[PATCH v7 10/29] dyndbg.lds.S: fix lost dyndbg sections in modules

Jim Cromie <[email protected]> Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:56:59 -0600
Newsgroups org.kernel.vger.linux-modules,org.freedesktop.lists.dri-devel,org.kernel.vger.linux-arch,org.kernel.vger.linux-doc,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel,org.kernel.vger.linux-kselftest
Message-ID <[email protected]>
With CONFIG_DRM_USE_DYNAMIC_DEBUG=y, several build configs had
problems with __dyndbg* sections getting lost in drm drivers.  Fix
this by following the model demonstrated in codetag.lds.h.

Introduce include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h, to bundle dynamic-debug's
multiple sections together, into 2 macros:

vmlinux.lds.h DATA_DATA: move the 2 BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg*)
calls into dyndbg.lds.h DYNDBG_SECTIONS(). vmlinux.lds.h now includes
the new file and calls the new macro.

MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS keeps the 2 sections by name, aligns them and sets
the output address to 0 when the sections are empty.

dyndbg.lds.h includes (reuses) bounded-section.lds.h

scripts/module.lds.S: now calls MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS right before the
CODETAG macro (consistent with their placements in vmlinux.lds.h), and
also includes dyndbg.lds.h

This isolates vmlinux.lds.h from further __dyndbg section additions.

CC: Arnd Bergmann <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Jim Cromie <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Petr Pavlu <[email protected]>
---
v3: move #includes to top, drop extra ALIGN(8) in DYNDBG_SECTIONS, add RvBy

v2: Address linker script review feedback for relocatable modules.

MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS() used the BOUNDED_SECTION_BY() macro, which
proved problematic for kernel modules for two reasons:

1. Unwanted Empty Sections:
   BOUNDED_SECTION_BY() automatically generates `__start` and `__stop`
   symbols. When applied to `MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS()`, the linker assumes
   the sections are populated due to the symbol definitions, forcing an
   empty `__dyndbg` and `__dyndbg_classes` output section in every
   compiled module, even those without dynamic debug configuration.
   Since the module loader uses `section_objs()` to locate data via
   ELF headers instead of relying on `__start`/`__stop` symbols, these
   assignments are completely unnecessary.

2. Non-zero Output Addresses:
   During relocatable linking (e.g., `ld.bfd -r`), omitting an explicit
   base address causes the section to inherit the current location
   counter. This results in non-zero sh_addr values in `.ko` files,
   which is confusing, degrades compressibility, and can cause issues
   with external tools parsing the ELF.

Fix both issues by dropping `BOUNDED_SECTION_BY()` in favor of a simple
`KEEP(*(...))` constraint and explicitly defining the sections with a `0`
base address: `__dyndbg 0 : ALIGN(8) { ... }`.

fixup-inc-vml
---
 MAINTAINERS                       |  1 +
 include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h  | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h |  6 ++----
 scripts/module.lds.S              |  2 ++
 4 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index dd6e351d2a98..ac050552923e 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -9179,6 +9179,7 @@ DYNAMIC DEBUG
 M:	Jason Baron <[email protected]>
 M:	Jim Cromie <[email protected]>
 S:	Maintained
+F:	include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h
 F:	include/linux/dynamic_debug.h
 F:	lib/dynamic_debug.c
 F:	lib/test_dynamic_debug.c
diff --git a/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h b/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9d8951bef688
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only */
+#ifndef __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H
+#define __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H
+
+#include <asm-generic/bounded_sections.lds.h>
+#define DYNDBG_SECTIONS()					\
+	BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg, ___dyndbg)			\
+	BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg_classes, ___dyndbg_classes)
+
+#define MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS()						\
+	__dyndbg 0 : ALIGN(8) {						\
+		KEEP(*(__dyndbg))					\
+	}								\
+	__dyndbg_classes 0 : ALIGN(8) {					\
+		KEEP(*(__dyndbg_classes))				\
+	}
+
+#endif /* __ASM_GENERIC_DYNDBG_LDS_H */
diff --git a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
index 3758a79d0430..bd60f278f762 100644
--- a/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
+++ b/include/asm-generic/vmlinux.lds.h
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 
 #include <asm-generic/bounded_sections.lds.h>
 #include <asm-generic/codetag.lds.h>
+#include <asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h>
 
 #ifndef LOAD_OFFSET
 #define LOAD_OFFSET 0
@@ -344,10 +345,7 @@
 	*(.data..do_once)						\
 	STRUCT_ALIGN();							\
 	*(__tracepoints)						\
-	/* implement dynamic printk debug */				\
-	. = ALIGN(8);							\
-	BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg_classes, ___dyndbg_classes)		\
-	BOUNDED_SECTION_BY(__dyndbg, ___dyndbg)				\
+	DYNDBG_SECTIONS()						\
 	CODETAG_SECTIONS()						\
 	LIKELY_PROFILE()		       				\
 	BRANCH_PROFILE()						\
diff --git a/scripts/module.lds.S b/scripts/module.lds.S
index b62683061d79..2e62dc5bd5d4 100644
--- a/scripts/module.lds.S
+++ b/scripts/module.lds.S
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <asm-generic/codetag.lds.h>
+#include <asm-generic/dyndbg.lds.h>
 
 SECTIONS {
 	/DISCARD/ : {
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ SECTIONS {
 		*(.rodata..L*)
 	}
 
+	MOD_DYNDBG_SECTIONS()
 	MOD_SEPARATE_CODETAG_SECTIONS()
 }
 

-- 
2.55.0