Re: [PATCH] kprobes: use DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE for the enabled knob

[Bradley Morgan <include@grrlz.net>]

On 18 August 2026 23:52:21 BST, Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org>
wrote:
>On Tue, 18 Aug 2026 01:49:20 +0000
>Bradley Morgan <include@grrlz.net> wrote:
>
>> This enabled knob is a disgusting terrible hack. It has rolled its
>> own read/write pair since 2007, writing '1' or '0' into a three byte
>> buffer by hand just to print a single character, with an XXX comment
>> begging debugfs for write callbacks on bool files.
>> DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE showed up in 2016 and does exactly that, so
>> the disgusting terrible hack has outlived its excuse for nine years.
>> Kill it, and the stale comment with it.
>
>Hm, OK, but please calm down. Just describe the technical reason here.
>


>> 
>> The behavior does not change, except the write only accepts 0/1 now
>> instead of y/n/on/off, and nothing uses anything else.
>
>I think this comment is needed.
>

What do you suggest?

I'm saying

/* Let's kill this hack */

(I love using the word hack!)

>Please add Signed-off-by.
>

V2 acks it 

>The code looks good to me.
>
>Thanks,
>
>> ---
>>  kernel/kprobes.c | 43 +++++++++----------------------------------
>>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)
>> 
>> diff --git a/kernel/kprobes.c b/kernel/kprobes.c
>> index bfc89083daa9..044c6b5fd2aa 100644
>> --- a/kernel/kprobes.c
>> +++ b/kernel/kprobes.c
>> @@ -3013,47 +3013,22 @@ static int disarm_all_kprobes(void)
>>  	return ret;
>>  }
>>  
>> -/*
>> - * XXX: The debugfs bool file interface doesn't allow for callbacks
>> - * when the bool state is switched. We can reuse that facility when
>> - * available
>> - */
>> -static ssize_t read_enabled_file_bool(struct file *file,
>> -	       char __user *user_buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
>> +static int kprobes_enabled_set(void *data, u64 val)
>>  {
>> -	char buf[3];
>> +	if (val)
>> +		return arm_all_kprobes();
>>  
>> -	if (!kprobes_all_disarmed)
>> -		buf[0] = '1';
>> -	else
>> -		buf[0] = '0';
>> -	buf[1] = '\n';
>> -	buf[2] = 0x00;
>> -	return simple_read_from_buffer(user_buf, count, ppos, buf, 2);
>> +	return disarm_all_kprobes();
>>  }
>>  
>> -static ssize_t write_enabled_file_bool(struct file *file,
>> -	       const char __user *user_buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
>> +static int kprobes_enabled_get(void *data, u64 *val)
>>  {
>> -	bool enable;
>> -	int ret;
>> -
>> -	ret = kstrtobool_from_user(user_buf, count, &enable);
>> -	if (ret)
>> -		return ret;
>> -
>> -	ret = enable ? arm_all_kprobes() : disarm_all_kprobes();
>> -	if (ret)
>> -		return ret;
>> -
>> -	return count;
>> +	*val = !kprobes_all_disarmed;
>> +	return 0;
>>  }
>>  
>> -static const struct file_operations fops_kp = {
>> -	.read =         read_enabled_file_bool,
>> -	.write =        write_enabled_file_bool,
>> -	.llseek =	default_llseek,
>> -};
>> +DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE(fops_kp, kprobes_enabled_get,
>> +			 kprobes_enabled_set, "%llu\n");
>>  
>>  static int __init debugfs_kprobe_init(void)
>>  {
>> -- 
>> 2.47.3
>> 
>
>
>

Thanks!