linux/Documentation/admin-guide
Linus Torvalds 8cb1ae19bf x86/fpu updates:
- Cleanup of extable fixup handling to be more robust, which in turn
    allows to make the FPU exception fixups more robust as well.
 
  - Change the return code for signal frame related failures from explicit
    error codes to a boolean fail/success as that's all what the calling
    code evaluates.
 
  - A large refactoring of the FPU code to prepare for adding AMX support:
 
    - Distangle the public header maze and remove especially the misnomed
      kitchen sink internal.h which is despite it's name included all over
      the place.
 
    - Add a proper abstraction for the register buffer storage (struct
      fpstate) which allows to dynamically size the buffer at runtime by
      flipping the pointer to the buffer container from the default
      container which is embedded in task_struct::tread::fpu to a
      dynamically allocated container with a larger register buffer.
 
    - Convert the code over to the new fpstate mechanism.
 
    - Consolidate the KVM FPU handling by moving the FPU related code into
      the FPU core which removes the number of exports and avoids adding
      even more export when AMX has to be supported in KVM. This also
      removes duplicated code which was of course unnecessary different and
      incomplete in the KVM copy.
 
    - Simplify the KVM FPU buffer handling by utilizing the new fpstate
      container and just switching the buffer pointer from the user space
      buffer to the KVM guest buffer when entering vcpu_run() and flipping
      it back when leaving the function. This cuts the memory requirements
      of a vCPU for FPU buffers in half and avoids pointless memory copy
      operations.
 
      This also solves the so far unresolved problem of adding AMX support
      because the current FPU buffer handling of KVM inflicted a circular
      dependency between adding AMX support to the core and to KVM.  With
      the new scheme of switching fpstate AMX support can be added to the
      core code without affecting KVM.
 
    - Replace various variables with proper data structures so the extra
      information required for adding dynamically enabled FPU features (AMX)
      can be added in one place
 
  - Add AMX (Advanved Matrix eXtensions) support (finally):
 
     AMX is a large XSTATE component which is going to be available with
     Saphire Rapids XEON CPUs. The feature comes with an extra MSR (MSR_XFD)
     which allows to trap the (first) use of an AMX related instruction,
     which has two benefits:
 
     1) It allows the kernel to control access to the feature
 
     2) It allows the kernel to dynamically allocate the large register
        state buffer instead of burdening every task with the the extra 8K
        or larger state storage.
 
     It would have been great to gain this kind of control already with
     AVX512.
 
     The support comes with the following infrastructure components:
 
     1) arch_prctl() to
        - read the supported features (equivalent to XGETBV(0))
        - read the permitted features for a task
        - request permission for a dynamically enabled feature
 
        Permission is granted per process, inherited on fork() and cleared
        on exec(). The permission policy of the kernel is restricted to
        sigaltstack size validation, but the syscall obviously allows
        further restrictions via seccomp etc.
 
     2) A stronger sigaltstack size validation for sys_sigaltstack(2) which
        takes granted permissions and the potentially resulting larger
        signal frame into account. This mechanism can also be used to
        enforce factual sigaltstack validation independent of dynamic
        features to help with finding potential victims of the 2K
        sigaltstack size constant which is broken since AVX512 support was
        added.
 
     3) Exception handling for #NM traps to catch first use of a extended
        feature via a new cause MSR. If the exception was caused by the use
        of such a feature, the handler checks permission for that
        feature. If permission has not been granted, the handler sends a
        SIGILL like the #UD handler would do if the feature would have been
        disabled in XCR0. If permission has been granted, then a new fpstate
        which fits the larger buffer requirement is allocated.
 
        In the unlikely case that this allocation fails, the handler sends
        SIGSEGV to the task. That's not elegant, but unavoidable as the
        other discussed options of preallocation or full per task
        permissions come with their own set of horrors for kernel and/or
        userspace. So this is the lesser of the evils and SIGSEGV caused by
        unexpected memory allocation failures is not a fundamentally new
        concept either.
 
        When allocation succeeds, the fpstate properties are filled in to
        reflect the extended feature set and the resulting sizes, the
        fpu::fpstate pointer is updated accordingly and the trap is disarmed
        for this task permanently.
 
