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@@ -1,18 +1,8 @@
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-Table of contents
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-=================
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+Bug hunting
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++++++++++++
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Last updated: 20 December 2005
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-Contents
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-========
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-
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-- Introduction
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-- Devices not appearing
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-- Finding patch that caused a bug
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--- Finding using git-bisect
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--- Finding it the old way
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-- Fixing the bug
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-
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Introduction
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============
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@@ -24,7 +14,8 @@ Finding bugs is not always easy. Have a go though. If you can't find it don't
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give up. Report as much as you have found to the relevant maintainer. See
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MAINTAINERS for who that is for the subsystem you have worked on.
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-Before you submit a bug report read REPORTING-BUGS.
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+Before you submit a bug report read
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+:ref:`Documentation/REPORTING-BUGS <reportingbugs>`.
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Devices not appearing
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=====================
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@@ -37,15 +28,16 @@ Finding patch that caused a bug
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-Finding using git-bisect
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-------------------------
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+Finding using ``git-bisect``
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+----------------------------
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-Using the provided tools with git makes finding bugs easy provided the bug is
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-reproducible.
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+Using the provided tools with ``git`` makes finding bugs easy provided the bug
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+is reproducible.
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Steps to do it:
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+
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- start using git for the kernel source
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-- read the man page for git-bisect
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+- read the man page for ``git-bisect``
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- have fun
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Finding it the old way
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@@ -58,22 +50,22 @@ It's a brute force approach but it works pretty well.
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You need:
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- . A reproducible bug - it has to happen predictably (sorry)
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- . All the kernel tar files from a revision that worked to the
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+ - A reproducible bug - it has to happen predictably (sorry)
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+ - All the kernel tar files from a revision that worked to the
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revision that doesn't
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You will then do:
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- . Rebuild a revision that you believe works, install, and verify that.
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- . Do a binary search over the kernels to figure out which one
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+ - Rebuild a revision that you believe works, install, and verify that.
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+ - Do a binary search over the kernels to figure out which one
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introduced the bug. I.e., suppose 1.3.28 didn't have the bug, but
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you know that 1.3.69 does. Pick a kernel in the middle and build
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that, like 1.3.50. Build & test; if it works, pick the mid point
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between .50 and .69, else the mid point between .28 and .50.
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- . You'll narrow it down to the kernel that introduced the bug. You
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+ - You'll narrow it down to the kernel that introduced the bug. You
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can probably do better than this but it gets tricky.
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- . Narrow it down to a subdirectory
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+ - Narrow it down to a subdirectory
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- Copy kernel that works into "test". Let's say that 3.62 works,
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but 3.63 doesn't. So you diff -r those two kernels and come
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@@ -83,7 +75,7 @@ You will then do:
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Copy the non-working directory next to the working directory
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as "dir.63".
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One directory at time, try moving the working directory to
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- "dir.62" and mv dir.63 dir"time, try
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+ "dir.62" and mv dir.63 dir"time, try::
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mv dir dir.62
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mv dir.63 dir
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@@ -97,15 +89,15 @@ You will then do:
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found in my case that they were self explanatory - you may
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or may not want to give up when that happens.
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- . Narrow it down to a file
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+ - Narrow it down to a file
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- You can apply the same technique to each file in the directory,
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hoping that the changes in that file are self contained.
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- . Narrow it down to a routine
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+ - Narrow it down to a routine
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- You can take the old file and the new file and manually create
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- a merged file that has
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+ a merged file that has::
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#ifdef VER62
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routine()
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@@ -120,7 +112,7 @@ You will then do:
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#endif
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And then walk through that file, one routine at a time and
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- prefix it with
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+ prefix it with::
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#define VER62
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/* both routines here */
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@@ -153,94 +145,104 @@ To debug a kernel, use objdump and look for the hex offset from the crash
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output to find the valid line of code/assembler. Without debug symbols, you
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will see the assembler code for the routine shown, but if your kernel has
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debug symbols the C code will also be available. (Debug symbols can be enabled
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-in the kernel hacking menu of the menu configuration.) For example:
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+in the kernel hacking menu of the menu configuration.) For example::
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objdump -r -S -l --disassemble net/dccp/ipv4.o
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-NB.: you need to be at the top level of the kernel tree for this to pick up
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-your C files.
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+.. note::
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+
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+ You need to be at the top level of the kernel tree for this to pick up
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+ your C files.
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If you don't have access to the code you can also debug on some crash dumps
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-e.g. crash dump output as shown by Dave Miller.
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-
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-> EIP is at ip_queue_xmit+0x14/0x4c0
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-> ...
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-> Code: 44 24 04 e8 6f 05 00 00 e9 e8 fe ff ff 8d 76 00 8d bc 27 00 00
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-> 00 00 55 57 56 53 81 ec bc 00 00 00 8b ac 24 d0 00 00 00 8b 5d 08
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-> <8b> 83 3c 01 00 00 89 44 24 14 8b 45 28 85 c0 89 44 24 18 0f 85
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->
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-> Put the bytes into a "foo.s" file like this:
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->
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-> .text
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-> .globl foo
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-> foo:
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-> .byte .... /* bytes from Code: part of OOPS dump */
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->
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-> Compile it with "gcc -c -o foo.o foo.s" then look at the output of
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-> "objdump --disassemble foo.o".
