Re: [PATCH v5 2/3] ring-buffer: Handle RB_MISSED_* flags on commit field correctly

[Steven Rostedt]

On Thu, 26 Feb 2026 22:38:43 +0900
"Masami Hiramatsu (Google)" <mhiramat@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Since the MSBs of rb_data_page::commit are used for storing
> RB_MISSED_EVENTS and RB_MISSED_STORED, we need to mask out those bits
> when it is used for finding the size of data pages.
> 
> Fixes: 5f3b6e839f3c ("ring-buffer: Validate boot range memory events")
> Fixes: 5b7be9c709e1 ("ring-buffer: Add test to validate the time stamp deltas")
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This is unneeded for the current way things work.

The missed events flags are added when a page is read, so the commits in
the write buffer should never have those flags set. If they did, the ring
buffer code itself would break.

But as patch 3 is adding a flag, you should likely merge this and patch 3
together, as the only way that flag would get set is if the validator set
it on a previous boot. And then this would be needed for subsequent boots
that did not reset the buffer.

Hmm, I don't think we even need to do that! Because if it is set, it would
simply warn again that a page is invalid, and I think we *want* that! As it
would preserve that pages were invalid and not be cleared with a simple
reboot.

-- Steve