     4) Enumeration and size calculations
 
     5) Trap switching via MSR_XFD
 
        The XFD (eXtended Feature Disable) MSR is context switched with the
        same life time rules as the FPU register state itself. The mechanism
        is keyed off with a static key which is default disabled so !AMX
        equipped CPUs have zero overhead. On AMX enabled CPUs the overhead
        is limited by comparing the tasks XFD value with a per CPU shadow
        variable to avoid redundant MSR writes. In case of switching from a
        AMX using task to a non AMX using task or vice versa, the extra MSR
        write is obviously inevitable.
 
        All other places which need to be aware of the variable feature sets
        and resulting variable sizes are not affected at all because they
        retrieve the information (feature set, sizes) unconditonally from
        the fpstate properties.
 
     6) Enable the new AMX states
 
   Note, this is relatively new code despite the fact that AMX support is in
   the works for more than a year now.
 
   The big refactoring of the FPU code, which allowed to do a proper
   integration has been started exactly 3 weeks ago. Refactoring of the
   existing FPU code and of the original AMX patches took a week and has
   been subject to extensive review and testing. The only fallout which has
   not been caught in review and testing right away was restricted to AMX
   enabled systems, which is completely irrelevant for anyone outside Intel
   and their early access program. There might be dragons lurking as usual,
   but so far the fine grained refactoring has held up and eventual yet
   undetected fallout is bisectable and should be easily addressable before
   the 5.16 release. Famous last words...
 
   Many thanks to Chang Bae and Dave Hansen for working hard on this and
   also to the various test teams at Intel who reserved extra capacity to
   follow the rapid development of this closely which provides the
   confidence level required to offer this rather large update for inclusion
   into 5.16-rc1.
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Merge tag 'x86-fpu-2021-11-01' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip

Pull x86 fpu updates from Thomas Gleixner:

 - Cleanup of extable fixup handling to be more robust, which in turn
   allows to make the FPU exception fixups more robust as well.

 - Change the return code for signal frame related failures from
   explicit error codes to a boolean fail/success as that's all what the
   calling code evaluates.

 - A large refactoring of the FPU code to prepare for adding AMX
   support:

      - Distangle the public header maze and remove especially the
        misnomed kitchen sink internal.h which is despite it's name
        included all over the place.

      - Add a proper abstraction for the register buffer storage (struct
        fpstate) which allows to dynamically size the buffer at runtime
        by flipping the pointer to the buffer container from the default
        container which is embedded in task_struct::tread::fpu to a
        dynamically allocated container with a larger register buffer.

      - Convert the code over to the new fpstate mechanism.

      - Consolidate the KVM FPU handling by moving the FPU related code
        into the FPU core which removes the number of exports and avoids
        adding even more export when AMX has to be supported in KVM.
        This also removes duplicated code which was of course
        unnecessary different and incomplete in the KVM copy.

      - Simplify the KVM FPU buffer handling by utilizing the new
        fpstate container and just switching the buffer pointer from the
        user space buffer to the KVM guest buffer when entering
        vcpu_run() and flipping it back when leaving the function. This
        cuts the memory requirements of a vCPU for FPU buffers in half
        and avoids pointless memory copy operations.

        This also solves the so far unresolved problem of adding AMX
        support because the current FPU buffer handling of KVM inflicted
        a circular dependency between adding AMX support to the core and
        to KVM. With the new scheme of switching fpstate AMX support can
        be added to the core code without affecting KVM.

      - Replace various variables with proper data structures so the
        extra information required for adding dynamically enabled FPU
        features (AMX) can be added in one place

 - Add AMX (Advanced Matrix eXtensions) support (finally):

   AMX is a large XSTATE component which is going to be available with
   Saphire Rapids XEON CPUs. The feature comes with an extra MSR
   (MSR_XFD) which allows to trap the (first) use of an AMX related
   instruction, which has two benefits:

    1) It allows the kernel to control access to the feature

    2) It allows the kernel to dynamically allocate the large register
       state buffer instead of burdening every task with the the extra
       8K or larger state storage.

   It would have been great to gain this kind of control already with
   AVX512.

   The support comes with the following infrastructure components:

    1) arch_prctl() to
        - read the supported features (equivalent to XGETBV(0))
        - read the permitted features for a task
        - request permission for a dynamically enabled feature

       Permission is granted per process, inherited on fork() and
       cleared on exec(). The permission policy of the kernel is
       restricted to sigaltstack size validation, but the syscall
       obviously allows further restrictions via seccomp etc.

