[PATCH v2 2/4] Kbuild: Introduce Kconfig symbol for linking vmlinux with relocations

Ard Biesheuvel
2025-03-11T11:06:34Z

From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>

Some architectures build vmlinux with static relocations preserved, but
strip them again from the final vmlinux image. Arch specific tools
consume these static relocations in order to construct relocation tables
for KASLR.

The fact that vmlinux is created, consumed and subsequently updated goes
against the typical, declarative paradigm used by Make, which is based
on rules and dependencies. So as a first step towards cleaning this up,
introduce a Kconfig symbol to declare that the arch wants to consume the
static relocations emitted into vmlinux. This will be wired up further
in subsequent patches.

Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
---
Makefile | 4 ++++
arch/Kconfig | 7 +++++++
arch/mips/Kconfig | 1 +
arch/mips/Makefile | 4 ----
arch/riscv/Kconfig | 1 +
arch/riscv/Makefile | 2 +-
arch/s390/Kconfig | 1 +
arch/s390/Makefile | 2 +-
arch/x86/Kconfig | 1 +
arch/x86/Makefile | 6 ------
10 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 30dab4c8b012..a3302dce56de 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1119,6 +1119,10 @@ ifdef CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN
LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --orphan-handling=$(CONFIG_LD_ORPHAN_WARN_LEVEL)
endif

+ifneq ($(CONFIG_ARCH_VMLINUX_NEEDS_RELOCS),)
+LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --emit-relocs --discard-none
+endif
+
# Align the bit size of userspace programs with the kernel
KBUILD_USERCFLAGS += $(filter -m32 -m64 --target=%, $(KBUILD_CPPFLAGS) $(KBUILD_CFLAGS))
KBUILD_USERLDFLAGS += $(filter -m32 -m64 --target=%, $(KBUILD_CPPFLAGS) $(KBUILD_CFLAGS))
diff --git a/arch/Kconfig b/arch/Kconfig
index b8a4ff365582..101a13fcde8e 100644
--- a/arch/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/Kconfig
@@ -1695,6 +1695,13 @@ config ARCH_HAS_KERNEL_FPU_SUPPORT
Architectures that select this option can run floating-point code in
the kernel, as described in Documentation/core-api/floating-point.rst.

+config ARCH_VMLINUX_NEEDS_RELOCS
+ bool
+ help
+ Whether the architecture needs vmlinux to be built with static
+ relocations preserved. This is used by some architectures to
+ construct bespoke relocation tables for KASLR.
+
source "kernel/gcov/Kconfig"

source "scripts/gcc-plugins/Kconfig"
diff --git a/arch/mips/Kconfig b/arch/mips/Kconfig
index 1924f2d83932..5aedbd7afadb 100644
--- a/arch/mips/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/mips/Kconfig
@@ -2617,6 +2617,7 @@ config RELOCATABLE
CPU_MIPS32_R6 || CPU_MIPS64_R6 || \
CPU_P5600 || CAVIUM_OCTEON_SOC || \
CPU_LOONGSON64
+ select ARCH_VMLINUX_NEEDS_RELOCS
help
This builds a kernel image that retains relocation information
so it can be loaded someplace besides the default 1MB.
diff --git a/arch/mips/Makefile b/arch/mips/Makefile
index be8cb44a89fd..d9057e29bc62 100644
--- a/arch/mips/Makefile
+++ b/arch/mips/Makefile
@@ -100,10 +100,6 @@ LDFLAGS_vmlinux += -G 0 -static -n -nostdlib
KBUILD_AFLAGS_MODULE += -mlong-calls
KBUILD_CFLAGS_MODULE += -mlong-calls

-ifeq ($(CONFIG_RELOCATABLE),y)
-LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --emit-relocs
-endif
-
cflags-y += -ffreestanding

cflags-$(CONFIG_CPU_BIG_ENDIAN) += -EB
diff --git a/arch/riscv/Kconfig b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
index 7612c52e9b1e..6f5800114416 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
@@ -1077,6 +1077,7 @@ config RELOCATABLE
bool "Build a relocatable kernel"
depends on MMU && 64BIT && !XIP_KERNEL
select MODULE_SECTIONS if MODULES
+ select ARCH_VMLINUX_NEEDS_RELOCS
help
This builds a kernel as a Position Independent Executable (PIE),
which retains all relocation metadata required to relocate the
diff --git a/arch/riscv/Makefile b/arch/riscv/Makefile
index 13fbc0f94238..6ef0d10e0c50 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Makefile
+++ b/arch/riscv/Makefile
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@

LDFLAGS_vmlinux := -z norelro
ifeq ($(CONFIG_RELOCATABLE),y)
- LDFLAGS_vmlinux += -shared -Bsymbolic -z notext --emit-relocs
+ LDFLAGS_vmlinux += -shared -Bsymbolic -z notext
KBUILD_CFLAGS += -fPIE
endif
ifeq ($(CONFIG_DYNAMIC_FTRACE),y)
diff --git a/arch/s390/Kconfig b/arch/s390/Kconfig
index 9c9ec08d78c7..ea67b7317138 100644
--- a/arch/s390/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/s390/Kconfig
@@ -630,6 +630,7 @@ endchoice

config RELOCATABLE
def_bool y
+ select ARCH_VMLINUX_NEEDS_RELOCS
help
This builds a kernel image that retains relocation information
so it can be loaded at an arbitrary address.
diff --git a/arch/s390/Makefile b/arch/s390/Makefile
index 5fae311203c2..d5f4be440879 100644
--- a/arch/s390/Makefile
+++ b/arch/s390/Makefile
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ KBUILD_CFLAGS_MODULE += -fPIC
KBUILD_AFLAGS += -m64
KBUILD_CFLAGS += -m64
KBUILD_CFLAGS += -fPIC
-LDFLAGS_vmlinux := -no-pie --emit-relocs --discard-none
+LDFLAGS_vmlinux := -no-pie
extra_tools := relocs
aflags_dwarf := -Wa,-gdwarf-2
KBUILD_AFLAGS_DECOMPRESSOR := $(CLANG_FLAGS) -m64 -D__ASSEMBLY__
diff --git a/arch/x86/Kconfig b/arch/x86/Kconfig
index be2c311f5118..2005d80ff8d1 100644
--- a/arch/x86/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/x86/Kconfig
@@ -2199,6 +2199,7 @@ config RANDOMIZE_BASE
config X86_NEED_RELOCS
def_bool y
depends on RANDOMIZE_BASE || (X86_32 && RELOCATABLE)
+ select ARCH_VMLINUX_NEEDS_RELOCS

config PHYSICAL_ALIGN
hex "Alignment value to which kernel should be aligned"
diff --git a/arch/x86/Makefile b/arch/x86/Makefile
index 5b773b34768d..f65ed6dcd6fb 100644
--- a/arch/x86/Makefile
+++ b/arch/x86/Makefile
@@ -251,12 +251,6 @@ endif

KBUILD_LDFLAGS += -m elf_$(UTS_MACHINE)

-ifdef CONFIG_X86_NEED_RELOCS
-LDFLAGS_vmlinux := --emit-relocs --discard-none
-else
-LDFLAGS_vmlinux :=
-endif
-
#
# The 64-bit kernel must be aligned to 2MB. Pass -z max-page-size=0x200000 to
# the linker to force 2MB page size regardless of the default page size used
--
2.49.0.rc0.332.g42c0ae87b1-goog