[PATCH bpf-next v2] scripts/gen-btf.sh: Ensure initial object in gen_btf_o is ELF with correct endianness

[PATCH bpf-next v2] scripts/gen-btf.sh: Ensure initial object in gen_btf_o is ELF with correct endianness

[Nathan Chancellor]

After commit 600605853f87 ("scripts/gen-btf.sh: Fix .btf.o generation
when compiling for RISCV"), there is an error from llvm-objcopy when
CONFIG_LTO_CLANG is enabled:

  llvm-objcopy: error: '.tmp_vmlinux1.btf.o': The file was not recognized as a valid object file
  Failed to generate BTF for vmlinux

KBUILD_CFLAGS includes CC_FLAGS_LTO, which makes clang emit an LLVM IR
object, rather than an ELF one as expected by llvm-objcopy.

Most areas of the kernel deal with this by filtering out CC_FLAGS_LTO
from KBUILD_CFLAGS for the particular object or directory but this is
not so easy to do in bash. Just include '-fno-lto' after KBUILD_CFLAGS
to ensure an ELF object is consistently created as the initial .o file.

Additionally, while there is no reported or discovered bug yet, the
absence of KBUILD_CPPFLAGS from this command could result in incorrect
endianness because KBUILD_CPPFLAGS typically contains '-mbig-endian' and
'-mlittle-endian' so that biendian toolchains can be used. Include it in
this ${CC} command to hopefully limit necessary changes to this command
for the foreseeable future.

Fixes: 600605853f87 ("scripts/gen-btf.sh: Fix .btf.o generation when compiling for RISCV")
Signed-off-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
---
Changes in v2:
- Conservatively include KBUILD_CPPFLAGS as well, as it contains
  endianness flags for some targets.
- Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260105-fix-gen-btf-sh-lto-v1-1-18052ea055a9@kernel.org
---
 scripts/gen-btf.sh | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/scripts/gen-btf.sh b/scripts/gen-btf.sh
index d6457661b9b6..be21ccee3487 100755
--- a/scripts/gen-btf.sh
+++ b/scripts/gen-btf.sh
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ gen_btf_o()
 	# SHF_ALLOC because .BTF will be part of the vmlinux image. --strip-all
 	# deletes all symbols including __start_BTF and __stop_BTF, which will
 	# be redefined in the linker script.
-	echo "" | ${CC} ${CLANG_FLAGS} ${KBUILD_CFLAGS} -c -x c -o ${btf_data} -
+	echo "" | ${CC} ${CLANG_FLAGS} ${KBUILD_CPPFLAGS} ${KBUILD_CFLAGS} -fno-lto -c -x c -o ${btf_data} -
 	${OBJCOPY} --add-section .BTF=${ELF_FILE}.BTF \
 		--set-section-flags .BTF=alloc,readonly ${btf_data}
 	${OBJCOPY} --only-section=.BTF --strip-all ${btf_data}

---
base-commit: a069190b590e108223cd841a1c2d0bfb92230ecc
change-id: 20260105-fix-gen-btf-sh-lto-007fe4908070

Best regards,
--  
Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>

Re: [PATCH bpf-next v2] scripts/gen-btf.sh: Ensure initial object in gen_btf_o is ELF with correct endianness

[Ihor Solodrai]

On 1/6/26 2:44 PM, Nathan Chancellor wrote:
> After commit 600605853f87 ("scripts/gen-btf.sh: Fix .btf.o generation
> when compiling for RISCV"), there is an error from llvm-objcopy when
> CONFIG_LTO_CLANG is enabled:
> 
>   llvm-objcopy: error: '.tmp_vmlinux1.btf.o': The file was not recognized as a valid object file
>   Failed to generate BTF for vmlinux
> 
> KBUILD_CFLAGS includes CC_FLAGS_LTO, which makes clang emit an LLVM IR
> object, rather than an ELF one as expected by llvm-objcopy.
> 
> Most areas of the kernel deal with this by filtering out CC_FLAGS_LTO
> from KBUILD_CFLAGS for the particular object or directory but this is
> not so easy to do in bash. Just include '-fno-lto' after KBUILD_CFLAGS
> to ensure an ELF object is consistently created as the initial .o file.
> 
> Additionally, while there is no reported or discovered bug yet, the
> absence of KBUILD_CPPFLAGS from this command could result in incorrect
> endianness because KBUILD_CPPFLAGS typically contains '-mbig-endian' and
> '-mlittle-endian' so that biendian toolchains can be used. Include it in
> this ${CC} command to hopefully limit necessary changes to this command
> for the foreseeable future.
> 
> Fixes: 600605853f87 ("scripts/gen-btf.sh: Fix .btf.o generation when compiling for RISCV")
> Signed-off-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - Conservatively include KBUILD_CPPFLAGS as well, as it contains
>   endianness flags for some targets.
> - Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260105-fix-gen-btf-sh-lto-v1-1-18052ea055a9@kernel.org
> ---
>  scripts/gen-btf.sh | 2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/scripts/gen-btf.sh b/scripts/gen-btf.sh
> index d6457661b9b6..be21ccee3487 100755
> --- a/scripts/gen-btf.sh
> +++ b/scripts/gen-btf.sh
> @@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ gen_btf_o()
>  	# SHF_ALLOC because .BTF will be part of the vmlinux image. --strip-all
>  	# deletes all symbols including __start_BTF and __stop_BTF, which will
>  	# be redefined in the linker script.
> -	echo "" | ${CC} ${CLANG_FLAGS} ${KBUILD_CFLAGS} -c -x c -o ${btf_data} -
> +	echo "" | ${CC} ${CLANG_FLAGS} ${KBUILD_CPPFLAGS} ${KBUILD_CFLAGS} -fno-lto -c -x c -o ${btf_data} -

Acked-by: Ihor Solodrai <ihor.solodrai@linux.dev>

Thank you!

>  	${OBJCOPY} --add-section .BTF=${ELF_FILE}.BTF \
>  		--set-section-flags .BTF=alloc,readonly ${btf_data}
>  	${OBJCOPY} --only-section=.BTF --strip-all ${btf_data}
> 
> ---
> base-commit: a069190b590e108223cd841a1c2d0bfb92230ecc
> change-id: 20260105-fix-gen-btf-sh-lto-007fe4908070
> 
> Best regards,
> --  
> Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
> 

Re: [PATCH bpf-next v2] scripts/gen-btf.sh: Ensure initial object in gen_btf_o is ELF with correct endianness

[patchwork-bot+netdevbpf]

Hello:

This patch was applied to bpf/bpf-next.git (master)
by Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>:

On Tue, 06 Jan 2026 15:44:20 -0700 you wrote:
> After commit 600605853f87 ("scripts/gen-btf.sh: Fix .btf.o generation
> when compiling for RISCV"), there is an error from llvm-objcopy when
> CONFIG_LTO_CLANG is enabled:
> 
>   llvm-objcopy: error: '.tmp_vmlinux1.btf.o': The file was not recognized as a valid object file
>   Failed to generate BTF for vmlinux
> 
> [...]

Here is the summary with links:
  - [bpf-next,v2] scripts/gen-btf.sh: Ensure initial object in gen_btf_o is ELF with correct endianness
    https://git.kernel.org/bpf/bpf-next/c/2421649778dc

You are awesome, thank you!
-- 
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