    2) A stronger sigaltstack size validation for sys_sigaltstack(2)
       which takes granted permissions and the potentially resulting
       larger signal frame into account. This mechanism can also be used
       to enforce factual sigaltstack validation independent of dynamic
       features to help with finding potential victims of the 2K
       sigaltstack size constant which is broken since AVX512 support
       was added.

    3) Exception handling for #NM traps to catch first use of a extended
       feature via a new cause MSR. If the exception was caused by the
       use of such a feature, the handler checks permission for that
       feature. If permission has not been granted, the handler sends a
       SIGILL like the #UD handler would do if the feature would have
       been disabled in XCR0. If permission has been granted, then a new
       fpstate which fits the larger buffer requirement is allocated.

       In the unlikely case that this allocation fails, the handler
       sends SIGSEGV to the task. That's not elegant, but unavoidable as
       the other discussed options of preallocation or full per task
       permissions come with their own set of horrors for kernel and/or
       userspace. So this is the lesser of the evils and SIGSEGV caused
       by unexpected memory allocation failures is not a fundamentally
       new concept either.

       When allocation succeeds, the fpstate properties are filled in to
       reflect the extended feature set and the resulting sizes, the
       fpu::fpstate pointer is updated accordingly and the trap is
       disarmed for this task permanently.

    4) Enumeration and size calculations

    5) Trap switching via MSR_XFD

       The XFD (eXtended Feature Disable) MSR is context switched with
       the same life time rules as the FPU register state itself. The
       mechanism is keyed off with a static key which is default
       disabled so !AMX equipped CPUs have zero overhead. On AMX enabled
       CPUs the overhead is limited by comparing the tasks XFD value
       with a per CPU shadow variable to avoid redundant MSR writes. In
       case of switching from a AMX using task to a non AMX using task
       or vice versa, the extra MSR write is obviously inevitable.

       All other places which need to be aware of the variable feature
       sets and resulting variable sizes are not affected at all because
       they retrieve the information (feature set, sizes) unconditonally
       from the fpstate properties.

    6) Enable the new AMX states

   Note, this is relatively new code despite the fact that AMX support
   is in the works for more than a year now.

   The big refactoring of the FPU code, which allowed to do a proper
   integration has been started exactly 3 weeks ago. Refactoring of the
   existing FPU code and of the original AMX patches took a week and has
   been subject to extensive review and testing. The only fallout which
   has not been caught in review and testing right away was restricted
   to AMX enabled systems, which is completely irrelevant for anyone
   outside Intel and their early access program. There might be dragons
   lurking as usual, but so far the fine grained refactoring has held up
   and eventual yet undetected fallout is bisectable and should be
   easily addressable before the 5.16 release. Famous last words...

   Many thanks to Chang Bae and Dave Hansen for working hard on this and
   also to the various test teams at Intel who reserved extra capacity
   to follow the rapid development of this closely which provides the
   confidence level required to offer this rather large update for
   inclusion into 5.16-rc1

