diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/uml/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/uml/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.txt | 4579 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 4579 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/uml/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.txt b/Documentation/uml/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9b7e1904db1c..000000000000 --- a/Documentation/uml/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4579 +0,0 @@ - User Mode Linux HOWTO - User Mode Linux Core Team - Mon Nov 18 14:16:16 EST 2002 - - This document describes the use and abuse of Jeff Dike's User Mode - Linux: a port of the Linux kernel as a normal Intel Linux process. - ______________________________________________________________________ - - Table of Contents - - 1. Introduction - - 1.1 How is User Mode Linux Different? - 1.2 Why Would I Want User Mode Linux? - - 2. Compiling the kernel and modules - - 2.1 Compiling the kernel - 2.2 Compiling and installing kernel modules - 2.3 Compiling and installing uml_utilities - - 3. Running UML and logging in - - 3.1 Running UML - 3.2 Logging in - 3.3 Examples - - 4. UML on 2G/2G hosts - - 4.1 Introduction - 4.2 The problem - 4.3 The solution - - 5. Setting up serial lines and consoles - - 5.1 Specifying the device - 5.2 Specifying the channel - 5.3 Examples - - 6. Setting up the network - - 6.1 General setup - 6.2 Userspace daemons - 6.3 Specifying ethernet addresses - 6.4 UML interface setup - 6.5 Multicast - 6.6 TUN/TAP with the uml_net helper - 6.7 TUN/TAP with a preconfigured tap device - 6.8 Ethertap - 6.9 The switch daemon - 6.10 Slip - 6.11 Slirp - 6.12 pcap - 6.13 Setting up the host yourself - - 7. Sharing Filesystems between Virtual Machines - - 7.1 A warning - 7.2 Using layered block devices - 7.3 Note! - 7.4 Another warning - 7.5 uml_moo : Merging a COW file with its backing file - - 8. Creating filesystems - - 8.1 Create the filesystem file - 8.2 Assign the file to a UML device - 8.3 Creating and mounting the filesystem - - 9. Host file access - - 9.1 Using hostfs - 9.2 hostfs as the root filesystem - 9.3 Building hostfs - - 10. The Management Console - 10.1 version - 10.2 halt and reboot - 10.3 config - 10.4 remove - 10.5 sysrq - 10.6 help - 10.7 cad - 10.8 stop - 10.9 go - - 11. Kernel debugging - - 11.1 Starting the kernel under gdb - 11.2 Examining sleeping processes - 11.3 Running ddd on UML - 11.4 Debugging modules - 11.5 Attaching gdb to the kernel - 11.6 Using alternate debuggers - - 12. Kernel debugging examples - - 12.1 The case of the hung fsck - 12.2 Episode 2: The case of the hung fsck - - 13. What to do when UML doesn't work - - 13.1 Strange compilation errors when you build from source - 13.2 (obsolete) - 13.3 A variety of panics and hangs with /tmp on a reiserfs filesystem - 13.4 The compile fails with errors about conflicting types for 'open', 'dup', and 'waitpid' - 13.5 UML doesn't work when /tmp is an NFS filesystem - 13.6 UML hangs on boot when compiled with gprof support - 13.7 syslogd dies with a SIGTERM on startup - 13.8 TUN/TAP networking doesn't work on a 2.4 host - 13.9 You can network to the host but not to other machines on the net - 13.10 I have no root and I want to scream - 13.11 UML build conflict between ptrace.h and ucontext.h - 13.12 The UML BogoMips is exactly half the host's BogoMips - 13.13 When you run UML, it immediately segfaults - 13.14 xterms appear, then immediately disappear - 13.15 Any other panic, hang, or strange behavior - - 14. Diagnosing Problems - - 14.1 Case 1 : Normal kernel panics - 14.2 Case 2 : Tracing thread panics - 14.3 Case 3 : Tracing thread panics caused by other threads - 14.4 Case 4 : Hangs - - 15. Thanks - - 15.1 Code and Documentation - 15.2 Flushing out bugs - 15.3 Buglets and clean-ups - 15.4 Case Studies - 15.5 Other contributions - - - ______________________________________________________________________ - - 11.. IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn - - Welcome to User Mode Linux. It's going to be fun. - - - - 11..11.. HHooww iiss UUsseerr MMooddee LLiinnuuxx DDiiffffeerreenntt?? - - Normally, the Linux Kernel talks straight to your hardware (video - card, keyboard, hard drives, etc), and any programs which run ask the - kernel to operate the hardware, like so: - - - - +-----------+-----------+----+ - | Process 1 | Process 2 | ...| - +-----------+-----------+----+ - | Linux Kernel | - +----------------------------+ - | Hardware | - +----------------------------+ - - - - - The User Mode Linux Kernel is different; instead of talking to the - hardware, it talks to a `real' Linux kernel (called the `host kernel' - from now on), like any other program. Programs can then run inside - User-Mode Linux as if they were running under a normal kernel, like - so: - - - - +----------------+ - | Process 2 | ...| - +-----------+----------------+ - | Process 1 | User-Mode Linux| - +----------------------------+ - | Linux Kernel | - +----------------------------+ - | Hardware | - +----------------------------+ - - - - - - 11..22.. WWhhyy WWoouulldd II WWaanntt UUsseerr MMooddee LLiinnuuxx?? - - - 1. If User Mode Linux crashes, your host kernel is still fine. - - 2. You can run a usermode kernel as a non-root user. - - 3. You can debug the User Mode Linux like any normal process. - - 4. You can run gprof (profiling) and gcov (coverage testing). - - 5. You can play with your kernel without breaking things. - - 6. You can use it as a sandbox for testing new apps. - - 7. You can try new development kernels safely. - - 8. You can run different distributions simultaneously. - - 9. It's extremely fun. - - - - - - 22.. CCoommppiilliinngg tthhee kkeerrnneell aanndd mmoodduulleess - - - - - 22..11.. CCoommppiilliinngg tthhee kkeerrnneell - - - Compiling the user mode kernel is just like compiling any other - kernel. Let's go through the steps, using 2.4.0-prerelease (current - as of this writing) as an example: - - - 1. Download the latest UML patch from - - the download page <http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/ - - In this example, the file is uml-patch-2.4.0-prerelease.bz2. - - - 2. Download the matching kernel from your favourite kernel mirror, - such as: - - ftp://ftp.ca.kernel.org/pub/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.0-prerelease.tar.bz2 - <ftp://ftp.ca.kernel.org/pub/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.0-prerelease.tar.bz2> - . - - - 3. Make a directory and unpack the kernel into it. - - - - host% - mkdir ~/uml - - - - - - - host% - cd ~/uml - - - - - - - host% - tar -xzvf linux-2.4.0-prerelease.tar.bz2 - - - - - - - 4. Apply the patch using - - - - host% - cd ~/uml/linux - - - - host% - bzcat uml-patch-2.4.0-prerelease.bz2 | patch -p1 - - - - - - - 5. Run your favorite config; `make xconfig ARCH=um' is the most - convenient. `make config ARCH=um' and 'make menuconfig ARCH=um' - will work as well. The defaults will give you a useful kernel. If - you want to change something, go ahead, it probably won't hurt - anything. - - - Note: If the host is configured with a 2G/2G address space split - rather than the usual 3G/1G split, then the packaged UML binaries - will not run. They will immediately segfault. See ``UML on 2G/2G - hosts'' for the scoop on running UML on your system. - - - - 6. Finish with `make linux ARCH=um': the result is a file called - `linux' in the top directory of your source tree. - - Make sure that you don't build this kernel in /usr/src/linux. On some - distributions, /usr/include/asm is a link into this pool. The user- - mode build changes the other end of that link, and things that include - <asm/anything.h> stop compiling. - - The sources are also available from cvs at the project's cvs page, - which has directions on getting the sources. You can also browse the - CVS pool from there. - - If you get the CVS sources, you will have to check them out into an - empty directory. You will then have to copy each file into the - corresponding directory in the appropriate kernel pool. - - If you don't have the latest kernel pool, you can get the - corresponding user-mode sources with - - - host% cvs co -r v_2_3_x linux - - - - - where 'x' is the version in your pool. Note that you will not get the - bug fixes and enhancements that have gone into subsequent releases. - - - 22..22.. CCoommppiilliinngg aanndd iinnssttaalllliinngg kkeerrnneell mmoodduulleess - - UML modules are built in the same way as the native kernel (with the - exception of the 'ARCH=um' that you always need for UML): - - - host% make modules ARCH=um - - - - - Any modules that you want to load into this kernel need to be built in - the user-mode pool. Modules from the native kernel won't work. - - You can install them by using ftp or something to copy them into the - virtual machine and dropping them into /lib/modules/`uname -r`. - - You can also get the kernel build process to install them as follows: - - 1. with the kernel not booted, mount the root filesystem in the top - level of the kernel pool: - - - host% mount root_fs mnt -o loop - - - - - - - 2. run - - - host% - make modules_install INSTALL_MOD_PATH=`pwd`/mnt ARCH=um - - - - - - - 3. unmount the filesystem - - - host% umount mnt - - - - - - - 4. boot the kernel on it - - - When the system is booted, you can use insmod as usual to get the - modules into the kernel. A number of things have been loaded into UML - as modules, especially filesystems and network protocols and filters, - so most symbols which need to be exported probably already are. - However, if you do find symbols that need exporting, let us - <http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/> know, and - they'll be "taken care of". - - - - 22..33.. CCoommppiilliinngg aanndd iinnssttaalllliinngg uummll__uuttiilliittiieess - - Many features of the UML kernel require a user-space helper program, - so a uml_utilities package is distributed separately from the kernel - patch which provides these helpers. Included within this is: - - +o port-helper - Used by consoles which connect to xterms or ports - - +o tunctl - Configuration tool to create and delete tap devices - - +o uml_net - Setuid binary for automatic tap device configuration - - +o uml_switch - User-space virtual switch required for daemon - transport - - The uml_utilities tree is compiled with: - - - host# - make && make install - - - - - Note that UML kernel patches may require a specific version of the - uml_utilities distribution. If you don't keep up with the mailing - lists, ensure that you have the latest release of uml_utilities if you - are experiencing problems with your UML kernel, particularly when - dealing with consoles or command-line switches to the helper programs - - - - - - - - - 33.. RRuunnnniinngg UUMMLL aanndd llooggggiinngg iinn - - - - 33..11.. RRuunnnniinngg UUMMLL - - It runs on 2.2.15 or later, and all 2.4 kernels. - - - Booting UML is straightforward. Simply run 'linux': it will try to - mount the file `root_fs' in the current directory. You do not need to - run it as root. If your root filesystem is not named `root_fs', then - you need to put a `ubd0=root_fs_whatever' switch on the linux command - line. - - - You will need a filesystem to boot UML from. There are a number - available for download from here <http://user-mode- - linux.sourceforge.net/> . There are also several tools - <http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/> which can be - used to generate UML-compatible filesystem images from media. - The kernel will boot up and present you with a login prompt. - - - Note: If the host is configured with a 2G/2G address space split - rather than the usual 3G/1G split, then the packaged UML binaries will - not run. They will immediately segfault. See ``UML on 2G/2G hosts'' - for the scoop on running UML on your system. - - - - 33..22.. LLooggggiinngg iinn - - - - The prepackaged filesystems have a root account with password 'root' - and a user account with password 'user'. The login banner will - generally tell you how to log in. So, you log in and you will find - yourself inside a little virtual machine. Our filesystems have a - variety of commands and utilities installed (and it is fairly easy to - add more), so you will have a lot of tools with which to poke around - the system. - - There are a couple of other ways to log in: - - +o On a virtual console - - - - Each virtual console that is configured (i.e. the device exists in - /dev and /etc/inittab runs a getty on it) will come up in its own - xterm. If you get tired of the xterms, read ``Setting up serial - lines and consoles'' to see how to attach the consoles to - something else, like host ptys. - - - - +o Over the serial line - - - In the boot output, find a line that looks like: - - - - serial line 0 assigned pty /dev/ptyp1 - - - - - Attach your favorite terminal program to the corresponding tty. I.e. - for minicom, the command would be - - - host% minicom -o -p /dev/ttyp1 - - - - - - - +o Over the net - - - If the network is running, then you can telnet to the virtual - machine and log in to it. See ``Setting up the network'' to learn - about setting up a virtual network. - - When you're done using it, run halt, and the kernel will bring itself - down and the process will exit. - - - 33..33.. EExxaammpplleess - - Here are some examples of UML in action: - - +o A login session <http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/login.html> - - +o A virtual network <http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/net.html> - - - - - - - - 44.. UUMMLL oonn 22GG//22GG hhoossttss - - - - - 44..11.. IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn - - - Most Linux machines are configured so that the kernel occupies the - upper 1G (0xc0000000 - 0xffffffff) of the 4G address space and - processes use the lower 3G (0x00000000 - 0xbfffffff). However, some - machine are configured with a 2G/2G split, with the kernel occupying - the upper 2G (0x80000000 - 0xffffffff) and processes using the lower - 2G (0x00000000 - 0x7fffffff). - - - - - 44..22.. TThhee pprroobblleemm - - - The prebuilt UML binaries on this site will not run on 2G/2G hosts - because UML occupies the upper .5G of the 3G process address space - (0xa0000000 - 0xbfffffff). Obviously, on 2G/2G hosts, this is right - in the middle of the kernel address space, so UML won't even load - it - will immediately segfault. - - - - - 44..33.. TThhee ssoolluuttiioonn - - - The fix for this is to rebuild UML from source after enabling - CONFIG_HOST_2G_2G (under 'General Setup'). This will cause UML to - load itself in the top .5G of that smaller process address space, - where it will run fine. See ``Compiling the kernel and modules'' if - you need help building UML from source. - - - - - - - - - - - 55.. SSeettttiinngg uupp sseerriiaall lliinneess aanndd ccoonnssoolleess - - - It is possible to attach UML serial lines and consoles to many types - of host I/O channels by specifying them on the command line. - - - You can attach them to host ptys, ttys, file