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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/DocBook/Makefile | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/DocBook/debugobjects.tmpl | 391 |
2 files changed, 392 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile b/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile index 83966e94cc32..0eb0d027eb32 100644 --- a/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile +++ b/Documentation/DocBook/Makefile @@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ DOCBOOKS := wanbook.xml z8530book.xml mcabook.xml videobook.xml \ kernel-api.xml filesystems.xml lsm.xml usb.xml kgdb.xml \ gadget.xml libata.xml mtdnand.xml librs.xml rapidio.xml \ genericirq.xml s390-drivers.xml uio-howto.xml scsi.xml \ - mac80211.xml + mac80211.xml debugobjects.xml ### # The build process is as follows (targets): diff --git a/Documentation/DocBook/debugobjects.tmpl b/Documentation/DocBook/debugobjects.tmpl new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..7f5f218015fe --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/DocBook/debugobjects.tmpl @@ -0,0 +1,391 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN" + "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd" []> + +<book id="debug-objects-guide"> + <bookinfo> + <title>Debug objects life time</title> + + <authorgroup> + <author> + <firstname>Thomas</firstname> + <surname>Gleixner</surname> + <affiliation> + <address> + <email>tglx@linutronix.de</email> + </address> + </affiliation> + </author> + </authorgroup> + + <copyright> + <year>2008</year> + <holder>Thomas Gleixner</holder> + </copyright> + + <legalnotice> + <para> + This documentation is free software; you can redistribute + it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public + License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation. + </para> + + <para> + This program is distributed in the hope that it will be + useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied + warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + See the GNU General Public License for more details. + </para> + + <para> + You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public + License along with this program; if not, write to the Free + Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, + MA 02111-1307 USA + </para> + + <para> + For more details see the file COPYING in the source + distribution of Linux. + </para> + </legalnotice> + </bookinfo> + +<toc></toc> + + <chapter id="intro"> + <title>Introduction</title> + <para> + debugobjects is a generic infrastructure to track the life time + of kernel objects and validate the operations on those. + </para> + <para> + debugobjects is useful to check for the following error patterns: + <itemizedlist> + <listitem><para>Activation of uninitialized objects</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>Initialization of active objects</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>Usage of freed/destroyed objects</para></listitem> + </itemizedlist> + </para> + <para> + debugobjects is not changing the data structure of the real + object so it can be compiled in with a minimal runtime impact + and enabled on demand with a kernel command line option. + </para> + </chapter> + + <chapter id="howto"> + <title>Howto use debugobjects</title> + <para> + A kernel subsystem needs to provide a data structure which + describes the object type and add calls into the debug code at + appropriate places. The data structure to describe the object + type needs at minimum the name of the object type. Optional + functions can and should be provided to fixup detected problems + so the kernel can continue to work and the debug information can + be retrieved from a live system instead of hard core debugging + with serial consoles and stack trace transcripts from the + monitor. + </para> + <para> + The debug calls provided by debugobjects are: + <itemizedlist> + <listitem><para>debug_object_init</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>debug_object_init_on_stack</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>debug_object_activate</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>debug_object_deactivate</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>debug_object_destroy</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>debug_object_free</para></listitem> + </itemizedlist> + Each of these functions takes the address of the real object and + a pointer to the object type specific debug description + structure. + </para> + <para> + Each detected error is reported in the statistics and a limited + number of errors are printk'ed including a full stack trace. + </para> + <para> + The statistics are available via debugfs/debug_objects/stats. + They provide information about the number of warnings and the + number of successful fixups along with information about the + usage of the internal tracking objects and the state of the + internal tracking objects pool. + </para> + </chapter> + <chapter id="debugfunctions"> + <title>Debug functions</title> + <sect1 id="prototypes"> + <title>Debug object function reference</title> +!Elib/debugobjects.c + </sect1> + <sect1 id="debug_object_init"> + <title>debug_object_init</title> + <para> + This function is called whenever the initialization function + of a real object is called. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is already tracked by debugobjects it is + checked, whether the object can be initialized. Initializing + is not allowed for active and destroyed objects. When + debugobjects detects an error, then it calls the fixup_init + function of the object type description structure if provided + by the caller. The fixup function can correct the problem + before the real initialization of the object happens. E.g. it + can deactivate an active object in order to prevent damage to + the subsystem. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is not yet tracked by debugobjects, + debugobjects allocates a tracker object for the real object + and sets the tracker object state to ODEBUG_STATE_INIT. It + verifies that the object is not on the callers stack. If it is + on the callers stack then a limited number of warnings + including a full stack trace is printk'ed. The calling code + must use debug_object_init_on_stack() and remove the object + before leaving the function which allocated it. See next + section. + </para> + </sect1> + + <sect1 id="debug_object_init_on_stack"> + <title>debug_object_init_on_stack</title> + <para> + This function is called whenever the initialization function + of a real object which resides on the stack is called. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is already tracked by debugobjects it is + checked, whether the object can be initialized. Initializing + is not allowed for active and destroyed objects. When + debugobjects detects an error, then it calls the fixup_init + function of the object type description structure if provided + by the caller. The fixup function can correct the problem + before the real initialization of the object happens. E.g. it + can deactivate an active object in order to prevent damage to + the subsystem. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is not yet tracked by debugobjects + debugobjects allocates a tracker object for the real object + and sets the tracker object state to ODEBUG_STATE_INIT. It + verifies that the object is on the callers stack. + </para> + <para> + An object which is on the stack must be removed from the + tracker by calling debug_object_free() before the function + which allocates the object returns. Otherwise we keep track of + stale objects. + </para> + </sect1> + + <sect1 id="debug_object_activate"> + <title>debug_object_activate</title> + <para> + This function is called whenever the activation function of a + real object is called. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is already tracked by debugobjects it is + checked, whether the object can be activated. Activating is + not allowed for active and destroyed objects. When + debugobjects detects an error, then it calls the + fixup_activate function of the object type description + structure if provided by the caller. The fixup function can + correct the problem before the real activation of the object + happens. E.g. it can deactivate an active object in order to + prevent damage to the subsystem. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is not yet tracked by debugobjects then + the fixup_activate function is called if available. This is + necessary to allow the legitimate activation of statically + allocated and initialized objects. The fixup function checks + whether the object is valid and calls the debug_objects_init() + function to initialize the tracking of this object. + </para> + <para> + When the activation is legitimate, then the state of the + associated tracker object is set to ODEBUG_STATE_ACTIVE. + </para> + </sect1> + + <sect1 id="debug_object_deactivate"> + <title>debug_object_deactivate</title> + <para> + This function is called whenever the deactivation function of + a real object is called. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is tracked by debugobjects it is checked, + whether the object can be deactivated. Deactivating is not + allowed for untracked or destroyed objects. + </para> + <para> + When the deactivation is legitimate, then the state of the + associated tracker object is set to ODEBUG_STATE_INACTIVE. + </para> + </sect1> + + <sect1 id="debug_object_destroy"> + <title>debug_object_destroy</title> + <para> + This function is called to mark an object destroyed. This is + useful to prevent the usage of invalid objects, which are + still available in memory: either statically allocated objects + or objects which are freed later. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is tracked by debugobjects it is checked, + whether the object can be destroyed. Destruction is not + allowed for active and destroyed objects. When debugobjects + detects an error, then it calls the fixup_destroy function of + the object type description structure if provided by the + caller. The fixup function can correct the problem before the + real destruction of the object happens. E.g. it can deactivate + an active object in order to prevent damage to the subsystem. + </para> + <para> + When the destruction is legitimate, then the state of the + associated tracker object is set to ODEBUG_STATE_DESTROYED. + </para> + </sect1> + + <sect1 id="debug_object_free"> + <title>debug_object_free</title> + <para> + This function is called before an object is freed. + </para> + <para> + When the real object is tracked by debugobjects it is checked, + whether the object can be freed. Free is not allowed for + active objects. When debugobjects detects an error, then it + calls the fixup_free function of the object type description + structure if provided by the caller. The fixup function can + correct the problem before the real free of the object + happens. E.g. it can deactivate an active object in order to + prevent damage to the subsystem. + </para> + <para> + Note that debug_object_free removes the object from the + tracker. Later usage of the object is detected by the other + debug checks. + </para> + </sect1> + </chapter> + <chapter id="fixupfunctions"> + <title>Fixup functions</title> + <sect1 id="debug_obj_descr"> + <title>Debug object type description structure</title> +!Iinclude/linux/debugobjects.h + </sect1> + <sect1 id="fixup_init"> + <title>fixup_init</title> + <para> + This function is called from the debug code whenever a problem + in debug_object_init is detected. The function takes the + address of the object and the state which is currently + recorded in the tracker. + </para> + <para> + Called from debug_object_init when the object state is: + <itemizedlist> + <listitem><para>ODEBUG_STATE_ACTIVE</para></listitem> + </itemizedlist> + </para> + <para> + The function returns 1 when the fixup was successful, + otherwise 0. The return value is used to update the + statistics. + </para> + <para> + Note, that the function needs to call the debug_object_init() + function again, after the damage has been repaired in order to + keep the state consistent. + </para> + </sect1> + + <sect1 id="fixup_activate"> + <title>fixup_activate</title> + <para> + This function is called from the debug code whenever a problem + in debug_object_activate is detected. + </para> + <para> + Called from debug_object_activate when the object state is: + <itemizedlist> + <listitem><para>ODEBUG_STATE_NOTAVAILABLE</para></listitem> + <listitem><para>ODEBUG_STATE_ACTIVE</para></listitem> + </itemizedlist> + </para> + <para> + The function returns 1 when the fixup was successful, + otherwise 0. The return value is used to update the + statistics. + </para> + <para> + Note that the function needs to call the debug_object_activate() + function again after the damage has been repaired in order to + keep the state consistent. + </para> + <para> + The activation of statically initialized objects is a special + case. When debug_object_activate() has no tracked object for + this object address then fixup_activate() is called with + object state ODEBUG_STATE_NOTAVAILABLE. The fixup function + needs to check whether this is a legitimate case of a + statically initialized object or not. In case it is it calls + debug_object_init() and debug_object_activate() to make the + object known to the tracker and marked active. In this case + the function should return 0 because this is not a real fixup. + </para> + </sect1> + + <sect1 id="fixup_destroy"> + <title>fixup_destroy</title> + <para> + This function is called from the debug code whenever a problem + in debug_object_destroy is detected. + </para> + <para> + Called from debug_object_destroy when the object state is: + <itemizedlist> + <listitem><para>ODEBUG_STATE_ACTIVE</para></listitem> + </itemizedlist> + </para> + <para> + The function returns 1 when the fixup was successful, + otherwise 0. The return value is used to update the + statistics. + </para> + </sect1> + <sect1 id="fixup_free"> + <title>fixup_free</title> + <para> + This function is called from the debug code whenever a problem + in debug_object_free is detected. Further it can be called + from the debug checks in kfree/vfree, when an active object is + detected from the debug_check_no_obj_freed() sanity checks. + </para> + <para> + Called from debug_object_free() or debug_check_no_obj_freed() + when the object state is: + <itemizedlist> + <listitem><para>ODEBUG_STATE_ACTIVE</para></listitem> + </itemizedlist> + </para> + <para> + The function returns 1 when the fixup was successful, + otherwise 0. The return value is used to update the + statistics. + </para> + </sect1> + </chapter> + <chapter id="bugs"> + <title>Known Bugs And Assumptions</title> + <para> + None (knock on wood). + </para> + </chapter> +</book> |