* tag 'x86-fpu-2021-11-01' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip: (110 commits)
  Documentation/x86: Add documentation for using dynamic XSTATE features
  x86/fpu: Include vmalloc.h for vzalloc()
  selftests/x86/amx: Add context switch test
  selftests/x86/amx: Add test cases for AMX state management
  x86/fpu/amx: Enable the AMX feature in 64-bit mode
  x86/fpu: Add XFD handling for dynamic states
  x86/fpu: Calculate the default sizes independently
  x86/fpu/amx: Define AMX state components and have it used for boot-time checks
  x86/fpu/xstate: Prepare XSAVE feature table for gaps in state component numbers
  x86/fpu/xstate: Add fpstate_realloc()/free()
  x86/fpu/xstate: Add XFD #NM handler
  x86/fpu: Update XFD state where required
  x86/fpu: Add sanity checks for XFD
  x86/fpu: Add XFD state to fpstate
  x86/msr-index: Add MSRs for XFD
  x86/cpufeatures: Add eXtended Feature Disabling (XFD) feature bit
  x86/fpu: Reset permission and fpstate on exec()
  x86/fpu: Prepare fpu_clone() for dynamically enabled features
  x86/fpu/signal: Prepare for variable sigframe length
  x86/signal: Use fpu::__state_user_size for sigalt stack validation
  ...
2021-11-01 14:03:56 -07:00
..
acpi Documentation: ACPI: Align the SSDT overlays file with the code 2021-09-02 18:08:16 +02:00
aoe
auxdisplay treewide: Miguel has moved 2021-02-26 09:41:03 -08:00
blockdev Merge branch 'akpm' (patches from Andrew) 2020-12-15 12:53:37 -08:00
cgroup-v1 docs/cgroup-v1/blkio: update for 5.x kernels 2021-06-16 11:32:03 -06:00
cifs Documentation/admin-guide/cifs: document open_files and dfscache 2021-04-25 16:28:22 -05:00
device-mapper dm ima: update dm documentation for ima measurement support 2021-08-20 16:07:37 -04:00
gpio gpio: mockup: Adjust documentation to the code 2021-03-26 14:56:19 +01:00
hw-vuln Yet another set of documentation changes: 2021-09-01 18:49:47 -07:00
kdump Documentation: kdump: update kdump guide 2021-06-14 08:12:01 -06:00
laptops platform/x86: lg-laptop: Use correct event for keyboard backlight FN-key 2021-08-20 12:09:42 +02:00
LSM security/loadpin: Update the changing interface in the source code. 2021-03-15 13:32:32 -06:00
media media: admin-guide: avoid using ReST :doc:foo markup 2021-06-16 07:26:46 +02:00
mm Merge branch 'akpm' (patches from Andrew) 2021-09-08 12:55:35 -07:00
namespaces
nfs nfsd: remove fault injection code 2020-09-25 18:01:26 -04:00
perf docs: perf: Address some html build warnings 2021-03-30 11:39:09 +01:00
pm Power management updates for 5.14-rc1 2021-06-29 13:36:06 -07:00
sysctl mm: compaction: support triggering of proactive compaction by user 2021-09-03 09:58:17 -07:00
abi-obsolete.rst docs: ABI: don't escape ReST-incompatible chars from obsolete and removed 2020-10-30 13:07:02 +01:00
abi-removed.rst docs: ABI: don't escape ReST-incompatible chars from obsolete and removed 2020-10-30 13:07:02 +01:00
abi-stable.rst docs: ABI: make it parse ABI/stable as ReST-compatible files 2020-10-30 13:07:02 +01:00
abi-testing.rst docs: abi-testing.rst: enable --rst-sources when building docs 2020-10-30 13:07:02 +01:00
abi.rst docs: ABI: create a 2-depth index for ABI 2020-10-30 13:07:02 +01:00
bcache.rst bcache: doc: update Documentation/admin-guide/bcache.rst 2020-09-09 11:31:19 -06:00
binderfs.rst docs: binderfs: add section about feature files 2021-07-21 13:46:36 +02:00
binfmt-misc.rst docs: binfmt-misc: Fix .rst formatting 2021-01-07 14:43:03 -07:00
bootconfig.rst docs: bootconfig: Add how to use bootconfig for kernel parameters 2021-09-08 15:10:41 -04:00
braille-console.rst
btmrvl.rst
bug-bisect.rst docs: make reporting-bugs.rst obsolete 2020-12-08 10:33:27 -07:00
bug-hunting.rst Documentation: fix typos found in admin-guide subdirectory 2020-12-08 10:25:42 -07:00
cgroup-v2.rst Scheduler updates: 2021-11-01 13:48:52 -07:00
clearing-warn-once.rst
cpu-load.rst Documentation: Replace lkml.org links with lore 2021-01-11 12:47:38 -07:00
cputopology.rst topology: Represent clusters of CPUs within a die 2021-10-15 11:25:15 +02:00
dell_rbu.rst
devices.rst
devices.txt docs: Fix infiniband uverbs minor number 2021-07-30 10:05:50 -03:00
dynamic-debug-howto.rst Documentation: dynamic-debug-howto: fix example 2021-03-08 17:09:26 -07:00
edid.rst
efi-stub.rst
ext4.rst docs: fix a cross-ref 2021-06-13 17:02:46 -06:00
features.rst docs: admin-guide: add a features list 2020-12-03 15:10:15 -07:00
highuid.rst
hw_random.rst
index.rst docs: make reporting-issues.rst official and delete reporting-bugs.rst 2021-03-31 13:33:17 -06:00
init.rst
initrd.rst
iostats.rst
java.rst
jfs.rst
kernel-parameters.rst bitmap_parse: Support 'all' semantics 2021-05-10 15:38:20 -07:00
kernel-parameters.txt x86/signal: Implement sigaltstack size validation 2021-10-26 10:18:09 +02:00
kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.rst doc: admin-guide: remove explanation of "watchdog/%u" 2021-03-31 14:32:02 -06:00
lcd-panel-cgram.rst
ldm.rst
lockup-watchdogs.rst doc: watchdog: modify the explanation related to watchdog thread 2021-06-29 10:53:46 -07:00
md.rst Documentation: fix multiple typos found in the admin-guide subdirectory 2020-12-08 10:27:56 -07:00
module-signing.rst Documentation: fix multiple typos found in the admin-guide subdirectory 2020-12-08 10:27:56 -07:00
mono.rst
numastat.rst
parport.rst
perf-security.rst doc/admin-guide: fix spelling mistake: "perfomance" -> "performance" 2021-02-11 09:38:40 -07:00
pnp.rst PNP: remove the now unused pnp_find_card() function 2020-10-08 18:00:08 +02:00
pstore-blk.rst pstore/blk: Fix kerndoc and redundancy on blkdev param 2021-06-16 09:27:32 -07:00
ramoops.rst pstore: Add mem_type property DT parsing support 2021-03-31 10:06:23 -07:00
rapidio.rst
ras.rst
README.rst Drop some straggling mentions of gcc-4.9 as being stale 2021-09-13 10:29:44 -07:00
reporting-issues.rst docs: admin-guide: reporting-issues.rst: replace some characters 2021-06-17 13:22:33 -06:00
rtc.rst
security-bugs.rst docs: make reporting-bugs.rst obsolete 2020-12-08 10:33:27 -07:00
serial-console.rst
spkguide.txt speakup: Add documentation on changing the speakup messages language 2021-01-27 13:12:04 +01:00
svga.rst Documentation/admin-guide: README & svga: remove use of "rdev" 2020-09-24 10:50:31 -06:00
syscall-user-dispatch.rst entry: Use different define for selector variable in SUD 2021-02-06 00:21:42 +01:00
sysfs-rules.rst
sysrq.rst Documentation: sysrq: convert to third person 2021-07-15 06:33:44 -06:00
tainted-kernels.rst docs: Update documentation to reflect what TAINT_CPU_OUT_OF_SPEC means 2020-12-08 10:53:58 -07:00
thunderbolt.rst thunderbolt: Add support for retimer NVM upgrade when there is no link 2021-06-01 10:53:31 +03:00
ufs.rst
unicode.rst
vga-softcursor.rst
video-output.rst
xfs.rst xfs: rename the blockgc workqueue 2021-03-25 16:47:50 -07:00