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->
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-> Output:
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->
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-> ip_queue_xmit:
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-> push %ebp
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-> push %edi
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-> push %esi
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-> push %ebx
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-> sub $0xbc, %esp
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-> mov 0xd0(%esp), %ebp ! %ebp = arg0 (skb)
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-> mov 0x8(%ebp), %ebx ! %ebx = skb->sk
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-> mov 0x13c(%ebx), %eax ! %eax = inet_sk(sk)->opt
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+e.g. crash dump output as shown by Dave Miller::
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+
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+ EIP is at ip_queue_xmit+0x14/0x4c0
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+ ...
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+ Code: 44 24 04 e8 6f 05 00 00 e9 e8 fe ff ff 8d 76 00 8d bc 27 00 00
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+ 00 00 55 57 56 53 81 ec bc 00 00 00 8b ac 24 d0 00 00 00 8b 5d 08
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+ <8b> 83 3c 01 00 00 89 44 24 14 8b 45 28 85 c0 89 44 24 18 0f 85
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+
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+ Put the bytes into a "foo.s" file like this:
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+
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+ .text
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+ .globl foo
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+ foo:
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+ .byte .... /* bytes from Code: part of OOPS dump */
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+
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+ Compile it with "gcc -c -o foo.o foo.s" then look at the output of
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+ "objdump --disassemble foo.o".
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+
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+ Output:
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+
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+ ip_queue_xmit:
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+ push %ebp
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+ push %edi
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+ push %esi
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+ push %ebx
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+ sub $0xbc, %esp
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+ mov 0xd0(%esp), %ebp ! %ebp = arg0 (skb)
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+ mov 0x8(%ebp), %ebx ! %ebx = skb->sk
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+ mov 0x13c(%ebx), %eax ! %eax = inet_sk(sk)->opt
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In addition, you can use GDB to figure out the exact file and line
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-number of the OOPS from the vmlinux file. If you have
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-CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO enabled, you can simply copy the EIP value from the
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-OOPS:
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+number of the OOPS from the ``vmlinux`` file. If you have
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+``CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO`` enabled, you can simply copy the EIP value from the
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+OOPS::
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EIP: 0060:[<c021e50e>] Not tainted VLI
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-And use GDB to translate that to human-readable form:
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+And use GDB to translate that to human-readable form::
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gdb vmlinux
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(gdb) l *0xc021e50e
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-If you don't have CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO enabled, you use the function
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-offset from the OOPS:
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+If you don't have ``CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO`` enabled, you use the function
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+offset from the OOPS::
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EIP is at vt_ioctl+0xda8/0x1482
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-And recompile the kernel with CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO enabled:
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+And recompile the kernel with ``CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO`` enabled::
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make vmlinux
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gdb vmlinux
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(gdb) p vt_ioctl
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(gdb) l *(0x<address of vt_ioctl> + 0xda8)
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-or, as one command
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+
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+or, as one command::
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+
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(gdb) l *(vt_ioctl + 0xda8)
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-If you have a call trace, such as :-
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->Call Trace:
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-> [<ffffffff8802c8e9>] :jbd:log_wait_commit+0xa3/0xf5
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-> [<ffffffff810482d9>] autoremove_wake_function+0x0/0x2e
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-> [<ffffffff8802770b>] :jbd:journal_stop+0x1be/0x1ee
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-> ...
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+If you have a call trace, such as::
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+
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+ Call Trace:
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+ [<ffffffff8802c8e9>] :jbd:log_wait_commit+0xa3/0xf5
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+ [<ffffffff810482d9>] autoremove_wake_function+0x0/0x2e
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+ [<ffffffff8802770b>] :jbd:journal_stop+0x1be/0x1ee
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+ ...
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+
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this shows the problem in the :jbd: module. You can load that module in gdb
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-and list the relevant code.
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+and list the relevant code::
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+
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gdb fs/jbd/jbd.ko
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(gdb) p log_wait_commit
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(gdb) l *(0x<address> + 0xa3)
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-or
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+
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+or::
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+
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(gdb) l *(log_wait_commit + 0xa3)
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Another very useful option of the Kernel Hacking section in menuconfig is
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Debug memory allocations. This will help you see whether data has been
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initialised and not set before use etc. To see the values that get assigned
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-with this look at mm/slab.c and search for POISON_INUSE. When using this an
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-Oops will often show the poisoned data instead of zero which is the default.
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+with this look at ``mm/slab.c`` and search for ``POISON_INUSE``. When using
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+this an Oops will often show the poisoned data instead of zero which is the
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+default.
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Once you have worked out a fix please submit it upstream. After all open
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source is about sharing what you do and don't you want to be recognised for
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your genius?
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-Please do read Documentation/SubmittingPatches though to help your code get
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-accepted.
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+Please do read :ref:`Documentation/SubmittingPatches <submittingpatches>`
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+though to help your code get accepted.
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