Re: [PATCH] powerpc/xmon: Dont register sysrq key when kernel param xmon=off

[Michael Ellerman]

Vaibhav Jain <vaibhav@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> Thanks for reviewing this patch Balbir
>
> Balbir Singh <bsingharora@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> Any specific issue you've run into without this patch? 
> Without this patch since xmon is still accessible via sysrq and there is
> no indication/warning on the xmon console mentioning that its is not
> fully functional. Specifically xmon-console would still allow user to
> set instruction/data breakpoint eventhough they wont work and will
> result in a kernel-oops.
>
> Below is command log illustrating this problem on one of my test system
> where I tried setting an instruction breakpoint on cmdline_proc_show()
> with xmon=off:

<snip>

But the same crash happens with XMON_DEFAULT=n and nothing on the
command line.

The problem is not xmon=off on the command line.

The problem is that when xmon_on = false and we enter xmon via sysrq and
then set breakpoints, we need to enable xmon_on before leaving xmon.

So this is a bug introduced by:

  3b5bf42b81d5 ("powerpc/xmon: Fix an unexpected xmon on/off state change")


How to fix it is not entirely clear. In general I like the behaviour we
have since the above commit, ie. quickly dropping into xmon and
inspecting something doesn't leave xmon enabled, which then causes the
system not to kdump/reboot later.

What would be nice is if we keep that behaviour, but any action you take
in xmon that requires xmon to remain resident, ie. setting a breakpoint,
calls a function which makes sure xmon_on = true and if it wasn't prints
a nice message saying "Turning xmon on due to breakpoint insertion" or
something.

cheers