.. _readme:

Linux kernel release 5.x <http://kernel.org/>
=============================================

These are the release notes for Linux version 5.  Read them carefully,
as they tell you what this is all about, explain how to install the
kernel, and what to do if something goes wrong.

What is Linux?
--------------

  Linux is a clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by
  Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across
  the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.

  It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix,
  including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand
  loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management,
  and multistack networking including IPv4 and IPv6.

  It is distributed under the GNU General Public License v2 - see the
  accompanying COPYING file for more details.

On what hardware does it run?
-----------------------------

  Although originally developed first for 32-bit x86-based PCs (386 or higher),
  today Linux also runs on (at least) the Compaq Alpha AXP, Sun SPARC and
  UltraSPARC, Motorola 68000, PowerPC, PowerPC64, ARM, Hitachi SuperH, Cell,
  IBM S/390, MIPS, HP PA-RISC, Intel IA-64, DEC VAX, AMD x86-64 Xtensa, and
  ARC architectures.

  Linux is easily portable to most general-purpose 32- or 64-bit architectures
  as long as they have a paged memory management unit (PMMU) and a port of the
  GNU C compiler (gcc) (part of The GNU Compiler Collection, GCC). Linux has
  also been ported to a number of architectures without a PMMU, although
  functionality is then obviously somewhat limited.
  Linux has also been ported to itself. You can now run the kernel as a
  userspace application - this is called UserMode Linux (UML).

Documentation
-------------

 - There is a lot of documentation available both in electronic form on
   the Internet and in books, both Linux-specific and pertaining to
   general UNIX questions.  I'd recommend looking into the documentation
   subdirectories on any Linux FTP site for the LDP (Linux Documentation
   Project) books.  This README is not meant to be documentation on the
   system: there are much better sources available.

 - There are various README files in the Documentation/ subdirectory:
   these typically contain kernel-specific installation notes for some
   drivers for example. Please read the
   :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` file, as it
   contains information about the problems, which may result by upgrading
   your kernel.

