Re: PATCH v6 3/6] livepatch: Initial support for dynamic structures

[Miroslav Benes]

On Thu, 25 Jan 2018, Petr Mladek wrote:

> From: Jason Baron <jbaron@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> We are going to add a feature called atomic replace. It will allow to
> create a patch that would replace all already registered patches.
> For this, we will need to dynamically create funcs' and objects'
> for functions that are not longer patched.
> 
> This patch adds basic framework to handle such dynamic structures.
> 
> It adds enum klp_func_type that allows to distinguish the dynamically
> allocated funcs' structures. Note that objects' structures do not have
> a clear type. Namely the static objects' structures might list both static
> and dynamic funcs' structures.
> 
> The function type is then used to limit klp_free() functions. We will
> want to free the dynamic structures separately when they are not
> longer needed. At the same time, we also want to make our life easier,
> and introduce _any_ type that will allow to process all existing
> structures in one go.
> 
> We need to be careful here. First, objects' structures must be freed
> only when all listed funcs' structures are freed. Also we must avoid
> double free. Both problems are solved by removing the freed structures
> from the list.
> 
> Also note that klp_free*() functions are called also in klp_init_patch()
> error path when only some kobjects have been initialized. The other
> dynamic structures must be freed immediately by calling the respective
> klp_free_*_dynamic() functions.
> 
> Finally, the dynamic objects' structures are generic. The respective
> klp_allocate_object_dynamic() and klp_free_object_dynamic() can
> be implemented here. On the other hand, klp_free_func_dynamic()
> is empty. It must be updated when a particular dynamic
> klp_func_type is introduced.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Jason Baron <jbaron@xxxxxxxxxx>
> [pmladek@xxxxxxxx: Converted into a generic API]
> Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@xxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Jessica Yu <jeyu@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Jiri Kosina <jikos@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@xxxxxxx>
> ---
>  include/linux/livepatch.h |  37 +++++++++++-
>  kernel/livepatch/core.c   | 139 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------
>  2 files changed, 159 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/include/linux/livepatch.h b/include/linux/livepatch.h
> index e5db2ba7e2a5..21cad200f949 100644
> --- a/include/linux/livepatch.h
> +++ b/include/linux/livepatch.h
> @@ -35,12 +35,22 @@
>  #define KLP_UNPATCHED	 0
>  #define KLP_PATCHED	 1
>  
> +/*
> + * Function type is used to distinguish dynamically allocated structures
> + * and limit some operations.
> + */
> +enum klp_func_type {
> +	KLP_FUNC_ANY = -1,	/* Substitute any type */
> +	KLP_FUNC_ORIGINAL = 0,  /* Original statically defined structure */

Wouldn't KLP_FUNC_STATIC be better? KLP_FUNC_ORIGINAL confused me couple 
of times.

Miroslav