[PATCH v6 05/24] dyndbg.lds.S: fix lost dyndbg sections in modules
From: Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@gmail.com>
Date: 2026-07-08 02:18:37
Also in:
dri-devel, linux-arch, linux-doc, lkml
Subsystem:
generic include/asm header files, module support, the rest · Maintainers:
Arnd Bergmann, Luis Chamberlain, Petr Pavlu, Daniel Gomez, Sami Tolvanen, Linus Torvalds
With CONFIG_DRM_USE_DYNAMIC_DEBUG=y, several build configs had
problems with __dyndbg* sections getting lost in drm drivers. Fix
this by following the model demonstrated in codetag.lds.h.
Introduce include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h, to bundle dynamic-debug's
multiple sections together, into 2 macros:
vmlinux.lds.h DATA_DATA: move the 2 BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg*)
calls into dyndbg.lds.h DYNDBG_SECTIONS(). vmlinux.lds.h now includes
the new file and calls the new macro.
MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS keeps the 2 sections by name, aligns them and sets
the output address to 0 when the sections are empty.
dyndbg.lds.h includes (reuses) bounded-section.lds.h
scripts/module.lds.S: now calls MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS right before the
CODETAG macro (consistent with their placements in vmlinux.lds.h), and
also includes dyndbg.lds.h
This isolates vmlinux.lds.h from further __dyndbg section additions.
CC: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Signed-off-by: Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>
---
v3: move #includes to top, drop extra ALIGN(8) in DYNDBG_SECTIONS, add RvBy
v2: Address linker script review feedback for relocatable modules.
MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS() used the BOUNDED_SECTION_BY() macro, which
proved problematic for kernel modules for two reasons:
1. Unwanted Empty Sections:
BOUNDED_SECTION_BY() automatically generates `__start` and `__stop`
symbols. When applied to `MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS()`, the linker assumes
the sections are populated due to the symbol definitions, forcing an
empty `__dyndbg` and `__dyndbg_classes` output section in every
compiled module, even those without dynamic debug configuration.
Since the module loader uses `section_objs()` to locate data via
ELF headers instead of relying on `__start`/`__stop` symbols, these
assignments are completely unnecessary.
2. Non-zero Output Addresses:
During relocatable linking (e.g., `ld.bfd -r`), omitting an explicit
base address causes the section to inherit the current location
counter. This results in non-zero sh_addr values in `.ko` files,
which is confusing, degrades compressibility, and can cause issues
with external tools parsing the ELF.
Fix both issues by dropping `BOUNDED_SECTION_BY()` in favor of a simple
`KEEP(*(...))` constraint and explicitly defining the sections with a `0`
base address: `__dyndbg 0 : ALIGN(8) { ... }`.
fixup-inc-vml
---
MAINTAINERS | 1 +
include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h | 6 ++----
scripts/module.lds.S | 2 ++
4 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 4a8b0fd665ce..25400fee9f32 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS@@ -9178,6 +9178,7 @@ DYNAMIC DEBUG M: Jason Baron <jbaron@akamai.com> M: Jim Cromie <jim.cromie@gmail.com> S: Maintained +F: include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h F: include/linux/dynamic_debug.h F: lib/dynamic_debug.c F: lib/test_dynamic_debug.c
diff --git a/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h b/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9d8951bef688
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@ +/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only */ +#ifndef __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H +#define __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H + +#include <asm-generic/bounded_sections.lds.h> +#define DYNDBG_SECTIONS() \ + BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg, ___dyndbg) \ + BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg_classes, ___dyndbg_classes) + +#define MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS() \ + __dyndbg 0 : ALIGN(8) { \ + KEEP(*(__dyndbg)) \ + } \ + __dyndbg_classes 0 : ALIGN(8) { \ + KEEP(*(__dyndbg_classes)) \ + } + +#endif /* __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H */
diff --git a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
index 3758a79d0430..bd60f278f762 100644
--- a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
+++ b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ #include <asm-generic/bounded_sections.lds.h> #include <asm-generic/codetag.lds.h> +#include <asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h> #ifndef LOAD_OFFSET #define LOAD_OFFSET 0
@@ -344,10 +345,7 @@ *(.data..do_once) \ STRUCT_ALIGN(); \ *(__tracepoints) \ - /* implement dynamic printk debug */ \ - . = ALIGN(8); \ - BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg_classes, ___dyndbg_classes) \ - BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg, ___dyndbg) \ + DYNDBG_SECTIONS() \ CODETAG_SECTIONS() \ LIKELY_PROFILE() \ BRANCH_PROFILE() \
diff --git a/scripts/module.lds.S b/scripts/module.lds.S
index b62683061d79..2e62dc5bd5d4 100644
--- a/scripts/module.lds.S
+++ b/scripts/module.lds.S@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ #endif #include <asm-generic/codetag.lds.h> +#include <asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h> SECTIONS { /DISCARD/ : {
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ SECTIONS { *(.rodata..L*) } + MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS() MOD_SEPARATE_CODETAG_SECTIONS() }
--
2.55.0