Installing the kernel source
----------------------------

 - If you install the full sources, put the kernel tarball in a
   directory where you have permissions (e.g. your home directory) and
   unpack it::

     xz -cd linux-5.x.tar.xz | tar xvf -

   Replace "X" with the version number of the latest kernel.

   Do NOT use the /usr/src/linux area! This area has a (usually
   incomplete) set of kernel headers that are used by the library header
   files.  They should match the library, and not get messed up by
   whatever the kernel-du-jour happens to be.

 - You can also upgrade between 5.x releases by patching.  Patches are
   distributed in the xz format.  To install by patching, get all the
   newer patch files, enter the top level directory of the kernel source
   (linux-5.x) and execute::

     xz -cd ../patch-5.x.xz | patch -p1

   Replace "x" for all versions bigger than the version "x" of your current
   source tree, **in_order**, and you should be ok.  You may want to remove
   the backup files (some-file-name~ or some-file-name.orig), and make sure
   that there are no failed patches (some-file-name# or some-file-name.rej).
   If there are, either you or I have made a mistake.

   Unlike patches for the 5.x kernels, patches for the 5.x.y kernels
   (also known as the -stable kernels) are not incremental but instead apply
   directly to the base 5.x kernel.  For example, if your base kernel is 5.0
   and you want to apply the 5.0.3 patch, you must not first apply the 5.0.1
   and 5.0.2 patches. Similarly, if you are running kernel version 5.0.2 and
   want to jump to 5.0.3, you must first reverse the 5.0.2 patch (that is,
   patch -R) **before** applying the 5.0.3 patch. You can read more on this in
   :ref:`Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst <applying_patches>`.

   Alternatively, the script patch-kernel can be used to automate this
   process.  It determines the current kernel version and applies any
   patches found::

     linux/scripts/patch-kernel linux

   The first argument in the command above is the location of the
   kernel source.  Patches are applied from the current directory, but
   an alternative directory can be specified as the second argument.

 - Make sure you have no stale .o files and dependencies lying around::

     cd linux
     make mrproper

   You should now have the sources correctly installed.

Software requirements
---------------------

   Compiling and running the 5.x kernels requires up-to-date
   versions of various software packages.  Consult
   :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` for the minimum version numbers
   required and how to get updates for these packages.  Beware that using
   excessively old versions of these packages can cause indirect
   errors that are very difficult to track down, so don't assume that
   you can just update packages when obvious problems arise during
   build or operation.

Build directory for the kernel
------------------------------

   When compiling the kernel, all output files will per default be
   stored together with the kernel source code.
   Using the option ``make O=output/dir`` allows you to specify an alternate
   place for the output files (including .config).
   Example::

     kernel source code: /usr/src/linux-5.x
     build directory:    /home/name/build/kernel

   To configure and build the kernel, use::

     cd /usr/src/linux-5.x
     make O=/home/name/build/kernel menuconfig
     make O=/home/name/build/kernel
     sudo make O=/home/name/build/kernel modules_install install

   Please note: If the ``O=output/dir`` option is used, then it must be
   used for all invocations of make.

Configuring the kernel
----------------------

   Do not skip this step even if you are only upgrading one minor
   version.  New configuration options are added in each release, and
   odd problems will turn up if the configuration files are not set up
   as expected.  If you want to carry your existing configuration to a
   new version with minimal work, use ``make oldconfig``, which will
   only ask you for the answers to new questions.

 - Alternative configuration commands are::

     "make config"      Plain text interface.

     "make menuconfig"  Text based color menus, radiolists & dialogs.

     "make nconfig"     Enhanced text based color menus.

     "make xconfig"     Qt based configuration tool.

     "make gconfig"     GTK+ based configuration tool.

     "make oldconfig"   Default all questions based on the contents of
                        your existing ./.config file and asking about
                        new config symbols.

     "make olddefconfig"
                        Like above, but sets new symbols to their default
                        values without prompting.

     "make defconfig"   Create a ./.config file by using the default
                        symbol values from either arch/$ARCH/defconfig
                        or arch/$ARCH/configs/${PLATFORM}_defconfig,
                        depending on the architecture.

     "make ${PLATFORM}_defconfig"
                        Create a ./.config file by using the default
                        symbol values from
                        arch/$ARCH/configs/${PLATFORM}_defconfig.
                        Use "make help" to get a list of all available
                        platforms of your architecture.

     "make allyesconfig"
                        Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
                        values to 'y' as much as possible.

