Re: [PATCH v4 00/57] x86/dumpstack: rewrite x86 stack dump code

From: Frederic Weisbecker
Date: Thu Aug 18 2016 - 09:27:14 EST


On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 08:05:40AM -0500, Josh Poimboeuf wrote:
>
> The x86 stack dump code is a bit of a mess. dump_trace() uses
> callbacks, and each user of it seems to have slightly different
> requirements, so there are several slightly different callbacks floating
> around.
>
> Also there are some upcoming features which will require more changes to
> the stack dump code: reliable stack detection for live patching,
> hardened user copy, and the DWARF unwinder. Each of those features
> would at least need more callbacks and/or callback interfaces, resulting
> in a much bigger mess than what we have today.
>
> Before doing all that, we should try to clean things up and replace
> dump_trace() with something cleaner and more flexible.
>
> The new unwinder is a simple state machine which was heavily inspired by
> a suggestion from Andy Lutomirski:
>
> https://lkml.kernel.org/r/CALCETrUbNTqaM2LRyXGRx=kVLRPeY5A3Pc6k4TtQxF320rUT=w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> It's also similar to the libunwind API:
>
> http://www.nongnu.org/libunwind/man/libunwind(3).html
>
> Some if its advantages:
>
> - simplicity: no more callback sprawl and less code duplication.
>
> - flexibility: allows the caller to stop and inspect the stack state at
> each step in the unwinding process.
>
> - modularity: the unwinder code, console stack dump code, and stack
> metadata analysis code are all better separated so that changing one
> of them shouldn't have much of an impact on any of the others.
>
> ----
>
> Josh Poimboeuf (57):

I am personally unable to review a 57 patches series.

Any chance you could split it into self-contained steps? In general doing so
increase the chances for reviews, accelerate merging, improve maintainance...

Thanks.