descriptors, and ports. - This allows you to do things like - - +o have a UML console appear on an unused host console, - - +o hook two virtual machines together by having one attach to a pty - and having the other attach to the corresponding tty - - +o make a virtual machine accessible from the net by attaching a - console to a port on the host. - - - The general format of the command line option is device=channel. - - - - 55..11.. SSppeecciiffyyiinngg tthhee ddeevviiccee - - Devices are specified with "con" or "ssl" (console or serial line, - respectively), optionally with a device number if you are talking - about a specific device. - - - Using just "con" or "ssl" describes all of the consoles or serial - lines. If you want to talk about console #3 or serial line #10, they - would be "con3" and "ssl10", respectively. - - - A specific device name will override a less general "con=" or "ssl=". - So, for example, you can assign a pty to each of the serial lines - except for the first two like this: - - - ssl=pty ssl0=tty:/dev/tty0 ssl1=tty:/dev/tty1 - - - - - The specificity of the device name is all that matters; order on the - command line is irrelevant. - - - - 55..22.. SSppeecciiffyyiinngg tthhee cchhaannnneell - - There are a number of different types of channels to attach a UML - device to, each with a different way of specifying exactly what to - attach to. - - +o pseudo-terminals - device=pty pts terminals - device=pts - - - This will cause UML to allocate a free host pseudo-terminal for the - device. The terminal that it got will be announced in the boot - log. You access it by attaching a terminal program to the - corresponding tty: - - +o screen /dev/pts/n - - +o screen /dev/ttyxx - - +o minicom -o -p /dev/ttyxx - minicom seems not able to handle pts - devices - - +o kermit - start it up, 'open' the device, then 'connect' - - - - - - +o terminals - device=tty:tty device file - - - This will make UML attach the device to the specified tty (i.e - - - con1=tty:/dev/tty3 - - - - - will attach UML's console 1 to the host's /dev/tty3). If the tty that - you specify is the slave end of a tty/pty pair, something else must - have already opened the corresponding pty in order for this to work. - - - - - - +o xterms - device=xterm - - - UML will run an xterm and the device will be attached to it. - - - - - - +o Port - device=port:port number - - - This will attach the UML devices to the specified host port. - Attaching console 1 to the host's port 9000 would be done like - this: - - - con1=port:9000 - - - - - Attaching all the serial lines to that port would be done similarly: - - - ssl=port:9000 - - - - - You access these devices by telnetting to that port. Each active tel- - net session gets a different device. If there are more telnets to a - port than UML devices attached to it, then the extra telnet sessions - will block until an existing telnet detaches, or until another device - becomes active (i.e. by being activated in /etc/inittab). - - This channel has the advantage that you can both attach multiple UML - devices to it and know how to access them without reading the UML boot - log. It is also unique in allowing access to a UML from remote - machines without requiring that the UML be networked. This could be - useful in allowing public access to UMLs because they would be - accessible from the net, but wouldn't need any kind of network - filtering or access control because they would have no network access. - - - If you attach the main console to a portal, then the UML boot will - appear to hang. In reality, it's waiting for a telnet to connect, at - which point the boot will proceed. - - - - - - +o already-existing file descriptors - device=file descriptor - - - If you set up a file descriptor on the UML command line, you can - attach a UML device to it. This is most commonly used to put the - main console back on stdin and stdout after assigning all the other - consoles to something else: - - - con0=fd:0,fd:1 con=pts - - - - - - - - - +o Nothing - device=null - - - This allows the device to be opened, in contrast to 'none', but - reads will block, and writes will succeed and the data will be - thrown out. - - - - - - +o None - device=none - - - This causes the device to disappear. - - - - You can also specify different input and output channels for a device - by putting a comma between them: - - - ssl3=tty:/dev/tty2,xterm - - - - - will cause serial line 3 to accept input on the host's /dev/tty3 and - display output on an xterm. That's a silly example - the most common - use of this syntax is to reattach the main console to stdin and stdout - as shown above. - - - If you decide to move the main console away from stdin/stdout, the - initial boot output will appear in the terminal that you're running - UML in. However, once the console driver has been officially - initialized, then the boot output will start appearing wherever you - specified that console 0 should be. That device will receive all - subsequent output. - - - - 55..33.. EExxaammpplleess - - There are a number of interesting things you can do with this - capability. - - - First, this is how you get rid of those bleeding console xterms by - attaching them to host ptys: - - - con=pty con0=fd:0,fd:1 - - - - - This will make a UML console take over an unused host virtual console, - so that when you switch to it, you will see the UML login prompt - rather than the host login prompt: - - - con1=tty:/dev/tty6 - - - - - You can attach two virtual machines together with what amounts to a - serial line as follows: - - Run one UML with a serial line attached to a pty - - - - ssl1=pty - - - - - Look at the boot log to see what pty it got (this example will assume - that it got /dev/ptyp1). - - Boot the other UML with a serial line attached to the corresponding - tty - - - - ssl1=tty:/dev/ttyp1 - - - - - Log in, make sure that it has no getty on that serial line, attach a - terminal program like minicom to it, and you should see the login - prompt of the other virtual machine. - - - 66.. SSeettttiinngg uupp tthhee nneettwwoorrkk - - - - This page describes how to set up the various transports and to - provide a UML instance with network access to the host, other machines - on the local net, and the rest of the net. - - - As of 2.4.5, UML networking has been completely redone to make it much - easier to set up, fix bugs, and add new features. - - - There is a new helper, uml_net, which does the host setup that - requires root privileges. - - - There are currently five transport types available for a UML virtual - machine to exchange packets with other hosts: - - +o ethertap - - +o TUN/TAP - - +o Multicast - - +o a switch daemon - - +o slip - - +o slirp - - +o pcap - - The TUN/TAP, ethertap, slip, and slirp transports allow a UML - instance to exchange packets with the host. They may be directed - to the host or the host may just act as a router to provide access - to other physical or virtual machines. - - - The pcap transport is a synthetic read-only interface, using the - libpcap binary to collect packets from interfaces on the host and - filter them. This is useful for building preconfigured traffic - monitors or sniffers. - - - The daemon and multicast transports provide a completely virtual - network to other virtual machines. This network is completely - disconnected from the physical network unless one of the virtual - machines on it is acting as a gateway. - - - With so many host transports, which one should you use? Here's when - you should use each one: - - +o ethertap - if you want access to the host networking and it is - running 2.2 - - +o TUN/TAP - if you want access to the host networking and it is - running 2.4. Also, the TUN/TAP transport is able to use a - preconfigured device, allowing it to avoid using the setuid uml_net - helper, which is a security advantage. - - +o Multicast - if you want a purely virtual network and you don't want - to set up anything but the UML - - +o a switch daemon - if you want a purely virtual network and you - don't mind running the daemon in order to get somewhat better - performance - - +o slip - there is no particular reason to run the slip backend unless - ethertap and TUN/TAP are just not available for some reason - - +o slirp - if you don't have root access on the host to setup - networking, or if you don't want to allocate an IP to your UML - - +o pcap - not much use for actual network connectivity, but great for - monitoring traffic on the host - - Ethertap is available on 2.4 and works fine. TUN/TAP is preferred - to it because it has better performance and ethertap is officially - considered obsolete in 2.4. Also, the root helper only needs to - run occasionally for TUN/TAP, rather than handling every packet, as - it does with ethertap. This is a slight security advantage since - it provides fewer opportunities for a nasty UML user to somehow - exploit the helper's root privileges. - - - 66..11.. GGeenneerraall sseettuupp - - First, you must have the virtual network enabled in your UML. If are - running a prebuilt kernel from this site, everything is already - enabled. If you build the kernel yourself, under the "Network device - support" menu, enable "Network device support", and then the three - transports. - - - The next step is to provide a network device to the virtual machine. - This is done by describing it on the kernel command line. - - The general format is - - - eth <n> = <transport> , <transport args> - - - - - For example, a virtual ethernet device may be attached to a host - ethertap device as follows: - - - eth0=ethertap,tap0,fe:fd:0:0:0:1,192.168.0.254 - - - - - This sets up eth0 inside the virtual machine to attach itself to the - host /dev/tap0, assigns it an ethernet address, and assigns the host - tap0 interface an IP address. - - - - Note that the IP address you assign to the host end of the tap device - must be different than the IP you assign to the eth device inside UML. - If you are short on IPs and don't want to consume two per UML, then - you can reuse the host's eth IP address for the host ends of the tap - devices. Internally, the UMLs must still get unique IPs for their eth - devices. You can also give the UMLs non-routable IPs (192.168.x.x or - 10.x.x.x) and have the host masquerade them. This will let outgoing - connections work, but incoming connections won't without more work, - such as port forwarding from the host. - Also note that when you configure the host side of an interface, it is - only acting as a gateway. It will respond to pings sent to it - locally, but is not useful to do that since it's a host interface. - You are not talking to the UML when you ping that interface and get a - response. - - - You can also add devices to a UML and remove them at runtime. See the - ``The Management Console'' page for details. - - - The sections below describe this in more detail. - - - Once you've decided how you're going to set up the devices, you boot - UML, log in, configure the UML side of the devices, and set up routes - to the outside world. At that point, you will be able to talk to any - other machines, physical or virtual, on the net. - - - If ifconfig inside UML fails and the network refuses to come up, run - tell you what went wrong. - - - - 66..22.. UUsseerrssppaaccee ddaaeemmoonnss - - You will likely need the setuid helper, or the switch daemon, or both. - They are both installed with the RPM and deb, so if you've installed - either, you can skip the rest of this section. - - - If not, then you need to check them out of CVS, build them, and - install them. The helper is uml_net, in CVS /tools/uml_net, and the - daemon is uml_switch, in CVS /tools/uml_router. They are both built - with a plain 'make'. Both need to be installed in a directory that's - in your path - /usr/bin is recommend. On top of that, uml_net needs - to be setuid root. - - - - 66..33.. SSppeecciiffyyiinngg eetthheerrnneett aaddddrreesssseess - - Below, you will see that the TUN/TAP, ethertap, and daemon interfaces - allow you to specify hardware addresses for the virtual ethernet - devices. This is generally not necessary. If you don't have a - specific reason to do it, you probably shouldn't. If one is not - specified on the command line, the driver will assign one based on the - device IP address. It will provide the address fe:fd:nn:nn:nn:nn - where nn.nn.nn.nn is the device IP address. This is nearly always - sufficient to guarantee a unique hardware address for the device. A - couple of exceptions are: - - +o Another set of virtual ethernet devices are on the same network and - they are assigned hardware addresses using a different scheme which - may conflict with the UML IP address-based scheme - - +o You aren't going to use the device for IP networking, so you don't - assign the device an IP address - - If you let the driver provide the hardware address, you should make - sure that the device IP address is known before the interface is - brought up. So, inside UML, this will guarantee that: - - - - UML# - ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.250 up - - - - - If you decide to assign the hardware address yourself, make sure that - the first byte of the address is even. Addresses with an odd first - byte are broadcast addresses, which you don't want assigned to a - device. - - - - 66..44.. UUMMLL iinntteerrffaaccee sseettuupp - - Once the network devices have been described on the command line, you - should boot UML and log in. - - - The first thing to do is bring the interface up: - - - UML# ifconfig ethn ip-address up - - - - - You should be able to ping the host at this point. - - - To reach the rest of the world, you should set a default route to the - host: - - - UML# route add default gw host ip - - - - - Again, with host ip of 192.168.0.4: - - - UML# route add default gw 192.168.0.4 - - - - - This page used to recommend setting a network route to your local net. - This is wrong, because it will cause UML to try to figure out hardware - addresses of the local machines by arping on the interface to the - host. Since that interface is basically a single strand of ethernet - with two nodes on it (UML and the host) and arp requests don't cross - networks, they will fail to elicit any responses. So, what you want - is for UML to just blindly throw all packets at the host and let it - figure out what to do with them, which is what leaving out the network - route and adding the default route does. - - - Note: If you can't communicate with other hosts on your physical - ethernet, it's probably because of a network route that's - automatically set up. If you run 'route -n' and see a route that - looks like this: - - - - - Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface - 192.168.