[PATCH v4] tracing: Use seq_buf for string concatenation

From: Woradorn Laodhanadhaworn

Date: Mon Jul 13 2026 - 00:54:19 EST


In preparation for removing the strlcat API[1],
replace the string concatenation logic with a struct seq_buf,
which tracks the current position and the remaining space internally.

Use seq_buf_str() to NUL-terminate before passing to early_enable_events().

Link: https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/370 [1]

Signed-off-by: Woradorn Laodhanadhaworn <woradorn.laon@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v1 -> v2:
- Fixed WARN_ON when booting with empty trace_event.
v2 -> v3:
- Addressed Sashiko's concern about the compound literal backing buffer.
- Replaced the compund literal with an explicit declared buffer and pointed
seq_buf.buffer to it. This guarantees the backing storage is placed in
`.init.data` and reclaimed after boot.
v3 -> v4:
- Removed typecast a const char* to non const.

v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260620175441.223342-1-woradorn.laon@xxxxxxxxx
v2: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260622094623.18469-1-woradorn.laon@xxxxxxxxx
v3: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260623145147.12145-1-woradorn.laon@xxxxxxxxx
Sashiko: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260622094623.18469-1-woradorn.laon%40gmail.com

kernel/trace/trace_events.c | 16 +++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_events.c b/kernel/trace/trace_events.c
index c46e623e7e0d..4f5a0e73a89b 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_events.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_events.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
#include <linux/sort.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/delay.h>
+#include <linux/seq_buf.h>

#include <trace/events/sched.h>
#include <trace/syscall.h>
@@ -4501,13 +4502,20 @@ extern struct trace_event_call *__start_ftrace_events[];
extern struct trace_event_call *__stop_ftrace_events[];

static char bootup_event_buf[COMMAND_LINE_SIZE] __initdata;
+static struct seq_buf bootup_event_seq __initdata = {
+ .buffer = bootup_event_buf,
+ .size = sizeof(bootup_event_buf),
+};

static __init int setup_trace_event(char *str)
{
- if (bootup_event_buf[0] != '\0')
- strlcat(bootup_event_buf, ",", COMMAND_LINE_SIZE);
+ if (seq_buf_used(&bootup_event_seq) > 0)
+ seq_buf_puts(&bootup_event_seq, ",");
+
+ seq_buf_puts(&bootup_event_seq, str);

- strlcat(bootup_event_buf, str, COMMAND_LINE_SIZE);
+ if (seq_buf_has_overflowed(&bootup_event_seq))
+ return -ENOMEM;

trace_set_ring_buffer_expanded(NULL);
disable_tracing_selftest("running event tracing");
@@ -4766,6 +4774,7 @@ static __init int event_trace_enable(void)
*/
__trace_early_add_events(tr);

+ seq_buf_str(&bootup_event_seq);
early_enable_events(tr, bootup_event_buf, false);

trace_printk_start_comm();
@@ -4794,6 +4803,7 @@ static __init int event_trace_enable_again(void)
if (!tr)
return -ENODEV;

+ seq_buf_str(&bootup_event_seq);
early_enable_events(tr, bootup_event_buf, true);

return 0;
--
2.43.0