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+=======================
+DWARF module versioning
+=======================
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+When CONFIG_MODVERSIONS is enabled, symbol versions for modules
+are typically calculated from preprocessed source code using the
+**genksyms** tool. However, this is incompatible with languages such
+as Rust, where the source code has insufficient information about
+the resulting ABI. With CONFIG_GENDWARFKSYMS (and CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO)
+selected, **gendwarfksyms** is used instead to calculate symbol versions
+from the DWARF debugging information, which contains the necessary
+details about the final module ABI.
+
+Usage
+-----
+
+gendwarfksyms accepts a list of object files on the command line, and a
+list of symbol names (one per line) in standard input::
+
+ Usage: gendwarfksyms [options] elf-object-file ... < symbol-list
+
+ Options:
+ -d, --debug Print debugging information
+ --dump-dies Dump DWARF DIE contents
+ --dump-die-map Print debugging information about die_map changes
+ --dump-types Dump type strings
+ --dump-versions Dump expanded type strings used for symbol versions
+ -s, --stable Support kABI stability features
+ -T, --symtypes file Write a symtypes file
+ -h, --help Print this message
+
+
+Type information availability
+=============================
+
+While symbols are typically exported in the same translation unit (TU)
+where they're defined, it's also perfectly fine for a TU to export
+external symbols. For example, this is done when calculating symbol
+versions for exports in stand-alone assembly code.
+
+To ensure the compiler emits the necessary DWARF type information in the
+TU where symbols are actually exported, gendwarfksyms adds a pointer
+to exported symbols in the `EXPORT_SYMBOL()` macro using the following
+macro::
+
+ #define __GENDWARFKSYMS_EXPORT(sym) \
+ static typeof(sym) *__gendwarfksyms_ptr_##sym __used \
+ __section(".discard.gendwarfksyms") = &sym;
+
+
+When a symbol pointer is found in DWARF, gendwarfksyms can use its
+type for calculating symbol versions even if the symbol is defined
+elsewhere. The name of the symbol pointer is expected to start with
+`__gendwarfksyms_ptr_`, followed by the name of the exported symbol.
+
+Symtypes output format
+======================
+
+Similarly to genksyms, gendwarfksyms supports writing a symtypes
+file for each processed object that contain types for exported
+symbols and each referenced type that was used in calculating symbol
+versions. These files can be useful when trying to determine what
+exactly caused symbol versions to change between builds. To generate
+symtypes files during a kernel build, set `KBUILD_SYMTYPES=1`.
+
+Matching the existing format, the first column of each line contains
+either a type reference or a symbol name. Type references have a
+one-letter prefix followed by "#" and the name of the type. Four
+reference types are supported::
+
+ e#<type> = enum
+ s#<type> = struct
+ t#<type> = typedef
+ u#<type> = union
+
+Type names with spaces in them are wrapped in single quotes, e.g.::
+
+ s#'core::result::Result<u8, core::num::error::ParseIntError>'
+
+The rest of the line contains a type string. Unlike with genksyms that
+produces C-style type strings, gendwarfksyms uses the same simple parsed
+DWARF format produced by **--dump-dies**, but with type references
+instead of fully expanded strings.
+
+Maintaining a stable kABI
+=========================
+
+Distribution maintainers often need the ability to make ABI compatible
+changes to kernel data structures due to LTS updates or backports. Using
+the traditional `#ifndef __GENKSYMS__` to hide these changes from symbol
+versioning won't work when processing object files. To support this
+use case, gendwarfksyms provides kABI stability features designed to
+hide changes that won't affect the ABI when calculating versions. These
+features are all gated behind the **--stable** command line flag and are
+not used in the mainline kernel. To use stable features during a kernel
+build, set `KBUILD_GENDWARFKSYMS_STABLE=1`.
+
+Examples for using these features are provided in the
+**scripts/gendwarfksyms/examples** directory, including helper macros
+for source code annotation. Note that as these features are only used to
+transform the inputs for symbol versioning, the user is responsible for
+ensuring that their changes actually won't break the ABI.
+
+kABI rules
+----------
+
+kABI rules allow distributions to fine-tune certain parts
+of gendwarfksyms output and thus control how symbol
+versions are calculated. These rules are defined in the
+`.discard.gendwarfksyms.kabi_rules` section of the object file and
+consist of simple null-terminated strings with the following structure::
+
+ version\0type\0target\0value\0
+
+This string sequence is repeated as many times as needed to express all
+the rules. The fields are as follows:
+
+- `version`: Ensures backward compatibility for future changes to the
+ structure. Currently expected to be "1".
