Re: [Patch net 1/2] netem: Fix skb duplication logic to prevent infinite loops

[Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>]

On Mon, 7 Jul 2025 16:49:46 -0400 Jamal Hadi Salim wrote:
> > The tc_skb_ext approach has a problem... the config option that
> > enables it is NET_TC_SKB_EXT. I assumed this is a generic name for
> > skb extensions in the tc subsystem, but unfortunately this is
> > hardcoded for NET_CLS_ACT recirculation support.
> >
> > So what this means is we have the following choices:
> > 1. Make SCH_NETEM depend on NET_CLS_ACT and NET_TC_SKB_EXT
> > 2. Add "|| IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SCH_NETEM)" next to
> > "IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_NET_TC_SKB_EXT)" 3. Separate NET_TC_SKB_EXT and
> > the idea of recirculation support. But I'm not sure how people feel
> > about renaming config options. And this would require a small
> > change to the Mellanox driver subsystem.
> >
> > None of these sound too nice to do, and I'm not sure which approach
> > to take. In an ideal world, 3 would be best, but I'm not sure how
> > others would feel about all that just to account for a netem edge
> > case. 
> 
> I think you should just create a new field/type, add it here:
> include/linux/skbuff.h around line 4814 and make netem just select
> CONFIG_SKB_EXTENSIONS kconfig
> It's not the best solution but we are grasping for straws at this
> point.

Did someone report a real user of nested duplication?

Let's go ahead with the patch preventing such configurations and worry
about supporting them IIF someone actually asks.