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0 - - - - - with a mask that's not 255.255.255.255, then replace it with a route - to your host: - - - UML# - route del -net 192.168.0.0 dev eth0 netmask 255.255.255.0 - - - - - - - UML# - route add -host 192.168.0.4 dev eth0 - - - - - This, plus the default route to the host, will allow UML to exchange - packets with any machine on your ethernet. - - - - 66..55.. MMuullttiiccaasstt - - The simplest way to set up a virtual network between multiple UMLs is - to use the mcast transport. This was written by Harald Welte and is - present in UML version 2.4.5-5um and later. Your system must have - multicast enabled in the kernel and there must be a multicast-capable - network device on the host. Normally, this is eth0, but if there is - no ethernet card on the host, then you will likely get strange error - messages when you bring the device up inside UML. - - - To use it, run two UMLs with - - - eth0=mcast - - - - - on their command lines. Log in, configure the ethernet device in each - machine with different IP addresses: - - - UML1# ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.254 - - - - - - - UML2# ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.253 - - - - - and they should be able to talk to each other. - - The full set of command line options for this transport are - - - - ethn=mcast,ethernet address,multicast - address,multicast port,ttl - - - - - Harald's original README is here <http://user-mode-linux.source- - forge.net/> and explains these in detail, as well as - some other issues. - - - - 66..66.. TTUUNN//TTAAPP wwiitthh tthhee uummll__nneett hheellppeerr - - TUN/TAP is the preferred mechanism on 2.4 to exchange packets with the - host. The TUN/TAP backend has been in UML since 2.4.9-3um. - - - The easiest way to get up and running is to let the setuid uml_net - helper do the host setup for you. This involves insmod-ing the tun.o - module if necessary, configuring the device, and setting up IP - forwarding, routing, and proxy arp. If you are new to UML networking, - do this first. If you're concerned about the security implications of - the setuid helper, use it to get up and running, then read the next - section to see how to have UML use a preconfigured tap device, which - avoids the use of uml_net. - - - If you specify an IP address for the host side of the device, the - uml_net helper will do all necessary setup on the host - the only - requirement is that TUN/TAP be available, either built in to the host - kernel or as the tun.o module. - - The format of the command line switch to attach a device to a TUN/TAP - device is - - - eth <n> =tuntap,,, <IP address> - - - - - For example, this argument will attach the UML's eth0 to the next - available tap device and assign an ethernet address to it based on its - IP address - - - eth0=tuntap,,,192.168.0.254 - - - - - - - Note that the IP address that must be used for the eth device inside - UML is fixed by the routing and proxy arp that is set up on the - TUN/TAP device on the host. You can use a different one, but it won't - work because reply packets won't reach the UML. This is a feature. - It prevents a nasty UML user from doing things like setting the UML IP - to the same as the network's nameserver or mail server. - - - There are a couple potential problems with running the TUN/TAP - transport on a 2.4 host kernel - - +o TUN/TAP seems not to work on 2.4.3 and earlier. Upgrade the host - kernel or use the ethertap transport. - - +o With an upgraded kernel, TUN/TAP may fail with - - - File descriptor in bad state - - - - - This is due to a header mismatch between the upgraded kernel and the - kernel that was originally installed on the machine. The fix is to - make sure that /usr/src/linux points to the headers for the running - kernel. - - These were pointed out by Tim Robinson <timro at trkr dot net> in - <http://www.geocrawler.com/> name="this uml- - user post"> . - - - - 66..77.. TTUUNN//TTAAPP wwiitthh aa pprreeccoonnffiigguurreedd ttaapp ddeevviiccee - - If you prefer not to have UML use uml_net (which is somewhat - insecure), with UML 2.4.17-11, you can set up a TUN/TAP device - beforehand. The setup needs to be done as root, but once that's done, - there is no need for root assistance. Setting up the device is done - as follows: - - +o Create the device with tunctl (available from the UML utilities - tarball) - - - - - host# tunctl -u uid - - - - - where uid is the user id or username that UML will be run as. This - will tell you what device was created. - - +o Configure the device IP (change IP addresses and device name to - suit) - - - - - host# ifconfig tap0 192.168.0.254 up - - - - - - +o Set up routing and arping if desired - this is my recipe, there are - other ways of doing the same thing - - - host# - bash -c 'echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward' - - host# - route add -host 192.168.0.253 dev tap0 - - - - - - - host# - bash -c 'echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/tap0/proxy_arp' - - - - - - - host# - arp -Ds 192.168.0.253 eth0 pub - - - - - Note that this must be done every time the host boots - this configu- - ration is not stored across host reboots. So, it's probably a good - idea to stick it in an rc file. An even better idea would be a little - utility which reads the information from a config file and sets up - devices at boot time. - - +o Rather than using up two IPs and ARPing for one of them, you can - also provide direct access to your LAN by the UML by using a - bridge. - - - host# - brctl addbr br0 - - - - - - - host# - ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0 promisc up - - - - - - - host# - ifconfig tap0 0.0.0.0 promisc up - - - - - - - host# - ifconfig br0 192.168.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 up - - - - - - - - host# - brctl stp br0 off - - - - - - - host# - brctl setfd br0 1 - - - - - - - host# - brctl sethello br0 1 - - - - - - - host# - brctl addif br0 eth0 - - - - - - - host# - brctl addif br0 tap0 - - - - - Note that 'br0' should be setup using ifconfig with the existing IP - address of eth0, as eth0 no longer has its own IP. - - +o - - - Also, the /dev/net/tun device must be writable by the user running - UML in order for the UML to use the device that's been configured - for it. The simplest thing to do is - - - host# chmod 666 /dev/net/tun - - - - - Making it world-writable looks bad, but it seems not to be - exploitable as a security hole. However, it does allow anyone to cre- - ate useless tap devices (useless because they can't configure them), - which is a DOS attack. A somewhat more secure alternative would to be - to create a group containing all the users who have preconfigured tap - devices and chgrp /dev/net/tun to that group with mode 664 or 660. - - - +o Once the device is set up, run UML with 'eth0=tuntap,device name' - (i.e. 'eth0=tuntap,tap0') on the command line (or do it with the - mconsole config command). - - +o Bring the eth device up in UML and you're in business. - - If you don't want that tap device any more, you can make it non- - persistent with - - - host# tunctl -d tap device - - - - - Finally, tunctl has a -b (for brief mode) switch which causes it to - output only the name of the tap device it created. This makes it - suitable for capture by a script: - - - host# TAP=`tunctl -u 1000 -b` - - - - - - - 66..88.. EEtthheerrttaapp - - Ethertap is the general mechanism on 2.2 for userspace processes to - exchange packets with the kernel. - - - - To use this transport, you need to describe the virtual network device - on the UML command line. The general format for this is - - - eth <n> =ethertap, <device> , <ethernet address> , <tap IP address> - - - - - So, the previous example - - - eth0=ethertap,tap0,fe:fd:0:0:0:1,192.168.0.254 - - - - - attaches the UML eth0 device to the host /dev/tap0, assigns it the - ethernet address fe:fd:0:0:0:1, and assigns the IP address - 192.168.0.254 to the tap device. - - - - The tap device is mandatory, but the others are optional. If the - ethernet address is omitted, one will be assigned to it. - - - The presence of the tap IP address will cause the helper to run and do - whatever host setup is needed to allow the virtual machine to - communicate with the outside world. If you're not sure you know what - you're doing, this is the way to go. - - - If it is absent, then you must configure the tap device and whatever - arping and routing you will need on the host. However, even in this - case, the uml_net helper still needs to be in your path and it must be - setuid root if you're not running UML as root. This is because the - tap device doesn't support SIGIO, which UML needs in order to use - something as a source of input. So, the helper is used as a - convenient asynchronous IO thread. - - If you're using the uml_net helper, you can ignore the following host - setup - uml_net will do it for you. You just need to make sure you - have ethertap available, either built in to the host kernel or - available as a module. - - - If you want to set things up yourself, you need to make sure that the - appropriate /dev entry exists. If it doesn't, become root and create - it as follows: - - - mknod /dev/tap <minor> c 36 <minor> + 16 - - - - - For example, this is how to create /dev/tap0: - - - mknod /dev/tap0 c 36 0 + 16 - - - - - You also need to make sure that the host kernel has ethertap support. - If ethertap is enabled as a module, you apparently need to insmod - ethertap once for each ethertap device you want to enable. So, - - - host# - insmod ethertap - - - - - will give you the tap0 interface. To get the tap1 interface, you need - to run - - - host# - insmod ethertap unit=1 -o ethertap1 - - - - - - - - 66..99.. TThhee sswwiittcchh ddaaeemmoonn - - NNoottee: This is the daemon formerly known as uml_router, but which was - renamed so the network weenies of the world would stop growling at me. - - - The switch daemon, uml_switch, provides a mechanism for creating a - totally virtual network. By default, it provides no connection to the - host network (but see -tap, below). - - - The first thing you need to do is run the daemon. Running it with no - arguments will make it listen on a default pair of unix domain - sockets. - - - If you want it to listen on a different pair of sockets, use - - - -unix control socket data socket - - - - - - If you want it to act as a hub rather than a switch, use - - - -hub - - - - - - If you want the switch to be connected to host networking (allowing - the umls to get access to the outside world through the host), use - - - -tap tap0 - - - - - - Note that the tap device must be preconfigured (see "TUN/TAP with a - preconfigured tap device", above). If you're using a different tap - device than tap0, specify that instead of tap0. - - - uml_switch can be backgrounded as follows - - - host% - uml_switch [ options ] < /dev/null > /dev/null - - - - - The reason it doesn't background by default is that it listens to - stdin for EOF. When it sees that, it exits. - - - The general format of the kernel command line switch is - - - - ethn=daemon,ethernet address,socket - type,control socket,data socket - - - - - You can leave off everything except the 'daemon'. You only need to - specify the ethernet address if the one that will be assigned to it - isn't acceptable for some reason. The rest of the arguments describe - how to communicate with the daemon. You should only specify them if - you told the daemon to use different sockets than the default. So, if - you ran the daemon with no arguments, running the UML on the same - machine with - eth0=daemon - - - - - will cause the eth0 driver to attach itself to the daemon correctly. - - - - 66..1100.. SSlliipp - - Slip is another, less general, mechanism for a process to communicate - with the host networking. In contrast to the ethertap interface, - which exchanges ethernet frames with the host and can be used to - transport any higher-level protocol, it can only be used to transport - IP. - - - The general format of the command line switch is - - - - ethn=slip,slip IP - - - - - The slip IP argument is the IP address that will be assigned to the - host end of the slip device. If it is specified, the helper will run - and will set up the host so that the virtual machine can reach it and - the rest of the network. - - - There are some oddities with this interface that you should be aware - of. You should only specify one slip device on a given virtual - machine, and its name inside UML will be 'umn', not 'eth0' or whatever - you specified on the command line. These problems will be fixed at - some point. - - - - 66..1111.. SSlliirrpp - - slirp uses an external program, usually /usr/bin/slirp, to provide IP - only networking connectivity through the host. This is similar to IP - masquerading with a firewall, although the translation is performed in - user-space, rather than by the kernel. As slirp does not set up any - interfaces on the host, or changes routing, slirp does not require - root access or setuid binaries on the host. - - - The general format of the command line switch for slirp is: - - - - ethn=slirp,ethernet address,slirp path - - - - - The ethernet address is optional, as UML will set up the interface - with an ethernet address based upon the initial IP address of the - interface. The slirp path is generally /usr/bin/slirp, although it - will depend on distribution. - - - The slirp program can have a number of options passed to the command - line and we can't add them to the UML command line, as they will be - parsed incorrectly. Instead, a wrapper shell script can be written or - the options inserted into the /.slirprc file. More information on - all of the slirp options can be found in its man pages. - - - The eth0 interface on UML should be set up with the IP 10.2.0.15, - although you can use anything as long as it is not used by a network - you will be connecting to. The default route on UML should be set to - use - - - UML# - route add default dev eth0 - - - - - slirp provides a number of useful IP addresses which can be used by - UML, such as 10.0.2.3 which is an alias for the DNS server specified - in /etc/resolv.conf on the host or the IP given in the 'dns' option - for slirp. - - - Even with a baudrate setting higher than 115200, the slirp connection - is limited to 115200. If you need it to go faster, the slirp binary - needs to be compiled with FULL_BOLT defined in config.h. - - - - 66..1122.. ppccaapp - - The pcap transport is attached to a UML ethernet device on the command - line or with uml_mconsole with the following syntax: - - - - ethn=pcap,host interface,filter - expression,option1,option2 - - - - - The expression and options are optional. - - - The interface is whatever network device on the host you want to - sniff. The expression is a pcap filter expression, which is also what - tcpdump uses, so if you know how to specify tcpdump filters, you will - use the same expressions here. The options are up to two of - 'promisc', control whether pcap puts the host interface into - promiscuous mode. 