Re: [Regression 4.15] Can't kill CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC with fire or plague.

[Masahiro Yamada]

On Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 6:45 AM Paul Gortmaker
<paul.gortmaker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> [Re: [Regression 4.15] Can't kill CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC with fire or plague.] On 29/12/2017 (Fri 13:18) Paul Gortmaker wrote:
>
> > [Re: [Regression 4.15] Can't kill CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC with fire or plague.] On 29/12/2017 (Fri 10:47) Josh Poimboeuf wrote:
> >
> > > This seems to be related to a kconfig quirk where only silentoldconfig
> > > updates the include/config/auto.conf file.  The other config targets
> > > (oldconfig, defconfig, etc) don't touch it.  It seems intentional, but I
> > > have no idea why.
> > >
> > > That causes the Makefile to get stale data for 'CONFIG_*' variables when
> > > it includes auto.conf.  So I don't think this is specific to the ORC
> > > check.  It seems like it could also cause bugs elsewhere.
> >
> > OK, good - you agree with my initial diagnosis of stale auto.conf then.
> > Not sure what Randy was testing when he said he couldn't reproduce it.
> >
> > > The below (ugly) patch fixes it, though I'm not sure this is the best
> > > way to do it.  We probably need Masahiro or Michal to chime in here.
> >
> > Yep, that is why I intentionally put the kbuild folks on the To/Cc of
> > the original report (and ran away screaming at the prospect of debugging
> > Makefiles on xmas day).  But with holidays and all, it might not be
> > until early January before they have a chance to reply.
>
> It is nearly a year later and we still have this false positive.
>
> paul@sm:~/git/linux-head$ make -j12 > /dev/null
> Makefile:966: *** "Cannot generate ORC metadata for CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC=y,
>  please install libelf-dev, libelf-devel or elfutils-libelf-devel".  Stop.
> paul@sm:~/git/linux-head$ grep UNWINDER_ORC .config
> # CONFIG_UNWINDER_ORC is not set
>
> We do know a bit more now -- the auto.conf issue has been independently
> confirmed and "fixed" for other subsystems/issues since, like RETPOLINE:
>
>  ---------------------
>   commit 25896d073d8a0403b07e6dec56f58e6c33678207
>   Author: Masahiro Yamada <yamada.masahiro@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>   Date:   Wed Dec 5 15:27:19 2018 +0900
>
>     x86/build: Fix compiler support check for CONFIG_RETPOLINE
>
>     It is troublesome to add a diagnostic like this to the Makefile
>     parse stage because the top-level Makefile could be parsed with
>     a stale include/config/auto.conf.
>
>     Once you are hit by the error about non-retpoline compiler, the
>     compilation still breaks even after disabling CONFIG_RETPOLINE.
>  ---------------------
>
> I'm not sure if we want to treat this on a per config option each time
> again and again, or undertake a more global kbuild approach, but it does
> warrant a mention and a re-examination before we "solve" this again.


I did not notice this thread
(perhaps, it fell into my crack during the holidays)
but I actually tried to fix this twice in a sophisticated way
in the past.


The first attempt (https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/10516049/)
was rejected by Josh Poimboeuf.

The second one (https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/10643245/)
turned out not working as expected.


Now, I am preparing for the third attempt,
but it will take time for review.

What I can do now is the similar fix-up as commit 25896d073d8.

I will post a cheesy fix-up patch.


--
Best Regards
Masahiro Yamada