0a5d3258d7
Some code includes the __used macro to prevent functions and data from being optimized out. This macro implements __attribute__((__used__)), which operates at the compiler and IR-level, and so still allows a linker to remove objects intended to be kept. Compilers supporting __attribute__((__retain__)) can address this gap by setting the flag SHF_GNU_RETAIN on the section of a function/variable, indicating to the linker the object should be retained. This attribute is available since gcc 11, clang 13, and binutils 2.36. Provide a __retain macro implementing __attribute__((__retain__)), whose first user will be the '__bpf_kfunc' tag. [ Additional remark from discussion: Why is CONFIG_LTO_CLANG added here? The __used macro permits garbage collection at section level, so CLANG_LTO_CLANG without CONFIG_LD_DEAD_CODE_DATA_ELIMINATION should not change final section dynamics? The conditional guard was included to ensure consistent behaviour between __retain and other features forcing split sections. In particular, the same guard is used in vmlinux.lds.h to merge split sections where needed. For example, using __retain in LLVM builds without CONFIG_LTO was failing CI tests on kernel-patches/bpf because the kernel didn't boot properly. And in further testing, the kernel had no issues loading BPF kfunc modules with such split sections, so the module (partial) linking scripts were left alone. ] Signed-off-by: Tony Ambardar <tony.ambardar@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net> Cc: Yonghong Song <yonghong.song@linux.dev> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/ZlmGoT9KiYLZd91S@krava/T/ Link: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/b31bca5a5e6765a0f32cc8c19b1d9cdbfaa822b5.1717477560.git.Tony.Ambardar@gmail.com
Linux kernel
============
There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.
In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``. The formatted documentation can also be read online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/
There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the reStructuredText markup notation.
Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.