Linux kernel ============ The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware, system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software. Quick Start ----------- * Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst * Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org * Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst * Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/ Essential Documentation ----------------------- All users should be familiar with: * Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst * Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst * License: See COPYING Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/ Who Are You? ============ Find your role below: * New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development * Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture * Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis * Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels * System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting * Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches * Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware * Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros For Specific Users ================== New Kernel Developer -------------------- Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here: * Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst * Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst * Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst * Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst * Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst * Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst * Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst Academic Researcher ------------------- Explore the kernel's architecture and internals: * Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst * Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst * Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst * Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst * Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst * RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst * Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst * Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst Security Expert --------------- Security documentation and hardening guides: * Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst * LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst * Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst * Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst * CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst * Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst * Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst Backport/Maintenance Engineer ----------------------------- Maintain and stabilize kernel versions: * Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst * Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst * Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst * Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst * Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst System Administrator -------------------- Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems: * Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst * Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst * Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst * Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst * Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst * Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst Maintainer ---------- Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions: * Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst * Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst * Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst * Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst * Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst * Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst * Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst Hardware Vendor --------------- Write drivers and support new hardware: * Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst * Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst * Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst * Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst * Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/ * Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst * DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst Distribution Maintainer ----------------------- Package and distribute the kernel: * Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst * ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README * Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst * Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst * Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst * Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst Communication and Support ========================= * Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/ * IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net * Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/ * MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists * Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst
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These callbacks are necessary to synchronize ->write_thread callback
against other operations using the same device.
Signed-off-by: Marcos Paulo de Souza <mpdesouza@suse.com>
Reviewed-by: John Ogness <john.ogness@linutronix.de>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251208-nbcon-device-cb-fix-v2-1-36be8d195123@suse.com
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Pull printk updates from Petr Mladek:
- Allow creaing nbcon console drivers with an unsafe write_atomic()
callback that can only be called by the final nbcon_atomic_flush_unsafe().
Otherwise, the driver would rely on the kthread.
It is going to be used as the-best-effort approach for an
experimental nbcon netconsole driver, see
https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251121-nbcon-v1-2-503d17b2b4af@debian.org
Note that a safe .write_atomic() callback is supposed to work in NMI
context. But some networking drivers are not safe even in IRQ
context:
https://lore.kernel.org/r/oc46gdpmmlly5o44obvmoatfqo5bhpgv7pabpvb6sjuqioymcg@gjsma3ghoz35
In an ideal world, all networking drivers would be fixed first and
the atomic flush would be blocked only in NMI context. But it brings
the question how reliable networking drivers are when the system is
in a bad state. They might block flushing more reliable serial
consoles which are more suitable for serious debugging anyway.
- Allow to use the last 4 bytes of the printk ring buffer.
- Prevent queuing IRQ work and block printk kthreads when consoles are
suspended. Otherwise, they create non-necessary churn or even block
the suspend.
- Release console_lock() between each record in the kthread used for
legacy consoles on RT. It might significantly speed up the boot.
- Release nbcon context between each record in the atomic flush. It
prevents stalls of the related printk kthread after it has lost the
ownership in the middle of a record
- Add support for NBCON consoles into KDB
- Add %ptsP modifier for printing struct timespec64 and use it where
possible
- Misc code clean up
* tag 'printk-for-6.19' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/printk/linux: (48 commits)
printk: Use console_is_usable on console_unblank
arch: um: kmsg_dump: Use console_is_usable
drivers: serial: kgdboc: Drop checks for CON_ENABLED and CON_BOOT
lib/vsprintf: Unify FORMAT_STATE_NUM handlers
printk: Avoid irq_work for printk_deferred() on suspend
printk: Avoid scheduling irq_work on suspend
printk: Allow printk_trigger_flush() to flush all types
tracing: Switch to use %ptSp
scsi: snic: Switch to use %ptSp
scsi: fnic: Switch to use %ptSp
s390/dasd: Switch to use %ptSp
ptp: ocp: Switch to use %ptSp
pps: Switch to use %ptSp
PCI: epf-test: Switch to use %ptSp
net: dsa: sja1105: Switch to use %ptSp
mmc: mmc_test: Switch to use %ptSp
media: av7110: Switch to use %ptSp
ipmi: Switch to use %ptSp
igb: Switch to use %ptSp
e1000e: Switch to use %ptSp
...
