Re: [PATCH 02/10] x86: add support for relative CALL and JMP in alternatives

From: H. Peter Anvin
Date: Thu Feb 18 2010 - 14:41:40 EST


On 02/17/2010 03:42 AM, Luca Barbieri wrote:
> Currently CALL and JMP cannot be used in alternatives because the
> relative offset would be wrong.
>
> This patch uses the existing x86 instruction parser to parse the
> alternative sequence and fix up the displacements.
>
> This allows to implement this feature with minimal code.
>

The existing instruction parser is only present if KPROBES is configured
in... this patch would make it obligatory. Your patch doesn't reflect
that. Furthermore, it is ~16K of code and data which probably will make
embedded people unhappy... although perhaps isn't out of line.

A good question, though, is if we actually need support for JMP or CALL
as anything but the first instruction (usually the *only* instruction),
which would make it a lot easier...

-hpa
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