Linux kernel source tree
Go to file
Linus Torvalds fdcbb1bc06 Merge branch 'nocache-cleanup'
This series cleans up some of the special user copy functions naming and
semantics.  In particular, get rid of the (very traditional) double
underscore names and behavior: the whole "optimize away the range check"
model has been largely excised from the other user accessors because
it's so subtle and can be unsafe, but also because it's just not a
relevant optimization any more.

To do that, a couple of drivers that misused the "user" copies as kernel
copies in order to get non-temporal stores had to be fixed up, but that
kind of code should never have been allowed anyway.

The x86-only "nocache" version was also renamed to more accurately
reflect what it actually does.

This was all done because I looked at this code due to a report by Jann
Horn, and I just couldn't stand the inconsistent naming, the horrible
semantics, and the random misuse of these functions.  This code should
probably be cleaned up further, but it's at least slightly closer to
normal semantics.

I had a more intrusive series that went even further in trying to
normalize the semantics, but that ended up hitting so many other
inconsistencies between different architectures in this area (eg
'size_t' vs 'unsigned long' vs 'int' as size arguments, and various
iovec check differences that Vasily Gorbik pointed out) that I ended up
with this more limited version that fixed the worst of the issues.

Reported-by: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Tested-by: Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAHk-=wgg1QVWNWG-UCFo1hx0zqrPnB3qhPzUTrWNft+MtXQXig@mail.gmail.com/

* nocache-cleanup:
  x86-64/arm64/powerpc: clean up and rename __copy_from_user_flushcache
  x86: rename and clean up __copy_from_user_inatomic_nocache()
  x86-64: rename misleadingly named '__copy_user_nocache()' function
2026-04-13 08:39:51 -07:00
arch Merge branch 'nocache-cleanup' 2026-04-13 08:39:51 -07:00
block block-7.0-20260305 2026-03-06 08:36:18 -08:00
certs Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
crypto This push contains the following changes: 2026-04-12 08:11:02 -07:00
Documentation RISC-V updates for v7.0-rc8 2026-04-10 17:27:08 -07:00
drivers Merge branch 'nocache-cleanup' 2026-04-13 08:39:51 -07:00
fs vfs-7.0-rc8.fixes 2026-04-10 08:40:49 -07:00
include Merge branch 'nocache-cleanup' 2026-04-13 08:39:51 -07:00
init hardening fixes for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-25 14:47:18 -07:00
io_uring io_uring-7.0-20260403 2026-04-03 11:58:04 -07:00
ipc Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
kernel workqueue: Fixes for v7.0-rc7 2026-04-12 10:42:40 -07:00
lib Merge branch 'nocache-cleanup' 2026-04-13 08:39:51 -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 8 hotfixes. All are cc:stable and 7 are for MM. 2026-04-07 10:24:44 -07:00
net vfs-7.0-rc8.fixes 2026-04-10 08:40:49 -07:00
rust rust: regulator: do not assume that regulator_get() returns non-null 2026-03-24 13:08:21 +00:00
samples Landlock fix for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-26 12:03:37 -07:00
scripts modpost: Declare extra_warn with unused attribute 2026-03-30 07:45:34 +02:00
security Landlock fix for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-26 12:03:37 -07:00
sound ASoC: Fixes for v7.0 2026-04-09 07:00:53 +02:00
tools Merge branch 'nocache-cleanup' 2026-04-13 08:39:51 -07:00
usr kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
virt KVM generic changes for 7.0 2026-03-11 18:01:55 +01:00
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: clean Rust 1.88.0's warning about clippy::disallowed_macros configuration 2025-05-07 00:11:47 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add myself 2026-04-02 16:48:25 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore rust: kbuild: add proc macro library support 2025-11-24 17:15:36 +01:00
.mailmap MAINTAINERS, mailmap: Change Ulf Hansson's email 2026-04-07 14:17:48 +02:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml
COPYING
CREDITS MAINTAINERS: remove Thomas Falcon from IBM ibmvnic 2026-03-05 07:35:45 -08:00
Kbuild sched: Make migrate_{en,dis}able() inline 2025-09-25 09:57:16 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS spi: Fixes for v7.0 2026-04-11 12:49:21 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.0 2026-04-12 13:48:06 -07:00
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -07:00

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