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Guilherme G. Piccoli 60c958d8df panic: add sysctl to dump all CPUs backtraces on oops event
Usually when the kernel reaches an oops condition, it's a point of no
return; in case not enough debug information is available in the kernel
splat, one of the last resorts would be to collect a kernel crash dump
and analyze it.  The problem with this approach is that in order to
collect the dump, a panic is required (to kexec-load the crash kernel).
When in an environment of multiple virtual machines, users may prefer to
try living with the oops, at least until being able to properly shutdown
their VMs / finish their important tasks.

This patch implements a way to collect a bit more debug details when an
oops event is reached, by printing all the CPUs backtraces through the
usage of NMIs (on architectures that support that).  The sysctl added
(and documented) here was called "oops_all_cpu_backtrace", and when set
will (as the name suggests) dump all CPUs backtraces.

Far from ideal, this may be the last option though for users that for
some reason cannot panic on oops.  Most of times oopses are clear enough
to indicate the kernel portion that must be investigated, but in virtual
environments it's possible to observe hypervisor/KVM issues that could
lead to oopses shown in other guests CPUs (like virtual APIC crashes).
This patch hence aims to help debug such complex issues without
resorting to kdump.

Signed-off-by: Guilherme G. Piccoli <gpiccoli@canonical.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
Cc: Iurii Zaikin <yzaikin@google.com>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Cc: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200327224116.21030-1-gpiccoli@canonical.com
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
arch Char/Misc driver patches for 5.8-rc1 2020-06-07 10:59:32 -07:00
block for-5.8/drivers-2020-06-01 2020-06-02 15:37:03 -07:00
certs .gitignore: add SPDX License Identifier 2020-03-25 11:50:48 +01:00
crypto crypto: engine - do not requeue in case of fatal error 2020-05-28 17:27:52 +10:00
Documentation panic: add sysctl to dump all CPUs backtraces on oops event 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
drivers Char/Misc driver patches for 5.8-rc1 2020-06-07 10:59:32 -07:00
fs kernel/watchdog.c: convert {soft/hard}lockup boot parameters to sysctl aliases 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
include panic: add sysctl to dump all CPUs backtraces on oops event 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
init kernel/sysctl: support setting sysctl parameters from kernel command line 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
ipc ipc/namespace.c: use a work queue to free_ipc 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
kernel panic: add sysctl to dump all CPUs backtraces on oops event 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
lib lib/test_sysctl: support testing of sysctl. boot parameter 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Rename other to deprecated 2019-05-03 06:34:32 -06:00
mm kernel/sysctl: support handling command line aliases 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
net Kbuild updates for v5.8 2020-06-06 12:00:25 -07:00
samples Kbuild updates for v5.8 2020-06-06 12:00:25 -07:00
scripts Fix for arch/sh build regression with newer binutils, removal of SH5, 2020-06-06 15:22:01 -07:00
security integrity-v5.8 2020-06-06 09:39:05 -07:00
sound powerpc updates for 5.8 2020-06-05 12:39:30 -07:00
tools lib/test_sysctl: support testing of sysctl. boot parameter 2020-06-08 11:05:56 -07:00
usr bpfilter: match bit size of bpfilter_umh to that of the kernel 2020-05-17 18:52:01 +09:00
virt A fair amount of stuff this time around, dominated by yet another massive 2020-06-01 15:45:27 -07:00
.clang-format block: add bio_for_each_bvec_all() 2020-05-25 11:25:24 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.get_maintainer.ignore Opt out of scripts/get_maintainer.pl 2019-05-16 10:53:40 -07:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: use 'dts' diff driver for dts files 2019-12-04 19:44:11 -08:00
.gitignore modpost: generate vmlinux.symvers and reuse it for the second modpost 2020-06-06 23:38:12 +09:00
.mailmap A fair amount of stuff this time around, dominated by yet another massive 2020-06-01 15:45:27 -07:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS mailmap: change email for Ricardo Ribalda 2020-05-25 18:59:59 -06:00
Kbuild kbuild: rename hostprogs-y/always to hostprogs/always-y 2020-02-04 01:53:07 +09:00
Kconfig kbuild: ensure full rebuild when the compiler is updated 2020-05-12 13:28:33 +09:00
MAINTAINERS Staging/IIO driver patches for 5.8-rc1 2020-06-07 10:45:08 -07:00
Makefile Kbuild updates for v5.8 2020-06-06 12:00:25 -07:00
README Drop all 00-INDEX files from Documentation/ 2018-09-09 15:08:58 -06:00

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

There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.

In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``.  The formatted documentation can also be read online at:

    https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/

There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation.

Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.