+- `type`: Indicates the type of rule being applied.
+- `target`: Specifies the target of the rule, typically the fully
+ qualified name of the DWARF Debugging Information Entry (DIE).
+- `value`: Provides rule-specific data.
+
+The following helper macros, for example, can be used to specify rules
+in the source code::
+
+ #define ___KABI_RULE(hint, target, value) \
+ static const char __PASTE(__gendwarfksyms_rule_, \
+ __COUNTER__)[] __used __aligned(1) \
+ __section(".discard.gendwarfksyms.kabi_rules") = \
+ "1\0" #hint "\0" target "\0" value
+
+ #define __KABI_RULE(hint, target, value) \
+ ___KABI_RULE(hint, #target, #value)
+
+
+Currently, only the rules discussed in this section are supported, but
+the format is extensible enough to allow further rules to be added as
+need arises.
+
+Managing definition visibility
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+A declaration can change into a full definition when additional includes
+are pulled into the translation unit. This changes the versions of any
+symbol that references the type even if the ABI remains unchanged. As
+it may not be possible to drop includes without breaking the build, the
+`declonly` rule can be used to specify a type as declaration-only, even
+if the debugging information contains the full definition.
+
+The rule fields are expected to be as follows:
+
+- `type`: "declonly"
+- `target`: The fully qualified name of the target data structure
+ (as shown in **--dump-dies** output).
+- `value`: This field is ignored.
+
+Using the `__KABI_RULE` macro, this rule can be defined as::
+
+ #define KABI_DECLONLY(fqn) __KABI_RULE(declonly, fqn, )
+
+Example usage::
+
+ struct s {
+ /* definition */
+ };
+
+ KABI_DECLONLY(s);
+
+Adding enumerators
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+For enums, all enumerators and their values are included in calculating
+symbol versions, which becomes a problem if we later need to add more
+enumerators without changing symbol versions. The `enumerator_ignore`
+rule allows us to hide named enumerators from the input.
+
+The rule fields are expected to be as follows:
+
+- `type`: "enumerator_ignore"
+- `target`: The fully qualified name of the target enum
+ (as shown in **--dump-dies** output) and the name of the
+ enumerator field separated by a space.
+- `value`: This field is ignored.
+
+Using the `__KABI_RULE` macro, this rule can be defined as::
+
+ #define KABI_ENUMERATOR_IGNORE(fqn, field) \
+ __KABI_RULE(enumerator_ignore, fqn field, )
+
+Example usage::
+
+ enum e {
+ A, B, C, D,
+ };
+
+ KABI_ENUMERATOR_IGNORE(e, B);
+ KABI_ENUMERATOR_IGNORE(e, C);
+
+If the enum additionally includes an end marker and new values must
+be added in the middle, we may need to use the old value for the last
+enumerator when calculating versions. The `enumerator_value` rule allows
+us to override the value of an enumerator for version calculation:
+
+- `type`: "enumerator_value"
+- `target`: The fully qualified name of the target enum
+ (as shown in **--dump-dies** output) and the name of the
+ enumerator field separated by a space.
+- `value`: Integer value used for the field.
+
+Using the `__KABI_RULE` macro, this rule can be defined as::
+
+ #define KABI_ENUMERATOR_VALUE(fqn, field, value) \
+ __KABI_RULE(enumerator_value, fqn field, value)
+
+Example usage::
+
+ enum e {
+ A, B, C, LAST,
+ };
+
+ KABI_ENUMERATOR_IGNORE(e, C);
+ KABI_ENUMERATOR_VALUE(e, LAST, 2);
+
+Managing structure size changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+A data structure can be partially opaque to modules if its allocation is
+handled by the core kernel, and modules only need to access some of its
+members. In this situation, it's possible to append new members to the
+structure without breaking the ABI, as long as the layout for the original
+members remains unchanged.
+
+To append new members, we can hide them from symbol versioning as
+described in section :ref:`Hiding members <hiding_members>`, but we can't
+hide the increase in structure size. The `byte_size` rule allows us to
+override the structure size used for symbol versioning.
+
+The rule fields are expected to be as follows:
+
+- `type`: "byte_size"
+- `target`: The fully qualified name of the target data structure
+ (as shown in **--dump-dies** output).
+- `value`: A positive decimal number indicating the structure size
+ in bytes.
+
+Using the `__KABI_RULE` macro, this rule can be defined as::
+
+ #define KABI_BYTE_SIZE(fqn, value) \
+ __KABI_RULE(byte_size, fqn, value)
+
+Example usage::
+
+ struct s {
+ /* Unchanged original members */
+ unsigned long a;
+ void *p;
+
+ /* Appended new members */
+ KABI_IGNORE(0, unsigned long n);
+ };
+
+ KABI_BYTE_SIZE(s, 16);
+
+Overriding type strings
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+In rare situations where distributions must make significant changes to
+otherwise opaque data structures that have inadvertently been included
+in the published ABI, keeping symbol versions stable using the more
+targeted kABI rules can become tedious. The `type_string` rule allows us
+to override the full type string for a type or a symbol, and even add
+types for versioning that no longer exist in the kernel.
+
+The rule fields are expected to be as follows:
+
+- `type`: "type_string"
+- `target`: The fully qualified name of the target data structure
+ (as shown in **--dump-dies** output) or symbol.
+- `value`: A valid type string (as shown in **--symtypes**) output)
+ to use instead of the real type.
+
+Using the `__KABI_RULE` macro, this rule can be defined as::
+
+ #define KABI_TYPE_STRING(type, str) \
+ ___KABI_RULE("type_string", type, str)
+
+Example usage::
+
+ /* Override type for a structure */
+ KABI_TYPE_STRING("s#s",
+ "structure_type s { "
+ "member base_type int byte_size(4) "
+ "encoding(5) n "
+ "data_member_location(0) "
+ "} byte_size(8)");
+
+ /* Override type for a symbol */
+ KABI_TYPE_STRING("my_symbol", "variable s#s");
+
+The `type_string` rule should be used only as a last resort if maintaining
+a stable symbol versions cannot be reasonably achieved using other
+means. Overriding a type string increases the risk of actual ABI breakages
+going unnoticed as it hides all changes to the type.
+
+Adding structure members
+------------------------
+
+Perhaps the most common ABI compatible change is adding a member to a
+kernel data structure. When changes to a structure are anticipated,
+distribution maintainers can pre-emptively reserve space in the
+structure and take it into use later without breaking the ABI. If
+changes are needed to data structures without reserved space, existing
+alignment holes can potentially be used instead. While kABI rules could
+be added for these type of changes, using unions is typically a more
+natural method. This section describes gendwarfksyms support for using
+reserved space in data structures and hiding members that don't change
+the ABI when calculating symbol versions.
+
+Reserving space and replacing members
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Space is typically reserved for later use by appending integer types, or
+arrays, to the end of the data structure, but any type can be used. Each
+reserved member needs a unique name, but as the actual purpose is usually
+not known at the time the space is reserved, for convenience, names that
+start with `__kabi_` are left out when calculating symbol versions::
+
+ struct s {
+ long a;
+ long __kabi_reserved_0; /* reserved for future use */
+ };
+
+The reserved space can be taken into use by wrapping the member in a
+union, which includes the original type and the replacement member::
+
+ struct s {
+ long a;
+ union {
+ long __kabi_reserved_0; /* original type */
+ struct b b; /* replaced field */
+ };
+ };
+
+If the `__kabi_` naming scheme was used when reserving space, the name
+of the first member of the union must start with `__kabi_reserved`. This
+ensures the original type is used when calculating versions, but the name
+is again left out. The rest of the union is ignored.
+
+If we're replacing a member that doesn't follow this naming convention,
+we also need to preserve the original name to avoid changing versions,
+which we can do by changing the first union member's name to start with
+`__kabi_renamed` followed by the original name.
+
+The examples include `KABI_(RESERVE|USE|REPLACE)*` macros that help
+simplify the process and also ensure the replacement member is correctly
+aligned and its size won't exceed the reserved space.
+
+.. _hiding_members:
+
+Hiding members
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Predicting which structures will require changes during the support
+timeframe isn't always possible, in which case one might have to resort
+to placing new members into existing alignment holes::
+
+ struct s {
+ int a;
+ /* a 4-byte alignment hole */
+ unsigned long b;
+ };
+
+
+While this won't change the size of the data structure, one needs to
+be able to hide the added members from symbol versioning. Similarly
+to reserved fields, this can be accomplished by wrapping the added
+member to a union where one of the fields has a name starting with
+`__kabi_ignored`::
+
+ struct s {
+ int a;
+ union {
+ char __kabi_ignored_0;
+ int n;
+ };
+ unsigned long b;
+ };
+
+With **--stable**, both versions produce the same symbol version. The
+examples include a `KABI_IGNORE` macro to simplify the code.
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.39.0) at 2025-08-21 10:21:20 +0300