'optimize' and 'nooptimize' control whether the pcap - expression optimizer is used. - - - Example: - - - - eth0=pcap,eth0,tcp - - eth1=pcap,eth0,!tcp - - - - will cause the UML eth0 to emit all tcp packets on the host eth0 and - the UML eth1 to emit all non-tcp packets on the host eth0. - - - - 66..1133.. SSeettttiinngg uupp tthhee hhoosstt yyoouurrsseellff - - If you don't specify an address for the host side of the ethertap or - slip device, UML won't do any setup on the host. So this is what is - needed to get things working (the examples use a host-side IP of - 192.168.0.251 and a UML-side IP of 192.168.0.250 - adjust to suit your - own network): - - +o The device needs to be configured with its IP address. Tap devices - are also configured with an mtu of 1484. Slip devices are - configured with a point-to-point address pointing at the UML ip - address. - - - host# ifconfig tap0 arp mtu 1484 192.168.0.251 up - - - - - - - host# - ifconfig sl0 192.168.0.251 pointopoint 192.168.0.250 up - - - - - - +o If a tap device is being set up, a route is set to the UML IP. - - - UML# route add -host 192.168.0.250 gw 192.168.0.251 - - - - - - +o To allow other hosts on your network to see the virtual machine, - proxy arp is set up for it. - - - host# arp -Ds 192.168.0.250 eth0 pub - - - - - - +o Finally, the host is set up to route packets. - - - host# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward - - - - - - - - - - - 77.. SShhaarriinngg FFiilleessyysstteemmss bbeettwweeeenn VViirrttuuaall MMaacchhiinneess - - - - - 77..11.. AA wwaarrnniinngg - - Don't attempt to share filesystems simply by booting two UMLs from the - same file. That's the same thing as booting two physical machines - from a shared disk. It will result in filesystem corruption. - - - - 77..22.. UUssiinngg llaayyeerreedd bblloocckk ddeevviicceess - - The way to share a filesystem between two virtual machines is to use - the copy-on-write (COW) layering capability of the ubd block driver. - As of 2.4.6-2um, the driver supports layering a read-write private - device over a read-only shared device. A machine's writes are stored - in the private device, while reads come from either device - the - private one if the requested block is valid in it, the shared one if - not. Using this scheme, the majority of data which is unchanged is - shared between an arbitrary number of virtual machines, each of which - has a much smaller file containing the changes that it has made. With - a large number of UMLs booting from a large root filesystem, this - leads to a huge disk space saving. It will also help performance, - since the host will be able to cache the shared data using a much - smaller amount of memory, so UML disk requests will be served from the - host's memory rather than its disks. - - - - - To add a copy-on-write layer to an existing block device file, simply - add the name of the COW file to the appropriate ubd switch: - - - ubd0=root_fs_cow,root_fs_debian_22 - - - - - where 'root_fs_cow' is the private COW file and 'root_fs_debian_22' is - the existing shared filesystem. The COW file need not exist. If it - doesn't, the driver will create and initialize it. Once the COW file - has been initialized, it can be used on its own on the command line: - - - ubd0=root_fs_cow - - - - - The name of the backing file is stored in the COW file header, so it - would be redundant to continue specifying it on the command line. - - - - 77..33.. NNoottee!! - - When checking the size of the COW file in order to see the gobs of - space that you're saving, make sure you use 'ls -ls' to see the actual - disk consumption rather than the length of the file. The COW file is - sparse, so the length will be very different from the disk usage. - Here is a 'ls -l' of a COW file and backing file from one boot and - shutdown: - host% ls -l cow.debian debian2.2 - -rw-r--r-- 1 jdike jdike 492504064 Aug 6 21:16 cow.debian - -rwxrw-rw- 1 jdike jdike 537919488 Aug 6 20:42 debian2.2 - - - - - Doesn't look like much saved space, does it? Well, here's 'ls -ls': - - - host% ls -ls cow.debian debian2.2 - 880 -rw-r--r-- 1 jdike jdike 492504064 Aug 6 21:16 cow.debian - 525832 -rwxrw-rw- 1 jdike jdike 537919488 Aug 6 20:42 debian2.2 - - - - - Now, you can see that the COW file has less than a meg of disk, rather - than 492 meg. - - - - 77..44.. AAnnootthheerr wwaarrnniinngg - - Once a filesystem is being used as a readonly backing file for a COW - file, do not boot directly from it or modify it in any way. Doing so - will invalidate any COW files that are using it. The mtime and size - of the backing file are stored in the COW file header at its creation, - and they must continue to match. If they don't, the driver will - refuse to use the COW file. - - - - - If you attempt to evade this restriction by changing either the - backing file or the COW header by hand, you will get a corrupted - filesystem. - - - - - Among other things, this means that upgrading the distribution in a - backing file and expecting that all of the COW files using it will see - the upgrade will not work. - - - - - 77..55.. uummll__mmoooo :: MMeerrggiinngg aa CCOOWW ffiillee wwiitthh iittss bbaacckkiinngg ffiillee - - Depending on how you use UML and COW devices, it may be advisable to - merge the changes in the COW file into the backing file every once in - a while. - - - - - The utility that does this is uml_moo. Its usage is - - - host% uml_moo COW file new backing file - - - - - There's no need to specify the backing file since that information is - already in the COW file header. If you're paranoid, boot the new - merged file, and if you're happy with it, move it over the old backing - file. - - - - - uml_moo creates a new backing file by default as a safety measure. It - also has a destructive merge option which will merge the COW file - directly into its current backing file. This is really only usable - when the backing file only has one COW file associated with it. If - there are multiple COWs associated with a backing file, a -d merge of - one of them will invalidate all of the others. However, it is - convenient if you're short of disk space, and it should also be - noticeably faster than a non-destructive merge. - - - - - uml_moo is installed with the UML deb and RPM. If you didn't install - UML from one of those packages, you can also get it from the UML - utilities <http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/ - utilities> tar file in tools/moo. - - - - - - - - - 88.. CCrreeaattiinngg ffiilleessyysstteemmss - - - You may want to create and mount new UML filesystems, either because - your root filesystem isn't large enough or because you want to use a - filesystem other than ext2. - - - This was written on the occasion of reiserfs being included in the - 2.4.1 kernel pool, and therefore the 2.4.1 UML, so the examples will - talk about reiserfs. This information is generic, and the examples - should be easy to translate to the filesystem of your choice. - - - 88..11.. CCrreeaattee tthhee ffiilleessyysstteemm ffiillee - - dd is your friend. All you need to do is tell dd to create an empty - file of the appropriate size. I usually make it sparse to save time - and to avoid allocating disk space until it's actually used. For - example, the following command will create a sparse 100 meg file full - of zeroes. - - - host% - dd if=/dev/zero of=new_filesystem seek=100 count=1 bs=1M - - - - - - - 88..22.. AAssssiiggnn tthhee ffiillee ttoo aa UUMMLL ddeevviiccee - - Add an argument like the following to the UML command line: - - ubd4=new_filesystem - - - - - making sure that you use an unassigned ubd device number. - - - - 88..33.. CCrreeaattiinngg aanndd mmoouunnttiinngg tthhee ffiilleessyysstteemm - - Make sure that the filesystem is available, either by being built into - the kernel, or available as a module, then boot up UML and log in. If - the root filesystem doesn't have the filesystem utilities (mkfs, fsck, - etc), then get them into UML by way of the net or hostfs. - - - Make the new filesystem on the device assigned to the new file: - - - host# mkreiserfs /dev/ubd/4 - - - <----------- MKREISERFSv2 -----------> - - ReiserFS version 3.6.25 - Block size 4096 bytes - Block count 25856 - Used blocks 8212 - Journal - 8192 blocks (18-8209), journal header is in block 8210 - Bitmaps: 17 - Root block 8211 - Hash function "r5" - ATTENTION: ALL DATA WILL BE LOST ON '/dev/ubd/4'! (y/n)y - journal size 8192 (from 18) - Initializing journal - 0%....20%....40%....60%....80%....100% - Syncing..done. - - - - - Now, mount it: - - - UML# - mount /dev/ubd/4 /mnt - - - - - and you're in business. - - - - - - - - - - 99.. HHoosstt ffiillee aacccceessss - - - If you want to access files on the host machine from inside UML, you - can treat it as a separate machine and either nfs mount directories - from the host or copy files into the virtual machine with scp or rcp. - However, since UML is running on the host, it can access those - files just like any other process and make them available inside the - virtual machine without needing to use the network. - - - This is now possible with the hostfs virtual filesystem. With it, you - can mount a host directory into the UML filesystem and access the - files contained in it just as you would on the host. - - - 99..11.. UUssiinngg hhoossttffss - - To begin with, make sure that hostfs is available inside the virtual - machine with - - - UML# cat /proc/filesystems - - - - . hostfs should be listed. If it's not, either rebuild the kernel - with hostfs configured into it or make sure that hostfs is built as a - module and available inside the virtual machine, and insmod it. - - - Now all you need to do is run mount: - - - UML# mount none /mnt/host -t hostfs - - - - - will mount the host's / on the virtual machine's /mnt/host. - - - If you don't want to mount the host root directory, then you can - specify a subdirectory to mount with the -o switch to mount: - - - UML# mount none /mnt/home -t hostfs -o /home - - - - - will mount the hosts's /home on the virtual machine's /mnt/home. - - - - 99..22.. hhoossttffss aass tthhee rroooott ffiilleessyysstteemm - - It's possible to boot from a directory hierarchy on the host using - hostfs rather than using the standard filesystem in a file. - - To start, you need that hierarchy. The easiest way is to loop mount - an existing root_fs file: - - - host# mount root_fs uml_root_dir -o loop - - - - - You need to change the filesystem type of / in etc/fstab to be - 'hostfs', so that line looks like this: - - /dev/ubd/0 / hostfs defaults 1 1 - - - - - Then you need to chown to yourself all the files in that directory - that are owned by root. This worked for me: - - - host# find . -uid 0 -exec chown jdike {} \; - - - - - Next, make sure that your UML kernel has hostfs compiled in, not as a - module. Then run UML with the boot device pointing at that directory: - - - ubd0=/path/to/uml/root/directory - - - - - UML should then boot as it does normally. - - - 99..33.. BBuuiillddiinngg hhoossttffss - - If you need to build hostfs because it's not in your kernel, you have - two choices: - - - - +o Compiling hostfs into the kernel: - - - Reconfigure the kernel and set the 'Host filesystem' option under - - - +o Compiling hostfs as a module: - - - Reconfigure the kernel and set the 'Host filesystem' option under - be in arch/um/fs/hostfs/hostfs.o. Install that in - /lib/modules/`uname -r`/fs in the virtual machine, boot it up, and - - - UML# insmod hostfs - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1100.. TThhee MMaannaaggeemmeenntt CCoonnssoollee - - - - The UML management console is a low-level interface to the kernel, - somewhat like the i386 SysRq interface. Since there is a full-blown - operating system under UML, there is much greater flexibility possible - than with the SysRq mechanism. - - - There are a number of things you can do with the mconsole interface: - - +o get the kernel version - - +o add and remove devices - - +o halt or reboot the machine - - +o Send SysRq commands - - +o Pause and resume the UML - - - You need the mconsole client (uml_mconsole) which is present in CVS - (/tools/mconsole) in 2.4.5-9um and later, and will be in the RPM in - 2.4.6. - - - You also need CONFIG_MCONSOLE (under 'General Setup') enabled in UML. - When you boot UML, you'll see a line like: - - - mconsole initialized on /home/jdike/.uml/umlNJ32yL/mconsole - - - - - If you specify a unique machine id one the UML command line, i.e. - - - umid=debian - - - - - you'll see this - - - mconsole initialized on /home/jdike/.uml/debian/mconsole - - - - - That file is the socket that uml_mconsole will use to communicate with - UML. Run it with either the umid or the full path as its argument: - - - host% uml_mconsole debian - - - - - or - - - host% uml_mconsole /home/jdike/.uml/debian/mconsole - - - - - You'll get a prompt, at which you can run one of these commands: - - +o version - - +o halt - - +o reboot - - +o config - - +o remove - - +o sysrq - - +o help - - +o cad - - +o stop - - +o go - - - 1100..11.. vveerrssiioonn - - This takes no arguments. It prints the UML version. - - - (mconsole) version - OK Linux usermode 2.4.5-9um #1 Wed Jun 20 22:47:08 EDT 2001 i686 - - - - - There are a couple actual uses for this. It's a simple no-op which - can be used to check that a UML is running. It's also a way of - sending an interrupt to the UML. This is sometimes useful on SMP - hosts, where there's a bug which causes signals to UML to be lost, - often causing it to appear to hang. Sending such a UML the mconsole - version command is a good way to 'wake it up' before networking has - been enabled, as it does not do anything to the function of the UML. - - - - 1100..22.. hhaalltt aanndd rreebboooott - - These take no arguments. They shut the machine down immediately, with - no syncing of disks and no clean shutdown of userspace. So, they are - pretty close to crashing the machine. - - - (mconsole) halt - OK - - - - - - - 1100..33.. ccoonnffiigg - - "config" adds a new device to the virtual machine. Currently the ubd - and network drivers support this. It takes one argument, which is the - device to add, with the same syntax as the kernel command line. - - - - - (mconsole) - config ubd3=/home/jdike/incoming/roots/root_fs_debian22 - - OK - (mconsole) config eth1=mcast - OK - - - - - - - 1100..44.. rreemmoovvee - - "remove" deletes a device from the system. Its argument is just the - name of the device to be removed. The device must be idle in whatever - sense the driver considers necessary. In the case of the ubd driver, - the removed block device must not be mounted, swapped on, or otherwise - open, and in the case of the network driver, the device must be down. - - - (mconsole) remove ubd3 - OK - (mconsole) remove eth1 - OK - - - - - - - 1100..55.. ssyyssrrqq - - This takes one argument, which is a single letter. It calls the - generic kernel's SysRq driver, which does whatever is called for by - that argument. See the SysRq documentation in Documentation/sysrq.txt - in your favorite kernel tree to see what letters are valid and what - they do. - - - - 1100..66.. hheellpp - - "help" returns a string listing the valid commands and what each one - does. - - - - 1100..77.. ccaadd - - This invokes the Ctl-Alt-Del action on init. What exactly this ends - up doing is up to /etc/inittab. Normally, it reboots the machine. - With UML, this is usually not