     "make allmodconfig"
                        Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
                        values to 'm' as much as possible.

     "make allnoconfig" Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
                        values to 'n' as much as possible.

     "make randconfig"  Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
                        values to random values.

     "make localmodconfig" Create a config based on current config and
                           loaded modules (lsmod). Disables any module
                           option that is not needed for the loaded modules.

                           To create a localmodconfig for another machine,
                           store the lsmod of that machine into a file
                           and pass it in as a LSMOD parameter.

                           Also, you can preserve modules in certain folders
                           or kconfig files by specifying their paths in
                           parameter LMC_KEEP.

                   target$ lsmod > /tmp/mylsmod
                   target$ scp /tmp/mylsmod host:/tmp

                   host$ make LSMOD=/tmp/mylsmod \
                           LMC_KEEP="drivers/usb:drivers/gpu:fs" \
                           localmodconfig

                           The above also works when cross compiling.

     "make localyesconfig" Similar to localmodconfig, except it will convert
                           all module options to built in (=y) options. You can
                           also preserve modules by LMC_KEEP.

     "make kvm_guest.config"   Enable additional options for kvm guest kernel
                               support.

     "make xen.config"   Enable additional options for xen dom0 guest kernel
                         support.

     "make tinyconfig"  Configure the tiniest possible kernel.

   You can find more information on using the Linux kernel config tools
   in Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst.

 - NOTES on ``make config``:

    - Having unnecessary drivers will make the kernel bigger, and can
      under some circumstances lead to problems: probing for a
      nonexistent controller card may confuse your other controllers.

    - A kernel with math-emulation compiled in will still use the
      coprocessor if one is present: the math emulation will just
      never get used in that case.  The kernel will be slightly larger,
      but will work on different machines regardless of whether they
      have a math coprocessor or not.

    - The "kernel hacking" configuration details usually result in a
      bigger or slower kernel (or both), and can even make the kernel
      less stable by configuring some routines to actively try to
      break bad code to find kernel problems (kmalloc()).  Thus you
      should probably answer 'n' to the questions for "development",
      "experimental", or "debugging" features.

Compiling the kernel
--------------------

 - Make sure you have at least gcc 5.1 available.
   For more information, refer to :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>`.

   Please note that you can still run a.out user programs with this kernel.

 - Do a ``make`` to create a compressed kernel image. It is also
   possible to do ``make install`` if you have lilo installed to suit the
   kernel makefiles, but you may want to check your particular lilo setup first.

   To do the actual install, you have to be root, but none of the normal
   build should require that. Don't take the name of root in vain.

 - If you configured any of the parts of the kernel as ``modules``, you
   will also have to do ``make modules_install``.

 - Verbose kernel compile/build output:

   Normally, the kernel build system runs in a fairly quiet mode (but not
   totally silent).  However, sometimes you or other kernel developers need
   to see compile, link, or other commands exactly as they are executed.
   For this, use "verbose" build mode.  This is done by passing
   ``V=1`` to the ``make`` command, e.g.::

     make V=1 all

   To have the build system also tell the reason for the rebuild of each
   target, use ``V=2``.  The default is ``V=0``.

 - Keep a backup kernel handy in case something goes wrong.  This is
   especially true for the development releases, since each new release
   contains new code which has not been debugged.  Make sure you keep a
   backup of the modules corresponding to that kernel, as well.  If you
   are installing a new kernel with the same version number as your
   working kernel, make a backup of your modules directory before you
   do a ``make modules_install``.

   Alternatively, before compiling, use the kernel config option
   "LOCALVERSION" to append a unique suffix to the regular kernel version.
   LOCALVERSION can be set in the "General Setup" menu.

 - In order to boot your new kernel, you'll need to copy the kernel
   image (e.g. .../linux/arch/x86/boot/bzImage after compilation)
   to the place where your regular bootable kernel is found.

 - Booting a kernel directly from a floppy without the assistance of a
   bootloader such as LILO, is no longer supported.

   If you boot Linux from the hard drive, chances are you use LILO, which
   uses the kernel image as specified in the file /etc/lilo.conf.  The
   kernel image file is usually /vmlinuz, /boot/vmlinuz, /bzImage or
   /boot/bzImage.  To use the new kernel, save a copy of the old image
   and copy the new image over the old one.  Then, you MUST RERUN LILO
   to update the loading map! If you don't, you won't be able to boot
   the new kernel image.