Pull lkmm documentation update from Paul McKenney:
- Sort the memory-barriers.txt file's wait_event* and wait_on_bit* list
alphabetically
* tag 'lkmm.2025.12.01a' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/paulmck/linux-rcu:
memory-barriers.txt: Sort wait_event* and wait_on_bit* list alphabetically
Pull RCU updates from Frederic Weisbecker:
"SRCU:
- Properly handle SRCU readers within IRQ disabled sections in tiny
SRCU
- Preparation to reimplement RCU Tasks Trace on top of SRCU fast:
- Introduce API to expedite a grace period and test it through
rcutorture
- Split srcu-fast in two flavours: SRCU-fast and SRCU-fast-updown.
Both are still targeted toward faster readers (without full
barriers on LOCK and UNLOCK) at the expense of heavier write
side (using full RCU grace period ordering instead of simply
full ordering) as compared to "traditional" non-fast SRCU. But
those srcu-fast flavours are going to be optimized in two
different ways:
- SRCU-fast will become the reimplementation basis for
RCU-TASK-TRACE for consolidation. Since RCU-TASK-TRACE must
be NMI safe, SRCU-fast must be as well.
- SRCU-fast-updown will be needed for uretprobes code in order
to get rid of the read-side memory barriers while still
allowing entering the reader at task level while exiting it
in a timer handler. It is considered semaphore-like in that
it can have different owners between LOCK and UNLOCK.
However it is not NMI-safe.
The actual optimizations are work in progress for the next
cycle. Only the new interfaces are added for now, along with
related torture and scalability test code.
- Create/document/debug/torture new proper initializers for RCU fast:
DEFINE_SRCU_FAST() and init_srcu_struct_fast()
This allows for using right away the proper ordering on the write
side (either full ordering or full RCU grace period ordering)
without waiting for the read side to tell which to use.
This also optimizes the read side altogether with moving flavour
debug checks under debug config and with removing a costly RmW
operation on their first call.
- Make some diagnostic functions tracing safe
Refscale:
- Add performance testing for common context synchronizations
(Preemption, IRQ, Softirq) and per-cpu increments. Those are
relevant comparisons against SRCU-fast read side APIs, especially
as they are planned to synchronize further tracing fast-path code
Miscellanous:
- In order to prepare the layout for nohz_full work deferral to user
exit, the context tracking state must shrink the counter of
transitions to/from RCU not watching. The only possible hazard is
to trigger wrap-around more easily, delaying a bit grace periods
when that happens. This should be a rare event though. Yet add
debugging and torture code to test that assumption
- Fix memory leak on locktorture module
- Annotate accesses in rculist_nulls.h to prevent from KCSAN
warnings. On recent discussions, we also concluded that all those
WRITE_ONCE() and READ_ONCE() on list APIs deserve appropriate
comments. Something to be expected for the next cycle
- Provide a script to apply several configs to several commits with
torture
- Allow torture to reuse a build directory in order to save needless
rebuild time
- Various cleanups"
* tag 'rcu.release.v6.19' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rcu/linux: (29 commits)
refscale: Add SRCU-fast-updown readers
refscale: Exercise DEFINE_STATIC_SRCU_FAST() and init_srcu_struct_fast()
rcutorture: Make srcu{,d}_torture_init() announce the SRCU type
srcu: Create an SRCU-fast-updown API
refscale: Do not disable interrupts for tests involving local_bh_enable()
refscale: Add non-atomic per-CPU increment readers
refscale: Add this_cpu_inc() readers
refscale: Add preempt_disable() readers
refscale: Add local_bh_disable() readers
refscale: Add local_irq_disable() and local_irq_save() readers
torture: Permit negative kvm.sh --kconfig numberic arguments
srcu: Add SRCU_READ_FLAVOR_FAST_UPDOWN CPP macro
rcu: Mark diagnostic functions as notrace
rcutorture: Make TREE04 use CONFIG_RCU_DYNTICKS_TORTURE
rcutorture: Remove redundant rcutorture_one_extend() from rcu_torture_one_read()
rcutorture: Permit kvm-again.sh to re-use the build directory
torture: Add kvm-series.sh to test commit/scenario combination
rcu: use WRITE_ONCE() for ->next and ->pprev of hlist_nulls
locktorture: Fix memory leak in param_set_cpumask()
doc: Update for SRCU-fast definitions and initialization
...
Commit 88172700423c ("docs/memory-barriers.txt: Add wait_event_cmd()
and wait_event_exclusive_cmd()") added two APIs without taking care
of the list order. Sort the list for readability.