desired, so if a halt would be better, - then find the section of inittab that looks like this - - - # What to do when CTRL-ALT-DEL is pressed. - ca:12345:ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t1 -a -r now - - - - - and change the command to halt. - - - - 1100..88.. ssttoopp - - This puts the UML in a loop reading mconsole requests until a 'go' - mconsole command is received. This is very useful for making backups - of UML filesystems, as the UML can be stopped, then synced via 'sysrq - s', so that everything is written to the filesystem. You can then copy - the filesystem and then send the UML 'go' via mconsole. - - - Note that a UML running with more than one CPU will have problems - after you send the 'stop' command, as only one CPU will be held in a - mconsole loop and all others will continue as normal. This is a bug, - and will be fixed. - - - - 1100..99.. ggoo - - This resumes a UML after being paused by a 'stop' command. Note that - when the UML has resumed, TCP connections may have timed out and if - the UML is paused for a long period of time, crond might go a little - crazy, running all the jobs it didn't do earlier. - - - - - - - - - 1111.. KKeerrnneell ddeebbuuggggiinngg - - - NNoottee:: The interface that makes debugging, as described here, possible - is present in 2.4.0-test6 kernels and later. - - - Since the user-mode kernel runs as a normal Linux process, it is - possible to debug it with gdb almost like any other process. It is - slightly different because the kernel's threads are already being - ptraced for system call interception, so gdb can't ptrace them. - However, a mechanism has been added to work around that problem. - - - In order to debug the kernel, you need build it from source. See - ``Compiling the kernel and modules'' for information on doing that. - Make sure that you enable CONFIG_DEBUGSYM and CONFIG_PT_PROXY during - the config. These will compile the kernel with -g, and enable the - ptrace proxy so that gdb works with UML, respectively. - - - - - 1111..11.. SSttaarrttiinngg tthhee kkeerrnneell uunnddeerr ggddbb - - You can have the kernel running under the control of gdb from the - beginning by putting 'debug' on the command line. You will get an - xterm with gdb running inside it. The kernel will send some commands - to gdb which will leave it stopped at the beginning of start_kernel. - At this point, you can get things going with 'next', 'step', or - 'cont'. - - - There is a transcript of a debugging session here <debug- - session.html> , with breakpoints being set in the scheduler and in an - interrupt handler. - 1111..22.. EExxaammiinniinngg sslleeeeppiinngg pprroocceesssseess - - Not every bug is evident in the currently running process. Sometimes, - processes hang in the kernel when they shouldn't because they've - deadlocked on a semaphore or something similar. In this case, when - you ^C gdb and get a backtrace, you will see the idle thread, which - isn't very relevant. - - - What you want is the stack of whatever process is sleeping when it - shouldn't be. You need to figure out which process that is, which is - generally fairly easy. Then you need to get its host process id, - which you can do either by looking at ps on the host or at - task.thread.extern_pid in gdb. - - - Now what you do is this: - - +o detach from the current thread - - - (UML gdb) det - - - - - - +o attach to the thread you are interested in - - - (UML gdb) att <host pid> - - - - - - +o look at its stack and anything else of interest - - - (UML gdb) bt - - - - - Note that you can't do anything at this point that requires that a - process execute, e.g. calling a function - - +o when you're done looking at that process, reattach to the current - thread and continue it - - - (UML gdb) - att 1 - - - - - - - (UML gdb) - c - - - - - Here, specifying any pid which is not the process id of a UML thread - will cause gdb to reattach to the current thread. I commonly use 1, - but any other invalid pid would work. - - - - 1111..33.. RRuunnnniinngg dddddd oonn UUMMLL - - ddd works on UML, but requires a special kludge. The process goes - like this: - - +o Start ddd - - - host% ddd linux - - - - - - +o With ps, get the pid of the gdb that ddd started. You can ask the - gdb to tell you, but for some reason that confuses things and - causes a hang. - - +o run UML with 'debug=parent gdb-pid=<pid>' added to the command line - - it will just sit there after you hit return - - +o type 'att 1' to the ddd gdb and you will see something like - - - 0xa013dc51 in __kill () - - - (gdb) - - - - - - +o At this point, type 'c', UML will boot up, and you can use ddd just - as you do on any other process. - - - - 1111..44.. DDeebbuuggggiinngg mmoodduulleess - - gdb has support for debugging code which is dynamically loaded into - the process. This support is what is needed to debug kernel modules - under UML. - - - Using that support is somewhat complicated. You have to tell gdb what - object file you just loaded into UML and where in memory it is. Then, - it can read the symbol table, and figure out where all the symbols are - from the load address that you provided. It gets more interesting - when you load the module again (i.e. after an rmmod). You have to - tell gdb to forget about all its symbols, including the main UML ones - for some reason, then load then all back in again. - - - There's an easy way and a hard way to do this. The easy way is to use - the umlgdb expect script written by Chandan Kudige. It basically - automates the process for you. - - - First, you must tell it where your modules are. There is a list in - the script that looks like this: - set MODULE_PATHS { - "fat" "/usr/src/uml/linux-2.4.18/fs/fat/fat.o" - "isofs" "/usr/src/uml/linux-2.4.18/fs/isofs/isofs.o" - "minix" "/usr/src/uml/linux-2.4.18/fs/minix/minix.o" - } - - - - - You change that to list the names and paths of the modules that you - are going to debug. Then you run it from the toplevel directory of - your UML pool and it basically tells you what to do: - - - - - ******** GDB pid is 21903 ******** - Start UML as: ./linux <kernel switches> debug gdb-pid=21903 - - - - GNU gdb 5.0rh-5 Red Hat Linux 7.1 - Copyright 2001 Free Software Foundation, Inc. - GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you are - welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions. - Type "show copying" to see the conditions. - There is absolutely no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for details. - This GDB was configured as "i386-redhat-linux"... - (gdb) b sys_init_module - Breakpoint 1 at 0xa0011923: file module.c, line 349. - (gdb) att 1 - - - - - After you run UML and it sits there doing nothing, you hit return at - the 'att 1' and continue it: - - - Attaching to program: /home/jdike/linux/2.4/um/./linux, process 1 - 0xa00f4221 in __kill () - (UML gdb) c - Continuing. - - - - - At this point, you debug normally. When you insmod something, the - expect magic will kick in and you'll see something like: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - *** Module hostfs loaded *** - Breakpoint 1, sys_init_module (name_user=0x805abb0 "hostfs", - mod_user=0x8070e00) at module.c:349 - 349 char *name, *n_name, *name_tmp = NULL; - (UML gdb) finish - Run till exit from #0 sys_init_module (name_user=0x805abb0 "hostfs", - mod_user=0x8070e00) at module.c:349 - 0xa00e2e23 in execute_syscall (r=0xa8140284) at syscall_kern.c:411 - 411 else res = EXECUTE_SYSCALL(syscall, regs); - Value returned is $1 = 0 - (UML gdb) - p/x (int)module_list + module_list->size_of_struct - - $2 = 0xa9021054 - (UML gdb) symbol-file ./linux - Load new symbol table from "./linux"? (y or n) y - Reading symbols from ./linux... - done. - (UML gdb) - add-symbol-file /home/jdike/linux/2.4/um/arch/um/fs/hostfs/hostfs.o 0xa9021054 - - add symbol table from file "/home/jdike/linux/2.4/um/arch/um/fs/hostfs/hostfs.o" at - .text_addr = 0xa9021054 - (y or n) y - - Reading symbols from /home/jdike/linux/2.4/um/arch/um/fs/hostfs/hostfs.o... - done. - (UML gdb) p *module_list - $1 = {size_of_struct = 84, next = 0xa0178720, name = 0xa9022de0 "hostfs", - size = 9016, uc = {usecount = {counter = 0}, pad = 0}, flags = 1, - nsyms = 57, ndeps = 0, syms = 0xa9023170, deps = 0x0, refs = 0x0, - init = 0xa90221f0 <init_hostfs>, cleanup = 0xa902222c <exit_hostfs>, - ex_table_start = 0x0, ex_table_end = 0x0, persist_start = 0x0, - persist_end = 0x0, can_unload = 0, runsize = 0, kallsyms_start = 0x0, - kallsyms_end = 0x0, - archdata_start = 0x1b855 <Address 0x1b855 out of bounds>, - archdata_end = 0xe5890000 <Address 0xe5890000 out of bounds>, - kernel_data = 0xf689c35d <Address 0xf689c35d out of bounds>} - >> Finished loading symbols for hostfs ... - - - - - That's the easy way. It's highly recommended. The hard way is - described below in case you're interested in what's going on. - - - Boot the kernel under the debugger and load the module with insmod or - modprobe. With gdb, do: - - - (UML gdb) p module_list - - - - - This is a list of modules that have been loaded into the kernel, with - the most recently loaded module first. Normally, the module you want - is at module_list. If it's not, walk down the next links, looking at - the name fields until find the module you want to debug. Take the - address of that structure, and add module.size_of_struct (which in - 2.4.10 kernels is 96 (0x60)) to it. Gdb can make this hard addition - for you :-): - - - - (UML gdb) - printf "%#x\n", (int)module_list module_list->size_of_struct - - - - - The offset from the module start occasionally changes (before 2.4.0, - it was module.size_of_struct + 4), so it's a good idea to check the - init and cleanup addresses once in a while, as describe below. Now - do: - - - (UML gdb) - add-symbol-file /path/to/module/on/host that_address - - - - - Tell gdb you really want to do it, and you're in business. - - - If there's any doubt that you got the offset right, like breakpoints - appear not to work, or they're appearing in the wrong place, you can - check it by looking at the module structure. The init and cleanup - fields should look like: - - - init = 0x588066b0 <init_hostfs>, cleanup = 0x588066c0 <exit_hostfs> - - - - - with no offsets on the symbol names. If the names are right, but they - are offset, then the offset tells you how much you need to add to the - address you gave to add-symbol-file. - - - When you want to load in a new version of the module, you need to get - gdb to forget about the old one. The only way I've found to do that - is to tell gdb to forget about all symbols that it knows about: - - - (UML gdb) symbol-file - - - - - Then reload the symbols from the kernel binary: - - - (UML gdb) symbol-file /path/to/kernel - - - - - and repeat the process above. You'll also need to re-enable break- - points. They were disabled when you dumped all the symbols because - gdb couldn't figure out where they should go. - - - - 1111..55.. AAttttaacchhiinngg ggddbb ttoo tthhee kkeerrnneell - - If you don't have the kernel running under gdb, you can attach gdb to - it later by sending the tracing thread a SIGUSR1. The first line of - the console output identifies its pid: - tracing thread pid = 20093 - - - - - When you send it the signal: - - - host% kill -USR1 20093 - - - - - you will get an xterm with gdb running in it. - - - If you have the mconsole compiled into UML, then the mconsole client - can be used to start gdb: - - - (mconsole) (mconsole) config gdb=xterm - - - - - will fire up an xterm with gdb running in it. - - - - 1111..66.. UUssiinngg aalltteerrnnaattee ddeebbuuggggeerrss - - UML has support for attaching to an already running debugger rather - than starting gdb itself. This is present in CVS as of 17 Apr 2001. - I sent it to Alan for inclusion in the ac tree, and it will be in my - 2.4.4 release. - - - This is useful when gdb is a subprocess of some UI, such as emacs or - ddd. It can also be used to run debuggers other than gdb on UML. - Below is an example of using strace as an alternate debugger. - - - To do this, you need to get the pid of the debugger and pass it in - with the - - - If you are using gdb under some UI, then tell it to 'att 1', and - you'll find yourself attached to UML. - - - If you are using something other than gdb as your debugger, then - you'll need to get it to do the equivalent of 'att 1' if it doesn't do - it automatically. - - - An example of an alternate debugger is strace. You can strace the - actual kernel as follows: - - +o Run the following in a shell - - - host% - sh -c 'echo pid=$$; echo -n hit return; read x; exec strace -p 1 -o strace.out' - - - - +o Run UML with 'debug' and 'gdb-pid=<pid>' with the pid printed out - by the previous command - - +o Hit return in the shell, and UML will start running, and strace - output will start accumulating in the output file. - - Note that this is different from running - - - host% strace ./linux - - - - - That will strace only the main UML thread, the tracing thread, which - doesn't do any of the actual kernel work. It just oversees the vir- - tual machine. In contrast, using strace as described above will show - you the low-level activity of the virtual machine. - - - - - - 1122.. KKeerrnneell ddeebbuuggggiinngg eexxaammpplleess - - 1122..11.. TThhee ccaassee ooff tthhee hhuunngg ffsscckk - - When booting up the kernel, fsck failed, and dropped me into a shell - to fix things up. I ran fsck -y, which hung: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Setting hostname uml [ OK ] - Checking root filesystem - /dev/fhd0 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced. - Error reading block 86894 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read) while reading indirect blocks of inode 19780. - - /dev/fhd0: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY. - (i.e., without -a or -p options) - [ FAILED ] - - *** An error occurred during the file system check. - *** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot - *** when you leave the shell. - Give root password for maintenance - (or type Control-D for normal startup): - - [root@uml /root]# fsck -y /dev/fhd0 - fsck -y /dev/fhd0 - Parallelizing fsck version 1.14 (9-Jan-1999) - e2fsck 1.14, 9-Jan-1999 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09 - /dev/fhd0 contains a file system with errors, check forced. - Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes - Error reading block 86894 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read) while reading indirect blocks of inode 19780. Ignore error? yes - - Inode 19780, i_blocks is 1548, should be 540. Fix? yes - - Pass 2: Checking directory structure - Error reading block 49405 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read). Ignore error? yes - - Directory inode 11858, block 0, offset 0: directory corrupted - Salvage? yes - - Missing '.' in directory inode 11858. - Fix? yes - - Missing '..' in directory inode 11858. - Fix? yes - - - - - - The standard drill in this sort of situation is to fire up gdb on the - signal thread, which, in this case, was pid 1935. In another window, - I run gdb and attach pid 