Re: [PATCH v3 03/17] mm: add generic __va_function and __pa_function macros

[Sami Tolvanen]

On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 12:14 AM Christoph Hellwig <hch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Mar 23, 2021 at 01:39:32PM -0700, Sami Tolvanen wrote:
> > With CONFIG_CFI_CLANG, the compiler replaces function addresses
> > in instrumented C code with jump table addresses. This means that
> > __pa_symbol(function) returns the physical address of the jump table
> > entry instead of the actual function, which may not work as the jump
> > table code will immediately jump to a virtual address that may not be
> > mapped.
> >
> > To avoid this address space confusion, this change adds generic
> > definitions for __va_function and __pa_function, which architectures
> > that support CFI can override. The typical implementation of the
> > __va_function macro would use inline assembly to take the function
> > address, which avoids compiler instrumentation.
>
> I think these helper are sensible, but shouldn't they have somewhat
> less arcane names and proper documentation?

Good point, I'll add comments in the next version. I thought
__pa_function would be a fairly straightforward replacement for
__pa_symbol, but I'm fine with renaming these. Any suggestions for
less arcane names?

Sami