[PATCH v6 1/2] crash_core, vmcoreinfo: Append 'MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS' to vmcoreinfo

[Bhupesh Sharma]

Right now user-space tools like 'makedumpfile' and 'crash' need to rely
on a best-guess method of determining value of 'MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS'
supported by underlying kernel.

This value is used in user-space code to calculate the bit-space
required to store a section for SPARESMEM (similar to the existing
calculation method used in the kernel implementation):

  #define SECTIONS_SHIFT    (MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS - SECTION_SIZE_BITS)

Now, regressions have been reported in user-space utilities
like 'makedumpfile' and 'crash' on arm64, with the recently added
kernel support for 52-bit physical address space, as there is
no clear method of determining this value in user-space
(other than reading kernel CONFIG flags).

As per suggestion from makedumpfile maintainer (Kazu), it makes more
sense to append 'MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS' to vmcoreinfo in the core code itself
rather than in arch-specific code, so that the user-space code for other
archs can also benefit from this addition to the vmcoreinfo and use it
as a standard way of determining 'SECTIONS_SHIFT' value in user-land.

A reference 'makedumpfile' implementation which reads the
'MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS' value from vmcoreinfo in a arch-independent fashion
is available here:

While at it also update vmcoreinfo documentation for 'MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS'
variable being added to vmcoreinfo.

'MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS' defines the maximum supported physical address
space memory.

Cc: Boris Petkov <bp@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: James Morse <james.morse@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Will Deacon <will@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Michael Ellerman <mpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Paul Mackerras <paulus@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dave Anderson <anderson@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Kazuhito Hagio <k-hagio@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: x86@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: linuxppc-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: linux-arm-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: kexec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Tested-by: John Donnelly <john.p.donnelly@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Bhupesh Sharma <bhsharma@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/vmcoreinfo.rst | 5 +++++
 kernel/crash_core.c                            | 1 +
 2 files changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/vmcoreinfo.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/vmcoreinfo.rst
index e4ee8b2db604..2a632020f809 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/vmcoreinfo.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kdump/vmcoreinfo.rst
@@ -93,6 +93,11 @@ It exists in the sparse memory mapping model, and it is also somewhat
 similar to the mem_map variable, both of them are used to translate an
 address.
 
+MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS
+----------------
+
+Defines the maximum supported physical address space memory.
+
 page
 ----
 
diff --git a/kernel/crash_core.c b/kernel/crash_core.c
index 9f1557b98468..18175687133a 100644
--- a/kernel/crash_core.c
+++ b/kernel/crash_core.c
@@ -413,6 +413,7 @@ static int __init crash_save_vmcoreinfo_init(void)
 	VMCOREINFO_LENGTH(mem_section, NR_SECTION_ROOTS);
 	VMCOREINFO_STRUCT_SIZE(mem_section);
 	VMCOREINFO_OFFSET(mem_section, section_mem_map);
+	VMCOREINFO_NUMBER(MAX_PHYSMEM_BITS);
 #endif
 	VMCOREINFO_STRUCT_SIZE(page);
 	VMCOREINFO_STRUCT_SIZE(pglist_data);
-- 
2.7.4