1935. - - - - - ~/linux/2.3.26/um 1016: gdb linux - GNU gdb 4.17.0.11 with Linux support - Copyright 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc. - GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you are - welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions. - Type "show copying" to see the conditions. - There is absolutely no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for details. - This GDB was configured as "i386-redhat-linux"... - - (gdb) att 1935 - Attaching to program `/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/linux', Pid 1935 - 0x100756d9 in __wait4 () - - - - - - - Let's see what's currently running: - - - - (gdb) p current_task.pid - $1 = 0 - - - - - - It's the idle thread, which means that fsck went to sleep for some - reason and never woke up. - - - Let's guess that the last process in the process list is fsck: - - - - (gdb) p current_task.prev_task.comm - $13 = "fsck.ext2\000\000\000\000\000\000" - - - - - - It is, so let's see what it thinks it's up to: - - - - (gdb) p current_task.prev_task.thread - $14 = {extern_pid = 1980, tracing = 0, want_tracing = 0, forking = 0, - kernel_stack_page = 0, signal_stack = 1342627840, syscall = {id = 4, args = { - 3, 134973440, 1024, 0, 1024}, have_result = 0, result = 50590720}, - request = {op = 2, u = {exec = {ip = 1350467584, sp = 2952789424}, fork = { - regs = {1350467584, 2952789424, 0 <repeats 15 times>}, sigstack = 0, - pid = 0}, switch_to = 0x507e8000, thread = {proc = 0x507e8000, - arg = 0xaffffdb0, flags = 0, new_pid = 0}, input_request = { - op = 1350467584, fd = -1342177872, proc = 0, pid = 0}}}} - - - - - - The interesting things here are the fact that its .thread.syscall.id - is __NR_write (see the big switch in arch/um/kernel/syscall_kern.c or - the defines in include/asm-um/arch/unistd.h), and that it never - returned. Also, its .request.op is OP_SWITCH (see - arch/um/include/user_util.h). These mean that it went into a write, - and, for some reason, called schedule(). - - - The fact that it never returned from write means that its stack should - be fairly interesting. Its pid is 1980 (.thread.extern_pid). That - process is being ptraced by the signal thread, so it must be detached - before gdb can attach it: - - - - - - - - - - - (gdb) call detach(1980) - - Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault. - <function called from gdb> - The program being debugged stopped while in a function called from GDB. - When the function (detach) is done executing, GDB will silently - stop (instead of continuing to evaluate the expression containing - the function call). - (gdb) call detach(1980) - $15 = 0 - - - - - - The first detach segfaults for some reason, and the second one - succeeds. - - - Now I detach from the signal thread, attach to the fsck thread, and - look at its stack: - - - (gdb) det - Detaching from program: /home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/linux Pid 1935 - (gdb) att 1980 - Attaching to program `/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/linux', Pid 1980 - 0x10070451 in __kill () - (gdb) bt - #0 0x10070451 in __kill () - #1 0x10068ccd in usr1_pid (pid=1980) at process.c:30 - #2 0x1006a03f in _switch_to (prev=0x50072000, next=0x507e8000) - at process_kern.c:156 - #3 0x1006a052 in switch_to (prev=0x50072000, next=0x507e8000, last=0x50072000) - at process_kern.c:161 - #4 0x10001d12 in schedule () at sched.c:777 - #5 0x1006a744 in __down (sem=0x507d241c) at semaphore.c:71 - #6 0x1006aa10 in __down_failed () at semaphore.c:157 - #7 0x1006c5d8 in segv_handler (sc=0x5006e940) at trap_user.c:174 - #8 0x1006c5ec in kern_segv_handler (sig=11) at trap_user.c:182 - #9 <signal handler called> - #10 0x10155404 in errno () - #11 0x1006c0aa in segv (address=1342179328, is_write=2) at trap_kern.c:50 - #12 0x1006c5d8 in segv_handler (sc=0x5006eaf8) at trap_user.c:174 - #13 0x1006c5ec in kern_segv_handler (sig=11) at trap_user.c:182 - #14 <signal handler called> - #15 0xc0fd in ?? () - #16 0x10016647 in sys_write (fd=3, - buf=0x80b8800 <Address 0x80b8800 out of bounds>, count=1024) - at read_write.c:159 - #17 0x1006d5b3 in execute_syscall (syscall=4, args=0x5006ef08) - at syscall_kern.c:254 - #18 0x1006af87 in really_do_syscall (sig=12) at syscall_user.c:35 - #19 <signal handler called> - #20 0x400dc8b0 in ?? () - - - - - - The interesting things here are : - - +o There are two segfaults on this stack (frames 9 and 14) - - +o The first faulting address (frame 11) is 0x50000800 - - (gdb) p (void *)1342179328 - $16 = (void *) 0x50000800 - - - - - - The initial faulting address is interesting because it is on the idle - thread's stack. I had been seeing the idle thread segfault for no - apparent reason, and the cause looked like stack corruption. In hopes - of catching the culprit in the act, I had turned off all protections - to that stack while the idle thread wasn't running. This apparently - tripped that trap. - - - However, the more immediate problem is that second segfault and I'm - going to concentrate on that. First, I want to see where the fault - happened, so I have to go look at the sigcontent struct in frame 8: - - - - (gdb) up - #1 0x10068ccd in usr1_pid (pid=1980) at process.c:30 - 30 kill(pid, SIGUSR1); - (gdb) - #2 0x1006a03f in _switch_to (prev=0x50072000, next=0x507e8000) - at process_kern.c:156 - 156 usr1_pid(getpid()); - (gdb) - #3 0x1006a052 in switch_to (prev=0x50072000, next=0x507e8000, last=0x50072000) - at process_kern.c:161 - 161 _switch_to(prev, next); - (gdb) - #4 0x10001d12 in schedule () at sched.c:777 - 777 switch_to(prev, next, prev); - (gdb) - #5 0x1006a744 in __down (sem=0x507d241c) at semaphore.c:71 - 71 schedule(); - (gdb) - #6 0x1006aa10 in __down_failed () at semaphore.c:157 - 157 } - (gdb) - #7 0x1006c5d8 in segv_handler (sc=0x5006e940) at trap_user.c:174 - 174 segv(sc->cr2, sc->err & 2); - (gdb) - #8 0x1006c5ec in kern_segv_handler (sig=11) at trap_user.c:182 - 182 segv_handler(sc); - (gdb) p *sc - Cannot access memory at address 0x0. - - - - - That's not very useful, so I'll try a more manual method: - - - (gdb) p *((struct sigcontext *) (&sig + 1)) - $19 = {gs = 0, __gsh = 0, fs = 0, __fsh = 0, es = 43, __esh = 0, ds = 43, - __dsh = 0, edi = 1342179328, esi = 1350378548, ebp = 1342630440, - esp = 1342630420, ebx = 1348150624, edx = 1280, ecx = 0, eax = 0, - trapno = 14, err = 4, eip = 268480945, cs = 35, __csh = 0, eflags = 66118, - esp_at_signal = 1342630420, ss = 43, __ssh = 0, fpstate = 0x0, oldmask = 0, - cr2 = 1280} - - - - The ip is in handle_mm_fault: - - - (gdb) p (void *)268480945 - $20 = (void *) 0x1000b1b1 - (gdb) i sym $20 - handle_mm_fault + 57 in section .text - - - - - - Specifically, it's in pte_alloc: - - - (gdb) i line *$20 - Line 124 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/pgalloc.h" - starts at address 0x1000b1b1 <handle_mm_fault+57> - and ends at 0x1000b1b7 <handle_mm_fault+63>. - - - - - - To find where in handle_mm_fault this is, I'll jump forward in the - code until I see an address in that procedure: - - - - (gdb) i line *0x1000b1c0 - Line 126 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/pgalloc.h" - starts at address 0x1000b1b7 <handle_mm_fault+63> - and ends at 0x1000b1c3 <handle_mm_fault+75>. - (gdb) i line *0x1000b1d0 - Line 131 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/pgalloc.h" - starts at address 0x1000b1d0 <handle_mm_fault+88> - and ends at 0x1000b1da <handle_mm_fault+98>. - (gdb) i line *0x1000b1e0 - Line 61 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/pgalloc.h" - starts at address 0x1000b1da <handle_mm_fault+98> - and ends at 0x1000b1e1 <handle_mm_fault+105>. - (gdb) i line *0x1000b1f0 - Line 134 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/pgalloc.h" - starts at address 0x1000b1f0 <handle_mm_fault+120> - and ends at 0x1000b200 <handle_mm_fault+136>. - (gdb) i line *0x1000b200 - Line 135 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/pgalloc.h" - starts at address 0x1000b200 <handle_mm_fault+136> - and ends at 0x1000b208 <handle_mm_fault+144>. - (gdb) i line *0x1000b210 - Line 139 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/pgalloc.h" - starts at address 0x1000b210 <handle_mm_fault+152> - and ends at 0x1000b219 <handle_mm_fault+161>. - (gdb) i line *0x1000b220 - Line 1168 of "memory.c" starts at address 0x1000b21e <handle_mm_fault+166> - and ends at 0x1000b222 <handle_mm_fault+170>. - - - - - - Something is apparently wrong with the page tables or vma_structs, so - lets go back to frame 11 and have a look at them: - - - - #11 0x1006c0aa in segv (address=1342179328, is_write=2) at trap_kern.c:50 - 50 handle_mm_fault(current, vma, address, is_write); - (gdb) call pgd_offset_proc(vma->vm_mm, address) - $22 = (pgd_t *) 0x80a548c - - - - - - That's pretty bogus. Page tables aren't supposed to be in process - text or data areas. Let's see what's in the vma: - - - (gdb) p *vma - $23 = {vm_mm = 0x507d2434, vm_start = 0, vm_end = 134512640, - vm_next = 0x80a4f8c, vm_page_prot = {pgprot = 0}, vm_flags = 31200, - vm_avl_height = 2058, vm_avl_left = 0x80a8c94, vm_avl_right = 0x80d1000, - vm_next_share = 0xaffffdb0, vm_pprev_share = 0xaffffe63, - vm_ops = 0xaffffe7a, vm_pgoff = 2952789626, vm_file = 0xafffffec, - vm_private_data = 0x62} - (gdb) p *vma.vm_mm - $24 = {mmap = 0x507d2434, mmap_avl = 0x0, mmap_cache = 0x8048000, - pgd = 0x80a4f8c, mm_users = {counter = 0}, mm_count = {counter = 134904288}, - map_count = 134909076, mmap_sem = {count = {counter = 135073792}, - sleepers = -1342177872, wait = {lock = <optimized out or zero length>, - task_list = {next = 0xaffffe63, prev = 0xaffffe7a}, - __magic = -1342177670, __creator = -1342177300}, __magic = 98}, - page_table_lock = {}, context = 138, start_code = 0, end_code = 0, - start_data = 0, end_data = 0, start_brk = 0, brk = 0, start_stack = 0, - arg_start = 0, arg_end = 0, env_start = 0, env_end = 0, rss = 1350381536, - total_vm = 0, locked_vm = 0, def_flags = 0, cpu_vm_mask = 0, swap_cnt = 0, - swap_address = 0, segments = 0x0} - - - - - - This also pretty bogus. With all of the 0x80xxxxx and 0xaffffxxx - addresses, this is looking like a stack was plonked down on top of - these structures. Maybe it's a stack overflow from the next page: - - - - (gdb) p vma - $25 = (struct vm_area_struct *) 0x507d2434 - - - - - - That's towards the lower quarter of the page, so that would have to - have been pretty heavy stack overflow: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (gdb) x/100x $25 - 0x507d2434: 0x507d2434 0x00000000 0x08048000 0x080a4f8c - 0x507d2444: 0x00000000 0x080a79e0 0x080a8c94 0x080d1000 - 0x507d2454: 0xaffffdb0 0xaffffe63 0xaffffe7a 0xaffffe7a - 0x507d2464: 0xafffffec 0x00000062 0x0000008a 0x00000000 - 0x507d2474: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2484: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2494: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x507d2fe0 0x00000000 - 0x507d24a4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d24b4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d24c4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d24d4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d24e4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d24f4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2504: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2514: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2524: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2534: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x507d25dc 0x00000000 - 0x507d2544: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2554: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2564: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2574: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2584: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d2594: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d25a4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - 0x507d25b4: 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 - - - - - - It's not stack overflow. The only "stack-like" piece of this data is - the vma_struct itself. - - - At this point, I don't see any avenues to pursue, so I just have to - admit that I have no idea what's going on. What I will do, though, is - stick a trap on the segfault handler which will stop if it sees any - writes to the idle thread's stack. That was the thing that happened - first, and it may be that if I can catch it immediately, what's going - on will be somewhat clearer. - - - 1122..22.. EEppiissooddee 22:: TThhee ccaassee ooff tthhee hhuunngg ffsscckk - - After setting a trap in the SEGV handler for accesses to the signal - thread's stack, I reran the kernel. - - - fsck hung again, this time by hitting the trap: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Setting hostname uml [ OK ] - Checking root filesystem - /dev/fhd0 contains a file system with errors, check forced. - Error reading block 86894 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read) while reading indirect blocks of inode 19780. - - /dev/fhd0: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY; RUN fsck MANUALLY. - (i.e., without -a or -p options) - [ FAILED ] - - *** An error occurred during the file system check. - *** Dropping you to a shell; the system will reboot - *** when you leave the shell. - Give root password for maintenance - (or type Control-D for normal startup): - - [root@uml /root]# fsck -y /dev/fhd0 - fsck -y /dev/fhd0 - Parallelizing fsck version 1.14 (9-Jan-1999) - e2fsck 1.14, 9-Jan-1999 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09 - /dev/fhd0 contains a file system with errors, check forced. - Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes - Error reading block 86894 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read) while reading indirect blocks of inode 19780. Ignore error? yes - - Pass 2: Checking directory structure - Error reading block 49405 (Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read). Ignore error? yes - - Directory inode 11858, block 0, offset 0: directory corrupted - Salvage? yes - - Missing '.' in directory inode 11858. - Fix? yes - - Missing '..' in directory inode 11858. - Fix? yes - - Untested (4127) [100fe44c]: trap_kern.c line 31 - - - - - - I need to get the signal thread to detach from pid 4127 so that I can - attach to it with gdb. This is done by sending it a SIGUSR1, which is - caught by the signal thread, which detaches the process: - - - kill -USR1 4127 - - - - - - Now I can run gdb on it: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~/linux/2.3.26/um 1034: gdb linux - GNU gdb 4.17.0.11 with Linux support - Copyright 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc. - GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you are - welcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions. - Type "show copying" to see the conditions. - There is absolutely no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for details. - This GDB was configured as "i386-redhat-linux"... - (gdb) att 4127 - Attaching to program `/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/linux', Pid 