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Linus Torvalds b1e00ffaf9 tracing fixes for v7.3:
- Fix several tracefs files that did not take the trace_array reference
 
   A trace instance can be created and destroyed in the tracefs "instances"
   directory via mkdir and rmdir respectively. The instance is represented by
   a trace_array descriptor. Most tracefs files pass the trace_array as the
   private data of the inode to the open/read/write functions. Since there is
   no locking between the time a task opens a file and the deletion of the
   instance (and the freeing of the trace_array), each open needs to get a
   reference to the trace_array and each close must remove it. A instance
   can't be removed if there's any reference taken on its trace_array. The
   open function uses trace_array_get() that takes a lock (preventing removal
   of instances) and iterates the list of all existing trace_arrays and if it
   finds a match, it takes the reference and releases the lock. If it doesn't
   find a match, it causes the open to return -ENODEV.
 
   There were some added files that did not take the trace_array reference
   on open that needed to be fixed. Sashiko also correctly pointed out that
   there were some files that took an address of an field or element of the
   trace_array which had a pointer back to the trace_array to take its
   reference on open. But this leaves a slight race between referencing this
   element to get the trace_array as the element itself could be freed. To
   solve this, some helper functions were created to look for trace_arrays
   with this field or element in the search so that the element did not have
   to be dereferenced before the trace_array's reference was taken.
 
 - Add a lock around ftrace_ops initialization
 
   When a ftrace_ops is first used by ftrace, some internal initialization is
   performed on the ops. But if multiple tasks were calling functions that
   did this initialization, it could race and perform doing the
   initialization more than once, corrupting the internal data. Add a lock in
   the initialization code to prevent this from happening.
 
 - Fix splice reads on mmapped buffers
 
   The logic in the ring buffer splice code for mmapped buffers is supposed
   to do a copy of the memory as the mapped buffers can't be given to splice.
   But there was an if statement within the copy code that would return a -1
   if a request for a full page was done and it wasn't a partial read. This
   is because this logic was written before mmapped buffers existed and this
   case didn't make sense at the time. For mmapped buffers it makes perfect
   sense and by returning early can drop a lot of pages unnecessarily.
 
 - Have the persistent ring buffer validation check nr_subbufs
 
   Sashiko reported that the validation code was relying on the saved
   nr_subbufs to match the calculated nr_pages + 1 and if they were off, that
   the code could cause corruption. Sashiko is correct, and the saved
   nr_subbufs should be validated before assuming it is correct.
 
 - Do not allow more than one instance with the same name on cmdline
 
   If an admin were to add more than one trace instances with the same name
   they all would be created, but only the first one would be accessible via
   tracefs. This used to not be allowed but some restructuring of code has
   since made it possible.
 
 - Fix the race between subbuf resize and trace_pipe_raw readers
 
   If a task was reading trace_pipe_raw while another task was changing the
   ring buffer subbuf size, it could crash the reader. The trace_pipe_raw
   readers do get their own copy of the page from the buffer, but the code
   needs some restructuring to not have the resize of the subbuffers cause
   issues.
 
 - Cap the size of the mapped (static) ring buffer nr_pages
 
   The meta data used for ring buffer mapped buffers is 32 bit in size. A
   normal ring buffer could (in theory) have more than 4 billion pages.
   But this is not allowed by mapped buffers, so enforce it.
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Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace

Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt:

 - Fix several tracefs files that did not take the trace_array reference

   A trace instance can be created and destroyed in the tracefs
   "instances" directory via mkdir and rmdir respectively. The instance
   is represented by a trace_array descriptor.

   Most tracefs files pass the trace_array as the private data of the
   inode to the open/read/write functions. Since there is no locking
   between the time a task opens a file and the deletion of the instance
   (and the freeing of the trace_array), each open needs to get a
   reference to the trace_array and each close must remove it.

   An instance can't be removed if there's any reference taken on its
   trace_array. The open function uses trace_array_get() that takes a
   lock (preventing removal of instances) and iterates the list of all
   existing trace_arrays and if it finds a match, it takes the reference
   and releases the lock. If it doesn't find a match, it causes the open
   to return -ENODEV.

   There were some added files that did not take the trace_array
   reference on open that needed to be fixed. Sashiko also correctly
   pointed out that there were some files that took an address of an
   field or element of the trace_array which had a pointer back to the
   trace_array to take its reference on open. But this leaves a slight
   race between referencing this element to get the trace_array as the
   element itself could be freed. To solve this, some helper functions
   were created to look for trace_arrays with this field or element in
   the search so that the element did not have to be dereferenced before
   the trace_array's reference was taken.

 - Add a lock around ftrace_ops initialization

   When a ftrace_ops is first used by ftrace, some internal
   initialization is performed on the ops. But if multiple tasks were
   calling functions that did this initialization, it could race and
   perform doing the initialization more than once, corrupting the
   internal data. Add a lock in the initialization code to prevent this
   from happening.