   Reinstalling LILO is usually a matter of running /sbin/lilo.
   You may wish to edit /etc/lilo.conf to specify an entry for your
   old kernel image (say, /vmlinux.old) in case the new one does not
   work.  See the LILO docs for more information.

   After reinstalling LILO, you should be all set.  Shutdown the system,
   reboot, and enjoy!

   If you ever need to change the default root device, video mode,
   etc. in the kernel image, use your bootloader's boot options
   where appropriate.  No need to recompile the kernel to change
   these parameters.

 - Reboot with the new kernel and enjoy.

If something goes wrong
-----------------------

 - If you have problems that seem to be due to kernel bugs, please check
   the file MAINTAINERS to see if there is a particular person associated
   with the part of the kernel that you are having trouble with. If there
   isn't anyone listed there, then the second best thing is to mail
   them to me (torvalds@linux-foundation.org), and possibly to any other
   relevant mailing-list or to the newsgroup.

 - In all bug-reports, *please* tell what kernel you are talking about,
   how to duplicate the problem, and what your setup is (use your common
   sense).  If the problem is new, tell me so, and if the problem is
   old, please try to tell me when you first noticed it.

 - If the bug results in a message like::

     unable to handle kernel paging request at address C0000010
     Oops: 0002
     EIP:   0010:XXXXXXXX
     eax: xxxxxxxx   ebx: xxxxxxxx   ecx: xxxxxxxx   edx: xxxxxxxx
     esi: xxxxxxxx   edi: xxxxxxxx   ebp: xxxxxxxx
     ds: xxxx  es: xxxx  fs: xxxx  gs: xxxx
     Pid: xx, process nr: xx
     xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx

   or similar kernel debugging information on your screen or in your
   system log, please duplicate it *exactly*.  The dump may look
   incomprehensible to you, but it does contain information that may
   help debugging the problem.  The text above the dump is also
   important: it tells something about why the kernel dumped code (in
   the above example, it's due to a bad kernel pointer). More information
   on making sense of the dump is in Documentation/admin-guide/bug-hunting.rst

 - If you compiled the kernel with CONFIG_KALLSYMS you can send the dump
   as is, otherwise you will have to use the ``ksymoops`` program to make
   sense of the dump (but compiling with CONFIG_KALLSYMS is usually preferred).
   This utility can be downloaded from
   https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/ .
   Alternatively, you can do the dump lookup by hand:

 - In debugging dumps like the above, it helps enormously if you can
   look up what the EIP value means.  The hex value as such doesn't help
   me or anybody else very much: it will depend on your particular
   kernel setup.  What you should do is take the hex value from the EIP
   line (ignore the ``0010:``), and look it up in the kernel namelist to
   see which kernel function contains the offending address.

   To find out the kernel function name, you'll need to find the system
   binary associated with the kernel that exhibited the symptom.  This is
   the file 'linux/vmlinux'.  To extract the namelist and match it against
   the EIP from the kernel crash, do::

     nm vmlinux | sort | less

   This will give you a list of kernel addresses sorted in ascending
   order, from which it is simple to find the function that contains the
   offending address.  Note that the address given by the kernel
   debugging messages will not necessarily match exactly with the
   function addresses (in fact, that is very unlikely), so you can't
   just 'grep' the list: the list will, however, give you the starting
   point of each kernel function, so by looking for the function that
   has a starting address lower than the one you are searching for but
   is followed by a function with a higher address you will find the one
   you want.  In fact, it may be a good idea to include a bit of
   "context" in your problem report, giving a few lines around the
   interesting one.

   If you for some reason cannot do the above (you have a pre-compiled
   kernel image or similar), telling me as much about your setup as
   possible will help.  Please read
   'Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst' for details.

 - Alternatively, you can use gdb on a running kernel. (read-only; i.e. you
   cannot change values or set break points.) To do this, first compile the
   kernel with -g; edit arch/x86/Makefile appropriately, then do a ``make
   clean``. You'll also need to enable CONFIG_PROC_FS (via ``make config``).

   After you've rebooted with the new kernel, do ``gdb vmlinux /proc/kcore``.
   You can now use all the usual gdb commands. The command to look up the
   point where your system crashed is ``l *0xXXXXXXXX``. (Replace the XXXes
   with the EIP value.)

   gdb'ing a non-running kernel currently fails because ``gdb`` (wrongly)
   disregards the starting offset for which the kernel is compiled.