ftrace: create __mcount_loc section
This patch creates a section in the kernel called "__mcount_loc". This will hold a list of pointers to the mcount relocation for each call site of mcount. For example: objdump -dr init/main.o [...] Disassembly of section .text: 0000000000000000 <do_one_initcall>: 0: 55 push %rbp [...] 000000000000017b <init_post>: 17b: 55 push %rbp 17c: 48 89 e5 mov %rsp,%rbp 17f: 53 push %rbx 180: 48 83 ec 08 sub $0x8,%rsp 184: e8 00 00 00 00 callq 189 <init_post+0xe> 185: R_X86_64_PC32 mcount+0xfffffffffffffffc [...] We will add a section to point to each function call. .section __mcount_loc,"a",@progbits [...] .quad .text + 0x185 [...] The offset to of the mcount call site in init_post is an offset from the start of the section, and not the start of the function init_post. The mcount relocation is at the call site 0x185 from the start of the .text section. .text + 0x185 == init_post + 0xa We need a way to add this __mcount_loc section in a way that we do not lose the relocations after final link. The .text section here will be attached to all other .text sections after final link and the offsets will be meaningless. We need to keep track of where these .text sections are. To do this, we use the start of the first function in the section. do_one_initcall. We can make a tmp.s file with this function as a reference to the start of the .text section. .section __mcount_loc,"a",@progbits [...] .quad do_one_initcall + 0x185 [...] Then we can compile the tmp.s into a tmp.o gcc -c tmp.s -o tmp.o And link it into back into main.o. ld -r main.o tmp.o -o tmp_main.o mv tmp_main.o main.o But we have a problem. What happens if the first function in a section is not exported, and is a static function. The linker will not let the tmp.o use it. This case exists in main.o as well. Disassembly of section .init.text: 0000000000000000 <set_reset_devices>: 0: 55 push %rbp 1: 48 89 e5 mov %rsp,%rbp 4: e8 00 00 00 00 callq 9 <set_reset_devices+0x9> 5: R_X86_64_PC32 mcount+0xfffffffffffffffc The first function in .init.text is a static function. 00000000000000a8 t __setup_set_reset_devices 000000000000105f t __setup_str_set_reset_devices 0000000000000000 t set_reset_devices The lowercase 't' means that set_reset_devices is local and is not exported. If we simply try to link the tmp.o with the set_reset_devices we end up with two symbols: one local and one global. .section __mcount_loc,"a",@progbits .quad set_reset_devices + 0x10 00000000000000a8 t __setup_set_reset_devices 000000000000105f t __setup_str_set_reset_devices 0000000000000000 t set_reset_devices U set_reset_devices We still have an undefined reference to set_reset_devices, and if we try to compile the kernel, we will end up with an undefined reference to set_reset_devices, or even worst, it could be exported someplace else, and then we will have a reference to the wrong location. To handle this case, we make an intermediate step using objcopy. We convert set_reset_devices into a global exported symbol before linking it with tmp.o and set it back afterwards. 00000000000000a8 t __setup_set_reset_devices 000000000000105f t __setup_str_set_reset_devices 0000000000000000 T set_reset_devices 00000000000000a8 t __setup_set_reset_devices 000000000000105f t __setup_str_set_reset_devices 0000000000000000 T set_reset_devices 00000000000000a8 t __setup_set_reset_devices 000000000000105f t __setup_str_set_reset_devices 0000000000000000 t set_reset_devices Now we have a section in main.o called __mcount_loc that we can place somewhere in the kernel using vmlinux.ld.S and access it to convert all these locations that call mcount into nops before starting SMP and thus, eliminating the need to do this with kstop_machine. Note, A well documented perl script (scripts/recordmcount.pl) is used to do all this in one location. Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <srostedt@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
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