 - Fix splice reads on mmapped buffers

   The logic in the ring buffer splice code for mmapped buffers is
   supposed to do a copy of the memory as the mapped buffers can't be
   given to splice. But there was an if statement within the copy code
   that would return a -1 if a request for a full page was done and it
   wasn't a partial read. This is because this logic was written before
   mmapped buffers existed and this case didn't make sense at the time.
   For mmapped buffers it makes perfect sense and by returning early can
   drop a lot of pages unnecessarily.

 - Have the persistent ring buffer validation check nr_subbufs

   Sashiko reported that the validation code was relying on the saved
   nr_subbufs to match the calculated nr_pages + 1 and if they were off,
   that the code could cause corruption. Sashiko is correct, and the
   saved nr_subbufs should be validated before assuming it is correct.

 - Do not allow more than one instance with the same name on cmdline

   If an admin were to add more than one trace instances with the same
   name they all would be created, but only the first one would be
   accessible via tracefs. This used to not be allowed but some
   restructuring of code has since made it possible.

 - Fix the race between subbuf resize and trace_pipe_raw readers

   If a task was reading trace_pipe_raw while another task was changing
   the ring buffer subbuf size, it could crash the reader. The
   trace_pipe_raw readers do get their own copy of the page from the
   buffer, but the code needs some restructuring to not have the resize
   of the subbuffers cause issues.

 - Cap the size of the mapped (static) ring buffer nr_pages

   The meta data used for ring buffer mapped buffers is 32 bit in size.
   A normal ring buffer could (in theory) have more than 4 billion
   pages. But this is not allowed by mapped buffers, so enforce it.

* tag 'trace-v7.3-rc1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace:
  ring-buffer: Use a macro for static buffer bits
  tracing: Fix comment in tracing_buffers_splice_read()
  ring-buffer: Prevent truncation of nr_pages / nr_subbufs
  ring-buffer: Cap static ring buffer nr_pages
  tracing: Fix subbuf resize races with trace_pipe_raw readers
  tracing: Fix to avoid creating trace instances with duplicate names
  ring-buffer: Add checking nr_subbufs to persistent ring buffer validation
  ring-buffer: Allow splice reads on static buffers
  tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening options file
  ftrace: Synchronize the initialization of ftrace_ops
  ftrace: Take trace_array reference before accessing its ftrace_ops
  tracing: Have show_event_filters/triggers files take trace array ref
2026-09-06 14:21:24 -07:00
arch bpf-fixes 2026-09-06 13:49:44 -07:00
block block: save page offset gaps in cloned bio 2026-09-01 08:42:34 -06:00
certs treewide: fix indentation and whitespace in Kconfig files 2026-05-28 21:24:42 -07:00
crypto This push fixes a memory allocation overrun in crypto acomp. 2026-08-28 09:28:40 -07:00
Documentation Miscellaneous IRQ subsystem fixes: 2026-09-06 10:35:24 -07:00
drivers Miscellaneous IRQ subsystem fixes: 2026-09-06 10:35:24 -07:00
fs kmalloc_obj conversions for v7.3-rc2 2026-09-05 20:45:18 -07:00
include tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-09-06 14:21:24 -07:00
init treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
io_uring treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
ipc mm.git review status for master..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-08-23 08:07:11 -07:00
kernel tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-09-06 14:21:24 -07:00
lib treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
net kmalloc_obj conversions for v7.3-rc2 2026-09-05 20:45:18 -07:00
rust rust: pci: reject IRQ vector indices that do not fit in u32 2026-09-01 18:21:01 +02:00
samples tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -07:00
scripts Coccinelle patches for Linux v7.3 2026-08-30 10:42:40 -07:00
security kmalloc_obj conversions for v7.3-rc2 2026-09-05 20:45:18 -07:00
sound treewide: refresh kmalloc_obj() conversions 2026-09-04 21:37:00 -07:00
tools bpf-fixes 2026-09-06 13:49:44 -07:00
usr usr: Correct a spelling by changing a letter 2026-08-05 14:51:58 +02:00
virt Arm: 2026-08-25 11:48:04 -07:00
.clang-format drm/bridge: rename drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain_scoped() to drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain() 2026-07-14 17:55:51 +02:00
.clippy.toml rust: bump Clippy's MSRV and clean incompatible_msrv allows 2026-04-07 09:51:39 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add Nathan Chancellor 2026-08-03 21:10:12 -07:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore SPDX patches for 7.2-rc1 2026-06-22 12:06:22 -07:00
.mailmap drm fixes for 7.3-rc2 2026-09-04 13:42:16 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING
CREDITS Driver core fixes for 7.3-rc2 2026-09-05 11:59:05 -07:00
Kbuild checksyscalls: move instance functionality into generic code 2026-04-05 09:21:32 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS Driver core fixes for 7.3-rc2 2026-09-05 11:59:05 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.3-rc1 2026-08-30 13:34:40 -07:00
README README: remove out of place emdashes 2026-07-15 10:51:29 -06:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer: Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher: Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert: Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer: Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator: Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer: Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor: Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer: Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant: LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst