Re: [PATCH 2/3 v4] livepatch: add old_sympos as disambiguator field to klp_reloc

From: Josh Poimboeuf
Date: Fri Nov 13 2015 - 11:59:40 EST


On Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 02:54:42PM +0100, Petr Mladek wrote:
> On Thu 2015-11-12 13:19:17, Josh Poimboeuf wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 03:31:58PM +0100, Petr Mladek wrote:
> > > On Wed 2015-11-11 11:57:31, Josh Poimboeuf wrote:
> > > > On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 10:29:00AM -0600, Chris J Arges wrote:
> > > > > diff --git a/kernel/livepatch/core.c b/kernel/livepatch/core.c
> > > > > index 26f9778..4eb8691 100644
> > > > > --- a/kernel/livepatch/core.c
> > > > > +++ b/kernel/livepatch/core.c
> > > > > @@ -261,7 +222,7 @@ static int klp_find_verify_func_addr(struct klp_object *obj,
> > > > > * object is either vmlinux or the kmod being patched).
> > > > > */
> > > > > static int klp_find_external_symbol(struct module *pmod, const char *name,
> > > > > - unsigned long *addr)
> > > > > + unsigned long *addr, unsigned long sympos)
> > > > > {
> > > > > const struct kernel_symbol *sym;
> > > > >
> > > >
> > There are two cases for external symbols:
> >
> > 1. Accessing a global symbol in another .o file in the patch module.
> > For an example of a patch which does this, see:
> >
> > https://github.com/dynup/kpatch/blob/master/test/integration/f22/module-call-external.patch
> >
> > In that example, notice that kpatch_string() function is global (not
> > static), and is not exported. It *is* actually a real world
> > scenario.
>
> Mirek helped me to understand it. The symbol is exported if you
> compile the above patch from sources. kpatch produces the patch by
> pecking out the newly created symbols without looking if they
> are newly exported. I hope that we got it right.

Hm, I don't really follow what you're saying. Are we using different
definitions of 'exported'?

By exported, I mean the use of the EXPORT_SYMBOL macro which makes the
symbol available for use by other modules. The above patch doesn't use
the EXPORT_SYMBOL macro, so the kpatch_string symbol isn't exported, and
can't be used by other kernel modules.

However, the symbol *is* global and can be used by other .o files within
the patch module.

> > But I do think we're currently handling it wrong. kpatch-build isn't
> > smart enough to determine the difference between the use of an
> > exported symbol and a global one that's in another .o in the module.
> > We can probably fix that by looking at Module.symvers. So I think we
> > can get rid of this case.
>
> That would be lovely.
>
>
> > 2. Accessing an exported symbol which lives in a module.
> >
> > With Chris's patches, we now don't have any ambiguity for specifying
> > module symbols, so I think we can get rid of this case too.
> >
> > So I *think* we can get rid of 'external' completely. But I could be
> > overlooking something. I'd rather implement the change in kpatch-build
> > first to make 100% sure we can actually get rid of it.
> >
> > Also, I'd ask that we hold off on this patch for now until we get a
> > chance to add support for it in kpatch-build.
>
> Fair enough.
>
>
> > Then at that point we can just remove all the 'external' stuff.
>
> I see. Each symbol is part of an object. Even the exported symbols
> need to be listed for the related object. We do not need external at
> all if the patch is compiled from sources or if we check for newly exported
> symbols in the binaries.

--
Josh
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