While there, make it clear that this is incomplete by saying
"for example".
Signed-off-by: Akira Yokosawa <akiyks@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Håkon Bugge <haakon.bugge@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
There may be console drivers that have not yet figured out a way
to implement safe atomic printing (->write_atomic() callback).
These drivers could choose to only implement threaded printing
(->write_thread() callback), but then it is guaranteed that _no_
output will be printed during panic. Not even attempted.
As a result, developers may be tempted to implement unsafe
->write_atomic() callbacks and/or implement some sort of custom
deferred printing trickery to try to make it work. This goes
against the principle intention of the nbcon API as well as
endangers other nbcon drivers that are doing things correctly
(safely).
As a compromise, allow nbcon drivers to implement unsafe
->write_atomic() callbacks by providing a new console flag
CON_NBCON_ATOMIC_UNSAFE. When specified, the ->write_atomic()
callback for that console will _only_ be called during the
final "hope and pray" flush attempt at the end of a panic:
nbcon_atomic_flush_unsafe().
Signed-off-by: John Ogness <john.ogness@linutronix.de>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/b2qps3uywhmjaym4mht2wpxul4yqtuuayeoq4iv4k3zf5wdgh3@tocu6c7mj4lt
Reviewed-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/swdpckuwwlv3uiessmtnf2jwlx3jusw6u7fpk5iggqo4t2vdws@7rpjso4gr7qp/ [1]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251103-fix_netpoll_aa-v4-1-4cfecdf6da7c@debian.org/ [2]
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251027161212.334219-2-john.ogness@linutronix.de
[pmladek@suse.com: Fix build with rework/nbcon-in-kdb branch.]
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Pull slab updates from Vlastimil Babka:
- mempool_alloc_bulk() support for upcoming users in the block layer
that need to allocate multiple objects at once with the mempool's
guaranteed progress semantics, which is not achievable with an
allocation single objects in a loop. Along with refactoring and
various improvements (Christoph Hellwig)
- Preparations for the upcoming separation of struct slab from struct
page, mostly by removing the struct folio layer, as the purpose of
struct folio has shifted since it became used in slab code (Matthew
Wilcox)
- Modernisation of slab's boot param API usage, which removes some
unexpected parsing corner cases (Petr Tesarik)
- Refactoring of freelist_aba_t (now struct freelist_counters) and
associated functions for double cmpxchg, enabled by -fms-extensions
(Vlastimil Babka)
- Cleanups and improvements related to sheaves caching layer, that were
part of the full conversion to sheaves, which is planned for the next
release (Vlastimil Babka)
* tag 'slab-for-6.19' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/vbabka/slab: (42 commits)
slab: Remove unnecessary call to compound_head() in alloc_from_pcs()
mempool: clarify behavior of mempool_alloc_preallocated()
mempool: drop the file name in the top of file comment
mempool: de-typedef
mempool: remove mempool_{init,create}_kvmalloc_pool
mempool: legitimize the io_schedule_timeout in mempool_alloc_from_pool
mempool: add mempool_{alloc,free}_bulk
mempool: factor out a mempool_alloc_from_pool helper
slab: Remove references to folios from virt_to_slab()
kasan: Remove references to folio in __kasan_mempool_poison_object()
memcg: Convert mem_cgroup_from_obj_folio() to mem_cgroup_from_obj_slab()
mempool: factor out a mempool_adjust_gfp helper
mempool: add error injection support
mempool: improve kerneldoc comments
mm: improve kerneldoc comments for __alloc_pages_bulk
fault-inject: make enum fault_flags available unconditionally
usercopy: Remove folio references from check_heap_object()
slab: Remove folio references from kfree_nolock()
slab: Remove folio references from kfree_rcu_sheaf()
slab: Remove folio references from build_detached_freelist()
...
- In order to prepare the layout for nohz_full work deferral to
user exit, the context tracking state must shrink the counter
of transitions to/from RCU not watching. The only possible hazard
is to trigger wrap-around more easily, delaying a bit grace periods
when that happens. This should be a rare event though. Yet add
debugging and torture code to test that assumption.
- Fix memory leak on locktorture module
- Annotate accesses in rculist_nulls.h to prevent from KCSAN warnings.
On recent discussions, we also concluded that all those WRITE_ONCE()
and READ_ONCE() on list APIs deserve appropriate comments. Something
to be expected for the next cycle.
