retain the legacy behaviour (all memory is dumped). Architectures
+that do not honour the hint simply ignore it.
+
 Contact
 =======
 
-- 
2.43.0



      parent reply	other threads:[~2026-04-29  7:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 12+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-04-29  6:58 [PATCH 00/11] kdump: reduce vmcore size and capture time via linux,no-dump Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 01/11] of: reserved_mem: fix region count for nodes with multiple reg entries Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 02/11] of: reserved_mem: reject reserved memory outside physical address range Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 03/11] of: reserved_mem: avoid unconditional save of reg entries in fdt_scan_reserved_mem_late() Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 04/11] of: reserved_mem: skip reserved_mem array allocation when there is nothing to save Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 05/11] of: reserved_mem: add linux,no-dump property support for reserved memory regions Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 06/11] of: reserved_mem: save /memreserve/ entries into reserved_mem array Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 07/11] of: reserved_mem: add no-dump crash_mem exclusion helpers Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 08/11] arm64: kdump: exclude no-dump reserved memory regions from vmcore Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 09/11] riscv: " Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` [PATCH 10/11] loongarch: " Chen Wandun
2026-04-29  6:58 ` Chen Wandun [this message]

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