ddb5cdbafa
Commit 7b4537199a4a ("kbuild: link symbol CRCs at final link, removing
CONFIG_MODULE_REL_CRCS") made modpost output CRCs in the same way
whether the EXPORT_SYMBOL() is placed in *.c or *.S.
For further cleanups, this commit applies a similar approach to the
entire data structure of EXPORT_SYMBOL().
The EXPORT_SYMBOL() compilation is split into two stages.
When a source file is compiled, EXPORT_SYMBOL() will be converted into
a dummy symbol in the .export_symbol section.
For example,
EXPORT_SYMBOL(foo);
EXPORT_SYMBOL_NS_GPL(bar, BAR_NAMESPACE);
will be encoded into the following assembly code:
.section ".export_symbol","a"
__export_symbol_foo:
.asciz "" /* license */
.asciz "" /* name space */
.balign 8
.quad foo /* symbol reference */
.previous
.section ".export_symbol","a"
__export_symbol_bar:
.asciz "GPL" /* license */
.asciz "BAR_NAMESPACE" /* name space */
.balign 8
.quad bar /* symbol reference */
.previous
They are mere markers to tell modpost the name, license, and namespace
of the symbols. They will be dropped from the final vmlinux and modules
because the *(.export_symbol) will go into /DISCARD/ in the linker script.
Then, modpost extracts all the information about EXPORT_SYMBOL() from the
.export_symbol section, and generates the final C code:
KSYMTAB_FUNC(foo, "", "");
KSYMTAB_FUNC(bar, "_gpl", "BAR_NAMESPACE");
KSYMTAB_FUNC() (or KSYMTAB_DATA() if it is data) is expanded to struct
kernel_symbol that will be linked to the vmlinux or a module.
With this change, EXPORT_SYMBOL() works in the same way for *.c and *.S
files, providing the following benefits.
[1] Deprecate EXPORT_DATA_SYMBOL()
In the old days, EXPORT_SYMBOL() was only available in C files. To export
a symbol in *.S, EXPORT_SYMBOL() was placed in a separate *.c file.
arch/arm/kernel/armksyms.c is one example written in the classic manner.
Commit 22823ab419d8 ("EXPORT_SYMBOL() for asm") removed this limitation.
Since then, EXPORT_SYMBOL() can be placed close to the symbol definition
in *.S files. It was a nice improvement.
However, as that commit mentioned, you need to use EXPORT_DATA_SYMBOL()
for data objects on some architectures.
In the new approach, modpost checks symbol's type (STT_FUNC or not),
and outputs KSYMTAB_FUNC() or KSYMTAB_DATA() accordingly.
There are only two users of EXPORT_DATA_SYMBOL:
EXPORT_DATA_SYMBOL_GPL(empty_zero_page) (arch/ia64/kernel/head.S)
EXPORT_DATA_SYMBOL(ia64_ivt) (arch/ia64/kernel/ivt.S)
They are transformed as follows and output into .vmlinux.export.c
KSYMTAB_DATA(empty_zero_page, "_gpl", "");
KSYMTAB_DATA(ia64_ivt, "", "");
The other EXPORT_SYMBOL users in ia64 assembly are output as
KSYMTAB_FUNC().
EXPORT_DATA_SYMBOL() is now deprecated.
[2] merge <linux/export.h> and <asm-generic/export.h>
There are two similar header implementations:
include/linux/export.h for .c files
include/asm-generic/export.h for .S files
Ideally, the functionality should be consistent between them, but they
tend to diverge.
Commit 8651ec01daed ("module: add support for symbol namespaces.") did
not support the namespace for *.S files.
This commit shifts the essential implementation part to C, which supports
EXPORT_SYMBOL_NS() for *.S files.
<asm/export.h> and <asm-generic/export.h> will remain as a wrapper of
<linux/export.h> for a while.
They will be removed after #include <asm/export.h> directives are all
replaced with #include <linux/export.h>.
[3] Implement CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS in one-pass algorithm (by a later commit)
When CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS is enabled, Kbuild recursively traverses
the directory tree to determine which EXPORT_SYMBOL to trim. If an
EXPORT_SYMBOL turns out to be unused by anyone, Kbuild begins the
second traverse, where some source files are recompiled with their
EXPORT_SYMBOL() tuned into a no-op.
We can do this better now; modpost can selectively emit KSYMTAB entries
that are really used by modules.
Signed-off-by: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.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 Restructured Text 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.