4127 - 0x10075891 in __libc_nanosleep () - - - - - - The backtrace shows that it was in a write and that the fault address - (address in frame 3) is 0x50000800, which is right in the middle of - the signal thread's stack page: - - - (gdb) bt - #0 0x10075891 in __libc_nanosleep () - #1 0x1007584d in __sleep (seconds=1000000) - at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sleep.c:78 - #2 0x1006ce9a in stop () at user_util.c:191 - #3 0x1006bf88 in segv (address=1342179328, is_write=2) at trap_kern.c:31 - #4 0x1006c628 in segv_handler (sc=0x5006eaf8) at trap_user.c:174 - #5 0x1006c63c in kern_segv_handler (sig=11) at trap_user.c:182 - #6 <signal handler called> - #7 0xc0fd in ?? () - #8 0x10016647 in sys_write (fd=3, buf=0x80b8800 "R.", count=1024) - at read_write.c:159 - #9 0x1006d603 in execute_syscall (syscall=4, args=0x5006ef08) - at syscall_kern.c:254 - #10 0x1006af87 in really_do_syscall (sig=12) at syscall_user.c:35 - #11 <signal handler called> - #12 0x400dc8b0 in ?? () - #13 <signal handler called> - #14 0x400dc8b0 in ?? () - #15 0x80545fd in ?? () - #16 0x804daae in ?? () - #17 0x8054334 in ?? () - #18 0x804d23e in ?? () - #19 0x8049632 in ?? () - #20 0x80491d2 in ?? () - #21 0x80596b5 in ?? () - (gdb) p (void *)1342179328 - $3 = (void *) 0x50000800 - - - - - - Going up the stack to the segv_handler frame and looking at where in - the code the access happened shows that it happened near line 110 of - block_dev.c: - - - - - - - - - - (gdb) up - #1 0x1007584d in __sleep (seconds=1000000) - at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sleep.c:78 - ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sleep.c:78: No such file or directory. - (gdb) - #2 0x1006ce9a in stop () at user_util.c:191 - 191 while(1) sleep(1000000); - (gdb) - #3 0x1006bf88 in segv (address=1342179328, is_write=2) at trap_kern.c:31 - 31 KERN_UNTESTED(); - (gdb) - #4 0x1006c628 in segv_handler (sc=0x5006eaf8) at trap_user.c:174 - 174 segv(sc->cr2, sc->err & 2); - (gdb) p *sc - $1 = {gs = 0, __gsh = 0, fs = 0, __fsh = 0, es = 43, __esh = 0, ds = 43, - __dsh = 0, edi = 1342179328, esi = 134973440, ebp = 1342631484, - esp = 1342630864, ebx = 256, edx = 0, ecx = 256, eax = 1024, trapno = 14, - err = 6, eip = 268550834, cs = 35, __csh = 0, eflags = 66070, - esp_at_signal = 1342630864, ss = 43, __ssh = 0, fpstate = 0x0, oldmask = 0, - cr2 = 1342179328} - (gdb) p (void *)268550834 - $2 = (void *) 0x1001c2b2 - (gdb) i sym $2 - block_write + 1090 in section .text - (gdb) i line *$2 - Line 209 of "/home/dike/linux/2.3.26/um/include/asm/arch/string.h" - starts at address 0x1001c2a1 <block_write+1073> - and ends at 0x1001c2bf <block_write+1103>. - (gdb) i line *0x1001c2c0 - Line 110 of "block_dev.c" starts at address 0x1001c2bf <block_write+1103> - and ends at 0x1001c2e3 <block_write+1139>. - - - - - - Looking at the source shows that the fault happened during a call to - copy_to_user to copy the data into the kernel: - - - 107 count -= chars; - 108 copy_from_user(p,buf,chars); - 109 p += chars; - 110 buf += chars; - - - - - - p is the pointer which must contain 0x50000800, since buf contains - 0x80b8800 (frame 8 above). It is defined as: - - - p = offset + bh->b_data; - - - - - - I need to figure out what bh is, and it just so happens that bh is - passed as an argument to mark_buffer_uptodate and mark_buffer_dirty a - few lines later, so I do a little disassembly: - - - - - (gdb) disas 0x1001c2bf 0x1001c2e0 - Dump of assembler code from 0x1001c2bf to 0x1001c2d0: - 0x1001c2bf <block_write+1103>: addl %eax,0xc(%ebp) - 0x1001c2c2 <block_write+1106>: movl 0xfffffdd4(%ebp),%edx - 0x1001c2c8 <block_write+1112>: btsl $0x0,0x18(%edx) - 0x1001c2cd <block_write+1117>: btsl $0x1,0x18(%edx) - 0x1001c2d2 <block_write+1122>: sbbl %ecx,%ecx - 0x1001c2d4 <block_write+1124>: testl %ecx,%ecx - 0x1001c2d6 <block_write+1126>: jne 0x1001c2e3 <block_write+1139> - 0x1001c2d8 <block_write+1128>: pushl $0x0 - 0x1001c2da <block_write+1130>: pushl %edx - 0x1001c2db <block_write+1131>: call 0x1001819c <__mark_buffer_dirty> - End of assembler dump. - - - - - - At that point, bh is in %edx (address 0x1001c2da), which is calculated - at 0x1001c2c2 as %ebp + 0xfffffdd4, so I figure exactly what that is, - taking %ebp from the sigcontext_struct above: - - - (gdb) p (void *)1342631484 - $5 = (void *) 0x5006ee3c - (gdb) p 0x5006ee3c+0xfffffdd4 - $6 = 1342630928 - (gdb) p (void *)$6 - $7 = (void *) 0x5006ec10 - (gdb) p *((void **)$7) - $8 = (void *) 0x50100200 - - - - - - Now, I look at the structure to see what's in it, and particularly, - what its b_data field contains: - - - (gdb) p *((struct buffer_head *)0x50100200) - $13 = {b_next = 0x50289380, b_blocknr = 49405, b_size = 1024, b_list = 0, - b_dev = 15872, b_count = {counter = 1}, b_rdev = 15872, b_state = 24, - b_flushtime = 0, b_next_free = 0x501001a0, b_prev_free = 0x50100260, - b_this_page = 0x501001a0, b_reqnext = 0x0, b_pprev = 0x507fcf58, - b_data = 0x50000800 "", b_page = 0x50004000, - b_end_io = 0x10017f60 <end_buffer_io_sync>, b_dev_id = 0x0, - b_rsector = 98810, b_wait = {lock = <optimized out or zero length>, - task_list = {next = 0x50100248, prev = 0x50100248}, __magic = 1343226448, - __creator = 0}, b_kiobuf = 0x0} - - - - - - The b_data field is indeed 0x50000800, so the question becomes how - that happened. The rest of the structure looks fine, so this probably - is not a case of data corruption. It happened on purpose somehow. - - - The b_page field is a pointer to the page_struct representing the - 0x50000000 page. Looking at it shows the kernel's idea of the state - of that page: - - - - (gdb) p *$13.b_page - $17 = {list = {next = 0x50004a5c, prev = 0x100c5174}, mapping = 0x0, - index = 0, next_hash = 0x0, count = {counter = 1}, flags = 132, lru = { - next = 0x50008460, prev = 0x50019350}, wait = { - lock = <optimized out or zero length>, task_list = {next = 0x50004024, - prev = 0x50004024}, __magic = 1342193708, __creator = 0}, - pprev_hash = 0x0, buffers = 0x501002c0, virtual = 1342177280, - zone = 0x100c5160} - - - - - - Some sanity-checking: the virtual field shows the "virtual" address of - this page, which in this kernel is the same as its "physical" address, - and the page_struct itself should be mem_map[0], since it represents - the first page of memory: - - - - (gdb) p (void *)1342177280 - $18 = (void *) 0x50000000 - (gdb) p mem_map - $19 = (mem_map_t *) 0x50004000 - - - - - - These check out fine. - - - Now to check out the page_struct itself. In particular, the flags - field shows whether the page is considered free or not: - - - (gdb) p (void *)132 - $21 = (void *) 0x84 - - - - - - The "reserved" bit is the high bit, which is definitely not set, so - the kernel considers the signal stack page to be free and available to - be used. - - - At this point, I jump to conclusions and start looking at my early - boot code, because that's where that page is supposed to be reserved. - - - In my setup_arch procedure, I have the following code which looks just - fine: - - - - bootmap_size = init_bootmem(start_pfn, end_pfn - start_pfn); - free_bootmem(__pa(low_physmem) + bootmap_size, high_physmem - low_physmem); - - - - - - Two stack pages have already been allocated, and low_physmem points to - the third page, which is the beginning of free memory. - The init_bootmem call declares the entire memory to the boot memory - manager, which marks it all reserved. The free_bootmem call frees up - all of it, except for the first two pages. This looks correct to me. - - - So, I decide to see init_bootmem run and make sure that it is marking - those first two pages as reserved. I never get that far. - - - Stepping into init_bootmem, and looking at bootmem_map before looking - at what it contains shows the following: - - - - (gdb) p bootmem_map - $3 = (void *) 0x50000000 - - - - - - Aha! The light dawns. That first page is doing double duty as a - stack and as the boot memory map. The last thing that the boot memory - manager does is to free the pages used by its memory map, so this page - is getting freed even its marked as reserved. - - - The fix was to initialize the boot memory manager before allocating - those two stack pages, and then allocate them through the boot memory - manager. After doing this, and fixing a couple of subsequent buglets, - the stack corruption problem disappeared. - - - - - - 1133.. WWhhaatt ttoo ddoo wwhheenn UUMMLL ddooeessnn''tt wwoorrkk - - - - - 1133..11.. SSttrraannggee ccoommppiillaattiioonn eerrrroorrss wwhheenn yyoouu bbuuiilldd ffrroomm ssoouurrccee - - As of test11, it is necessary to have "ARCH=um" in the environment or - on the make command line for all steps in building UML, including - clean, distclean, or mrproper, config, menuconfig, or xconfig, dep, - and linux. If you forget for any of them, the i386 build seems to - contaminate the UML build. If this happens, start from scratch with - - - host% - make mrproper ARCH=um - - - - - and repeat the build process with ARCH=um on all the steps. - - - See ``Compiling the kernel and modules'' for more details. - - - Another cause of strange compilation errors is building UML in - /usr/src/linux. If you do this, the first thing you need to do is - clean up the mess you made. The /usr/src/linux/asm link will now - point to /usr/src/linux/asm-um. Make it point back to - /usr/src/linux/asm-i386. Then, move your UML pool someplace else and - build it there. Also see below, where a more specific set of symptoms - is described. - - - - 1133..33.. AA vvaarriieettyy ooff ppaanniiccss aanndd hhaannggss wwiitthh //ttmmpp oonn aa rreeiisseerrffss ffiilleessyyss-- - tteemm - - I saw this on reiserfs 3.5.21 and it seems to be fixed in 3.5.27. - Panics preceded by - - - Detaching pid nnnn - - - - are diagnostic of this problem. This is a reiserfs bug which causes a - thread to occasionally read stale data from a mmapped page shared with - another thread. The fix is to upgrade the filesystem or to have /tmp - be an ext2 filesystem. - - - - 1133..44.. TThhee ccoommppiillee ffaaiillss wwiitthh eerrrroorrss aabboouutt ccoonnfflliiccttiinngg ttyyppeess ffoorr - ''ooppeenn'',, ''dduupp'',, aanndd ''wwaaiittppiidd'' - - This happens when you build in /usr/src/linux. The UML build makes - the include/asm link point to include/asm-um. /usr/include/asm points - to /usr/src/linux/include/asm, so when that link gets moved, files - which need to include the asm-i386 versions of headers get the - incompatible asm-um versions. The fix is to move the include/asm link - back to include/asm-i386 and to do UML builds someplace else. - - - - 1133..55.. UUMMLL ddooeessnn''tt wwoorrkk wwhheenn //ttmmpp iiss aann NNFFSS ffiilleessyysstteemm - - This seems to be a similar situation with the ReiserFS problem above. - Some versions of NFS seems not to handle mmap correctly, which UML - depends on. The workaround is have /tmp be a non-NFS directory. - - - 1133..66.. UUMMLL hhaannggss oonn bboooott wwhheenn ccoommppiilleedd wwiitthh ggpprrooff ssuuppppoorrtt - - If you build UML with gprof support and, early in the boot, it does - this - - - kernel BUG at page_alloc.c:100! - - - - - you have a buggy gcc. You can work around the problem by removing - UM_FASTCALL from CFLAGS in arch/um/Makefile-i386. This will open up - another bug, but that one is fairly hard to reproduce. - - - - 1133..77.. ssyyssllooggdd ddiieess wwiitthh aa SSIIGGTTEERRMM oonn ssttaarrttuupp - - The exact boot error depends on the distribution that you're booting, - but Debian produces this: - - - /etc/rc2.d/S10sysklogd: line 49: 93 Terminated - start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /sbin/syslogd -- $SYSLOGD - - - - - This is a syslogd bug. There's a race between a parent process - installing a signal handler and its child sending the signal. See - this uml-devel post <http://www.geocrawler.com/lists/3/Source- - Forge/709/0/6612801> for the details. - - - - 1133..88.. TTUUNN//TTAAPP nneettwwoorrkkiinngg ddooeessnn''tt wwoorrkk oonn aa 22..44 hhoosstt - - There are a couple of problems which were - <http://www.geocrawler.com/lists/3/SourceForge/597/0/> name="pointed - out"> by Tim Robinson <timro at trkr dot net> - - +o It doesn't work on hosts running 2.4.7 (or thereabouts) or earlier. - The fix is to upgrade to something more recent and then read the - next item. - - +o If you see - - - File descriptor in bad state - - - - when you bring up the device inside UML, you have a header mismatch - between the original kernel and the upgraded one. Make /usr/src/linux - point at the new headers. This will only be a problem if you build - uml_net yourself. - - - - 1133..99.. YYoouu ccaann nneettwwoorrkk ttoo tthhee hhoosstt bbuutt nnoott ttoo ootthheerr mmaacchhiinneess oonn tthhee - nneett - - If you can connect to the host, and the host can connect to UML, but - you cannot connect to any other machines, then you may need to enable - IP Masquerading on the host. Usually this is only experienced when - using private IP addresses (192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x) for host/UML - networking, rather than the public address space that your host is - connected to. UML does not enable IP Masquerading, so you will need - to create a static rule to enable it: - - - host% - iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE - - - - - Replace eth0 with the interface that you use to talk to the rest of - the world. - - - Documentation on IP Masquerading, and SNAT, can be found at - www.netfilter.org <http://www.netfilter.org> . - - - If you can reach the local net, but not the outside Internet, then - that is usually a routing problem. The UML needs a default route: - - - UML# - route add default gw gateway IP - - - - - The gateway IP can be any machine on the local net that knows how to - reach the outside world. Usually, this is the host or the local net- - work's gateway. - - - Occasionally, we hear from someone who can reach some machines, but - not others on the same net, or who can reach some ports on other - machines, but not others. These are usually caused by strange - firewalling somewhere between the UML and the other box. You track - this down by running tcpdump on every interface the packets travel - over and see where they disappear. When you find a machine that takes - the packets in, but does not send them onward, that's the culprit. - - - - 1133..1100.. II hhaavvee nnoo rroooott aanndd II wwaanntt ttoo ssccrreeaamm - - Thanks to Birgit Wahlich for telling me about this strange one. It - turns out that there's a limit of six environment variables on the - kernel command line. When that limit is reached or exceeded, argument - processing stops, which means that the 'root=' argument that UML - usually adds is not seen. So, the filesystem has no idea what the - root device is, so it panics. - - - The fix is to put less stuff on the command line. Glomming all your - setup variables into one is probably the best way to go. - - - - 1133..1111.. UUMMLL bbuuiilldd ccoonnfflliicctt bbeettwweeeenn ppttrraaccee..hh aanndd uuccoonntteexxtt..hh - - On some older systems, /usr/include/asm/ptrace.h and - /usr/include/sys/ucontext.h define the same names. So, when they're - included together, the defines from one completely mess up the parsing - of the other, producing errors like: - /usr/include/sys/ucontext.h:47: parse error before - `10' - - - - - plus a pile of warnings. - - - This is a libc botch, which has since been fixed, and I don't see any - way around it besides upgrading. - - - - 1133..1122.. TThhee UUMMLL BBooggooMMiippss iiss eexxaaccttllyy hhaallff tthhee hhoosstt''ss BBooggooMMiippss - - On i386 kernels, there are two ways of running the loop that is used - to calculate the BogoMips rating, using the TSC if it's there or using - a one-instruction loop. The TSC produces twice the BogoMips as the - loop. UML uses the loop, since it has nothing resembling a TSC, and - will get almost exactly the same BogoMips as a host using the loop. - However, on a host with a TSC, its BogoMips will be double the loop - BogoMips, and therefore double the UML BogoMips. - - - - 1133..1133.. WWhheenn yyoouu rruunn UUMMLL,, iitt iimmmmeeddiiaatteellyy sseeggffaauullttss - - If the host is configured with the 2G/2G address space split, that's - why. See ``UML on 2G/2G hosts'' for the details on getting UML to - run on your host. - - - - 1133..1144.. xxtteerrmmss aappppeeaarr,, tthheenn iimmmmeeddiiaatteellyy ddiissaappppeeaarr - - If you're running an up to date kernel with an old release of - uml_utilities, the port-helper program will not work properly, so - xterms will exit straight after they appear. The solution is to - upgrade to the latest release of uml_utilities. Usually this problem - occurs when you have installed a packaged release of UML then compiled - your own development kernel without upgrading the uml_utilities from - the source distribution. - - - - 1133..1155.. AAnnyy ootthheerr ppaanniicc,, hhaanngg,, oorr ssttrraannggee bbeehhaavviioorr - - If you're seeing truly strange behavior, such as hangs or panics that - happen in random places, or you try running the debugger to see what's - happening and it acts strangely, then it could be a problem in the - host kernel. If you're not running a stock Linus or -ac kernel, then - try that. An early version of the preemption patch and a 2.4.10 SuSE - kernel have caused very strange problems in UML. - - - Otherwise, let me know about it. Send a message to one of the UML - mailing lists - either the developer list - user-mode-linux-devel at - lists dot sourceforge dot net (subscription info) or the user list - - user-mode-linux-user at lists dot sourceforge do net (subscription - info), whichever you prefer. Don't assume that everyone knows about - it and that a fix is imminent. - - - If you want to be super-helpful, read ``Diagnosing Problems'' and - follow the instructions contained therein. - 1144.. DDiiaaggnnoossiinngg PPrroobblleemmss - - - If you get UML to crash, hang, or otherwise misbehave, you should - report this on one of the project mailing lists, either the developer - list - user-mode-linux-devel at lists dot sourceforge dot net - (subscription info) or the user list - user-mode-linux-user at lists - dot sourceforge dot net (subscription info). When you do, it is - likely that I will want more information. So, it would be helpful to - read the stuff below, do whatever is applicable in your case, and - report the results to the list. - - - For any diagnosis, you're going to need to build a debugging kernel. - The binaries from this site aren't debuggable. If you haven't done - this before, read about ``Compiling the kernel and modules'' and - ``Kernel debugging'' UML first. - - - 1144..11.. CCaassee 11 :: NNoorrmmaall kkeerrnneell ppaanniiccss - - The most common case is for a normal thread to panic. To debug this, - you will need to run it under the debugger (add 'debug' to the command - line). An xterm will start up with gdb running inside it. Continue - it when it stops in start_kernel and make it crash. Now ^C gdb and - - - If the panic was a "Kernel mode fault", then there will be a segv - frame on the stack and I'm going to want some more information. The - stack might look something like this: - - - (UML gdb) backtrace - #0 0x1009bf76 in __sigprocmask (how=1, set=0x5f347940, oset=0x0) - at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/sigprocmask.c:49 - #1 0x10091411 in change_sig (signal=10, on=1) at process.c:218 - #2 0x10094785 in timer_handler (sig=26) at time_kern.c:32 - #3 0x1009bf38 in __restore () - at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/i386/sigaction.c:125 - #4 0x1009534c in segv (address=8, ip=268849158, is_write=2, is_user=0) - at trap_kern.c:66 - #5 0x10095c04 in segv_handler (sig=11) at trap_user.c:285 - #6 0x1009bf38 in __restore () - - - - - I'm going to want to see the symbol and line information for the value - of ip in the segv frame. In this case, you would do the following: - - - (UML gdb) i sym 268849158 - - - - - and - - - (UML gdb) i line *268849158 - - - - - The reason for this is the __restore frame right above the segv_han- - dler frame is hiding the frame that actually segfaulted. So, I have - to get that information from the faulting ip. - - - 1144..22.. CCaassee 22 :: TTrraacciinngg tthhrreeaadd ppaanniiccss - - The less common and more painful case is when the tracing thread - panics. In this case, the kernel debugger will be useless because it - needs a healthy tracing thread in order to work. The first thing to - do is get a backtrace from the tracing thread. This is done by - figuring out what its pid is, firing up gdb, and attaching it to that - pid. You can figure out the tracing thread pid by looking at the - first line of the console output, which will look like this: - - - tracing thread pid = 15851 - - - - - or by running ps on the host and finding the line that looks like - this: - - - jdike 15851 4.5 0.4 132568 1104 pts/0 S 21:34 0:05 ./linux [(tracing thread)] - - - - - If the panic was 'segfault in signals', then follow the instructions - above for collecting information about the location of the seg fault. - - - If the tracing thread flaked out all by itself, then send that - backtrace in and wait for our crack debugging team to fix the problem. - - - 1144..33.. CCaassee 33 :: TTrraacciinngg tthhrreeaadd ppaanniiccss ccaauusseedd bbyy ootthheerr tthhrreeaaddss - - However, there are cases where the misbehavior of another thread - caused the problem. The most common panic of this type is: - - - wait_for_stop failed to wait for <pid> to stop with <signal number> - - - - - In this case, you'll need to get a backtrace from the process men- - tioned in the panic, which is complicated by the fact that the kernel - debugger is defunct and without some fancy footwork, another gdb can't - attach to it. So, this is how the fancy footwork goes: - - In a shell: - - - host% kill -STOP pid - - - - - Run gdb on the tracing thread as described in case 2 and do: - - - (host gdb) call detach(pid) - - - If you get a segfault, do it again. It always works the second time. - - Detach from the tracing thread and attach to that other thread: - - - (host gdb) detach - - - - - - - (host gdb) attach pid - - - - - If gdb hangs when attaching to that process, go back to a shell and - do: - - - host% - kill -CONT pid - - - - - And then get the backtrace: - - - (host gdb) backtrace - - - - - - 1144..44.. CCaassee 44 :: HHaannggss - - Hangs seem to be fairly rare, but they sometimes happen. When a hang - happens, we need a backtrace from the offending process. Run the - kernel debugger as described in case 1 and get a backtrace. If the - current process is not the idle thread, then send in the backtrace. - You can tell that it's the idle thread if the stack looks like this: - - - #0 0x100b1401 in __libc_nanosleep () - #1 0x100a2885 in idle_sleep (secs=10) at time.c:122 - #2 0x100a546f in do_idle () at process_kern.c:445 - #3 0x100a5508 in cpu_idle () at process_kern.c:471 - #4 0x100ec18f in start_kernel () at init/main.c:592 - #5 0x100a3e10 in start_kernel_proc (unused=0x0) at um_arch.c:71 - #6 0x100a383f in signal_tramp (arg=0x100a3dd8) at trap_user.c:50 - - - - - If this is the case, then some other process is at fault, and went to - sleep when it shouldn't have. Run ps on the host and figure out which - process should not have gone to sleep and stayed asleep. Then attach - to it with gdb and get a backtrace as described in case 3. - - - - - - - 1155.. TThhaannkkss - - - A number of people have helped this project in various ways, and this - page gives recognition where recognition is due. - - - If you're listed here and you would prefer a real link on your name, - or no link at all, instead of the despammed email address pseudo-link, - let me know. - - - If you're not listed here and you think maybe you should be, please - let me know that as well. I try to get everyone, but sometimes my - bookkeeping lapses and I forget about contributions. - - - 1155..11.. CCooddee aanndd DDooccuummeennttaattiioonn - - Rusty Russell <rusty at linuxcare.com.au> - - - +o wrote the HOWTO <http://user-mode- - linux.sourceforge.net/UserModeLinux-HOWTO.html> - - +o prodded me into making this project official and putting it on - SourceForge - - +o came up with the way cool UML logo <http://user-mode- - linux.sourceforge.net/uml-small.png> - - +o redid the config process - - - Peter Moulder <reiter at netspace.net.au> - Fixed my config and build - processes, and added some useful code to the block driver - - - Bill Stearns <wstearns at pobox.com> - - - +o HOWTO updates - - +o lots of bug reports - - +o lots of testing - - +o dedicated a box (uml.ists.dartmouth.edu) to support UML development - - +o wrote the mkrootfs script, which allows bootable filesystems of - RPM-based distributions to be cranked out - - +o cranked out a large number of filesystems with said script - - - Jim Leu <jleu at mindspring.com> - Wrote the virtual ethernet driver - and associated usermode tools - - Lars Brinkhoff <http://lars.nocrew.org/> - Contributed the ptrace - proxy from his own project <http://a386.nocrew.org/> to allow easier - kernel debugging - - - Andrea Arcangeli <andrea at suse.de> - Redid some of the early boot - code so that it would work on machines with Large File Support - - - Chris Emerson <http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~cemerson/> - Did - the first UML port to Linux/ppc - - - Harald Welte <laforge at gnumonks.org> - Wrote the multicast - transport for the network driver - - - Jorgen Cederlof - Added special file support to hostfs - - - Greg Lonnon <glonnon at ridgerun dot com> - Changed the ubd driver - to allow it to layer a COW file on a shared read-only filesystem and - wrote the iomem emulation support - - - Henrik Nordstrom <http://hem.passagen.se/hno/> - Provided a variety - of patches, fixes, and clues - - - Lennert Buytenhek - Contributed various patches, a rewrite of the - network driver, the first implementation of the mconsole driver, and - did the bulk of the work needed to get SMP working again. - - - Yon Uriarte - Fixed the TUN/TAP network backend while I slept. - - - Adam Heath - Made a bunch of nice cleanups to the initialization code, - plus various other small patches. - - - Matt Zimmerman - Matt volunteered to be the UML Debian maintainer and - is doing a real nice job of it. He also noticed and fixed a number of - actually and potentially exploitable security holes in uml_net. Plus - the occasional patch. I like patches. - - - James McMechan - James seems to have taken over maintenance of the ubd - driver and is doing a nice job of it. - - - Chandan Kudige - wrote the umlgdb script which automates the reloading - of module symbols. - - - Steve Schmidtke - wrote the UML slirp transport and hostaudio drivers, - enabling UML processes to access audio devices on the host. He also - submitted patches for the slip transport and lots of other things. - - - David Coulson <http://davidcoulson.net> - - - +o Set up the usermodelinux.org <http://usermodelinux.org> site, - which is a great way of keeping the UML user community on top of - UML goings-on. - - +o Site documentation and updates - - +o Nifty little UML management daemon UMLd - <http://uml.openconsultancy.com/umld/> - - +o Lots of testing and bug reports - - - - - 1155..22.. FFlluusshhiinngg oouutt bbuuggss - - - - +o Yuri Pudgorodsky - - +o Gerald Britton - - +o Ian Wehrman - - +o Gord Lamb - - +o Eugene Koontz - - +o John H. Hartman - - +o Anders Karlsson - - +o Daniel Phillips - - +o John Fremlin - - +o Rainer Burgstaller - - +o James Stevenson - - +o Matt Clay - - +o Cliff Jefferies - - +o Geoff Hoff - - +o Lennert Buytenhek - - +o Al Viro - - +o Frank Klingenhoefer - - +o Livio Baldini Soares - - +o Jon Burgess - - +o Petru Paler - - +o Paul - - +o Chris Reahard - - +o Sverker Nilsson - - +o Gong Su - - +o johan verrept - - +o Bjorn Eriksson - - +o Lorenzo Allegrucci - - +o Muli Ben-Yehuda - - +o David Mansfield - - +o Howard Goff - - +o Mike Anderson - - +o John Byrne - - +o Sapan J. Batia - - +o Iris Huang - - +o Jan Hudec - - +o Voluspa - - - - - 1155..33.. BBuugglleettss aanndd cclleeaann--uuppss - - - - +o Dave Zarzycki - - +o Adam Lazur - - +o Boria Feigin - - +o Brian J. Murrell - - +o JS - - +o Roman Zippel - - +o Wil Cooley - - +o Ayelet Shemesh - - +o Will Dyson - - +o Sverker Nilsson - - +o dvorak - - +o v.naga srinivas - - +o Shlomi Fish - - +o Roger Binns - - +o johan verrept - - +o MrChuoi - - +o Peter Cleve - - +o Vincent Guffens - - +o Nathan Scott - - +o Patrick Caulfield - - +o jbearce - - +o Catalin Marinas - - +o Shane Spencer - - +o Zou Min - - - +o Ryan Boder - - +o Lorenzo Colitti - - +o Gwendal Grignou - - +o Andre' Breiler - - +o Tsutomu Yasuda - - - - 1155..44.. CCaassee SSttuuddiieess - - - +o Jon Wright - - +o William McEwan - - +o Michael Richardson - - - - 1155..55.. OOtthheerr ccoonnttrriibbuuttiioonnss - - - Bill Carr <Bill.Carr at compaq.com> made the Red Hat mkrootfs script - work with RH 6.2. - - Michael Jennings <mikejen at hevanet.com> sent in some material which - is now gracing the top of the index page <http://user-mode- - linux.sourceforge.net/> of this site. - - SGI <http://www.sgi.com> (and more specifically Ralf Baechle <ralf at - uni-koblenz.de> ) gave me an account on oss.sgi.com - <http://www.oss.sgi.com> . The bandwidth there made it possible to - produce most of the filesystems available on the project download - page. - - Laurent Bonnaud <Laurent.Bonnaud at inpg.fr> took the old grotty - Debian filesystem that I've been distributing and updated it to 2.2. - It is now available by itself here. - - Rik van Riel gave me some ftp space on ftp.nl.linux.org so I can make - releases even when Sourceforge is broken. - - Rodrigo de Castro looked at my broken pte code and told me what was - wrong with it, letting me fix a long-standing (several weeks) and - serious set of bugs. - - Chris Reahard built a specialized root filesystem for running a DNS - server jailed inside UML. It's available from the download - <http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/dl-sf.html> page in the Jail - Filesystems section. - - - - - - - - - - - - |