Re: [patch 1/4] Linux Kernel Markers - Architecture Independent Code

Frank Ch. Eigler
2007-09-21T13:31:15Z

Hi -

On Fri, Sep 21, 2007 at 08:58:19AM -0400, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:
> [...]
> > > Current systemtap marker support code relies on the __markers_strings
> > > section.
> > Let users know that in comment above section definition in ld script.
> [...]
> /* Markers: strings (used by SystemTAP) */ \
> [...]

I did not mean to imply that this was a necessary state of affairs.

The marker metadata must be stored in at least one place in the kernel
image - this just happens to be a convenient one that David Smith's
recent systemtap code used. Without it, we'd probably have to do a
more complicated search, following the pointers within the __markers
structs. That could work, but it hasn't been built/tested.

So, this proposed change (removal of this section) would break
systemtap, and we have to jump through more hoops to make it work
again. Is the change worth it?

- FChE