- Provide a script to apply several configs to several commits with torture.
- Allow torture to reuse a build directory in order to save needless
rebuild time.
- Various cleanups.
printk_legacy_map is used to hide lock nesting violations caused by
legacy drivers and is using the wrong override type. LD_WAIT_SLEEP is
for always sleeping lock types such as mutex_t. LD_WAIT_CONFIG is for
lock type which are sleeping while spinning on PREEMPT_RT such as
spinlock_t.
Signed-off-by: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Reviewed-by: John Ogness <john.ogness@linutronix.de>
Reviewed-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251026150726.GA23223@redhat.com
[pmladek@suse.com: Fixed indentation.]
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Function kdb_msg_write was calling con->write for any found console,
but it won't work on NBCON consoles. In this case we should acquire the
ownership of the console using NBCON_PRIO_EMERGENCY, since printing
kdb messages should only be interrupted by a panic.
At this point, the console is required to use the atomic callback. The
console is skipped if the write_atomic callback is not set or if the
context could not be acquired. The validation of NBCON is done by the
console_is_usable helper. The context is released right after
write_atomic finishes.
The oops_in_progress handling is only needed in the legacy consoles,
so it was moved around the con->write callback.
Suggested-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Reviewed-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Reviewed-by: John Ogness <john.ogness@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Marcos Paulo de Souza <mpdesouza@suse.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251016-nbcon-kgdboc-v6-5-866aac60a80e@suse.com
[pmladek@suse.com: Fixed compilation with !CONFIG_PRINTK.]
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Pull documentation updates from Jonathan Corbet:
"This has been another busy cycle for documentation, with a lot of
build-system thrashing. That work should slow down from here on out.
- The various scripts and tools for documentation were spread out in
several directories; now they are (almost) all coalesced under
tools/docs/. The holdout is the kernel-doc script, which cannot be
easily moved without some further thought.
- As the amount of Python code increases, we are accumulating modules
that are imported by multiple programs. These modules have been
pulled together under tools/lib/python/ -- at least, for
documentation-related programs. There is other Python code in the
tree that might eventually want to move toward this organization.
- The Perl kernel-doc.pl script has been removed. It is no longer
used by default, and nobody has missed it, least of all anybody who
actually had to look at it.
- The docs build was controlled by a complex mess of makefilese that
few dared to touch. Mauro has moved that logic into a new program
(tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper) that, with any luck at all, will
be far easier to understand and maintain.
- The get_feat.pl program, used to access information under
Documentation/features/, has been rewritten in Python, bringing an
end to the use of Perl in the docs subsystem.
- The top-level README file has been reorganized into a more
reader-friendly presentation.
- A lot of Chinese translation additions
- Typo fixes and documentation updates as usual"
* tag 'docs-6.19' of git://git.lwn.net/linux: (164 commits)
docs: makefile: move rustdoc check to the build wrapper
README: restructure with role-based documentation and guidelines
docs: kdoc: various fixes for grammar, spelling, punctuation
docs: kdoc_parser: use '@' for Excess enum value
docs: submitting-patches: Clarify that removal of Acks needs explanation too
docs: kdoc_parser: add data/function attributes to ignore
docs: MAINTAINERS: update Mauro's files/paths
docs/zh_CN: Add wd719x.rst translation
docs/zh_CN: Add libsas.rst translation
get_feat.pl: remove it, as it got replaced by get_feat.py
Documentation/sphinx/kernel_feat.py: use class directly
tools/docs/get_feat.py: convert get_feat.pl to Python
Documentation/admin-guide: fix typo and comment in cscope example
docs/zh_CN: Add data-integrity.rst translation
docs/zh_CN: Add blk-mq.rst translation
docs/zh_CN: Add block/index.rst translation
docs/zh_CN: Update the Chinese translation of kbuild.rst
docs: bring some order to our Python module hierarchy
docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python
Documentation/kernel-parameters: Move the kernel build options
...
Merges series "mempool_alloc_bulk and various mempool improvements v3"
from Christoph Hellwig.
From the cover letter [1]:
This series adds a bulk version of mempool_alloc that makes allocating
multiple objects deadlock safe.
The initial users is the blk-crypto-fallback code:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/20251031093517.1603379-1-hch@lst.de/
with which v1 was posted, but I also have a few other users in mind.
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251113084022.1255121-1-hch@lst.de/ [1]