[RFC PATCH 0/2] Add support for multiple versions to KHO

Logan Odell <[email protected]> Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:52:20 -0700
Newsgroups org.infradead.lists.kexec,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel,org.kvack.linux-mm
Message-ID <[email protected]>
The format of the preserved-data blob that LUO saves to KHO is expected
to change as new features are added, bugs are fixed, etc. Currently,
LUO handles this by embedding a compatibility string into struct luo_ser
which can be used to compare two kernels. This works if the changes
between kernels are fundamentally incompatible. In a case where a new
feature is added, we may want to support both versions in the new
kernel to retain compatibility.

This series adds a KHO interface to embed multiple versions under a
single node in a subtree.=20

We go from something like:

       / (Root Node)
       =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 LUO (Legacy Parent Node)
           =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 preserved-data =3D <0xphys_luo>
           =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 blob-size =3D <0xsize_luo>

To something like this:

       / (Root Node)
       =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 LUO (Versioned Parent Node)
           =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 1 (Version 1 Node)
           =E2=94=82   =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 preserved-data =3D <0xph=
ys_luo_v1>
           =E2=94=82   =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 blob-size =3D <0xsize_lu=
o_v1>
           =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 2 (Version 2 Node)
               =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 preserved-data =3D <0xphys_luo_v=
2>
               =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 blob-size =3D <0xsize_luo_v2>

We can also support mixed mode, allowing backwards compatibility in case
of a roll-back to a pre-multi version kernel:

       / (Root Node)
       =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 LUO (Versioned Parent Node)
           =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 preserved-data =3D <0xphys_luo>
           =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 blob-size =3D <0xphys_luo>
           =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 1 (Version 1 Node)
           =E2=94=82   =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 preserved-data =3D <0xph=
ys_luo_v1>
           =E2=94=82   =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 blob-size =3D <0xsize_lu=
o_v1>
           =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 2 (Version 2 Node)
               =E2=94=9C=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 preserved-data =3D <0xphys_luo_v=
2>
               =E2=94=94=E2=94=80=E2=94=80 blob-size =3D <0xsize_luo_v2>

The first patch moves some common functionality for preserving a node
into a separate function. The second patch adds our new APIs. The third
patch adds support for multiple versions to the debugfs entries. The
forth patch adds new test cases to test_kho.

Logan Odell (4):
  kho: Move subtree blob logic to separate function
  kho: Add support for multiple versions in subtrees
  kho: Add support for multiple versions to debugfs
  kho: Add test cases for versioned subtrees

 include/linux/kexec_handover.h             |  14 ++
 include/linux/kho/abi/kexec_handover.h     |  16 ++
 kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c         | 234 +++++++++++++++++-
 kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover_debugfs.c |  57 ++++-
 lib/test_kho.c                             | 266 +++++++++++++++++++--
 5 files changed, 540 insertions(+), 47 deletions(-)

--=20
2.55.0.508.g3f0d502094-goog