Re: [PATCH 1/1] Kbuild, clang: add option for choosing a ThinLTO cache directory

[torvic9]

> Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@xxxxxxxxxx> hat am 13.07.2021 12:45 geschrieben:
> 
>  
> On Mon, Jul 12, 2021 at 8:10 PM Tor Vic <torvic9@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > On some distros and configurations, it might be useful to allow for
> > specifying a directory where Clang stores its ThinLTO cache.
> >
> > More specifically, when building the VirtualBox extramodules on Arch with
> > its proper 'makepkg' build system and DKMS, against an already installed
> > ThinLTO kernel, the build fails because it tries to create the ThinLTO
> > cache in a directory that is not user-writable.
> >
> > A similar problem has been reported with openSUSE's OBS build system.
> >
> > Add a Kconfig option that allows users to choose a directory in which
> > Clang's ThinLTO can store its cache.
> >
> > Link: https://github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/linux/issues/1104
> > Signed-off-by: Tor Vic <torvic9@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> 
> I do not understand.
> 
> Currently, .thinlto-cache is created in the same directory
> as the other objects.  (right under $(KBUILD_EXTMOD))
> 
> If you build in a read-only directory, you cannot put
> any build artifact (not limited to the thinlto cache) there.
> 
> Why did changing the location of .thinlto-cache
> solve your problem?
> 

Sorry, I accidentally sent the message before completing it...

So, when building an out-of-tree module on Arch using DKMS,
I get the following error message:

    Error: Permission denied
    LLVM ERROR: ThinLTO: Can't get a temporary file

The reason for this seems to be that DKMS looks for the cache inside
the installed kernel's modules/headers folder, which on Arch is in
/usr/lib/modules/$kernelversion/build, and this folder is of course not
writeable by the user.
With the patch, a user-writable directory can be selected and DKMS seems
to pick it up.
But yes, I also have more questions than answers unfortunately...

Maybe it is more of an issue with DKMS itself than with the kernel, in
any way, DKMS needs a few fixes for Clang-built kernels, see [1].

[1] https://github.com/dell/dkms/issues/124

> 
> 
> > ---
> >  Makefile                  |  5 +++--
> >  arch/Kconfig              | 10 ++++++++++
> >  scripts/Makefile.lib      |  4 ++++
> >  scripts/Makefile.modfinal |  4 ++++
> >  4 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
> > index c3f9bd191b89..472bc8bfff03 100644
> > --- a/Makefile
> > +++ b/Makefile
> > @@ -932,7 +932,8 @@ endif
> >  ifdef CONFIG_LTO_CLANG
> >  ifdef CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_THIN
> >  CC_FLAGS_LTO   := -flto=thin -fsplit-lto-unit
> > -KBUILD_LDFLAGS += --thinlto-cache-dir=$(extmod_prefix).thinlto-cache
> > +export thinlto-dir = $(if
> > $(CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_THIN_CACHEDIR),$(CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_THIN_CACHEDIR)/)
> > +KBUILD_LDFLAGS +=
> > --thinlto-cache-dir=$(thinlto-dir)$(extmod_prefix).thinlto-cache
> >  else
> >  CC_FLAGS_LTO   := -flto
> >  endif
> > @@ -1728,7 +1729,7 @@ PHONY += compile_commands.json
> >
> >  clean-dirs := $(KBUILD_EXTMOD)
> >  clean: rm-files := $(KBUILD_EXTMOD)/Module.symvers
> > $(KBUILD_EXTMOD)/modules.nsdeps \
> > -       $(KBUILD_EXTMOD)/compile_commands.json $(KBUILD_EXTMOD)/.thinlto-cache
> > +       $(KBUILD_EXTMOD)/compile_commands.json
> > $(thinlto-dir)$(KBUILD_EXTMOD)/.thinlto-cache
> >
> >  PHONY += help
> >  help:
> > diff --git a/arch/Kconfig b/arch/Kconfig
> > index 129df498a8e1..19e4d140e12a 100644
> > --- a/arch/Kconfig
> > +++ b/arch/Kconfig
> > @@ -696,6 +696,16 @@ config LTO_CLANG_THIN
> >             https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ThinLTO.html
> >
> >           If unsure, say Y.
> > +
> > +config LTO_CLANG_THIN_CACHEDIR
> > +       string "Clang ThinLTO cache directory"
> > +       depends on LTO_CLANG_THIN
> > +       default ""
> > +       help
> > +         This option allows users to choose a directory that stores
> > +         Clang's ThinLTO cache.
> > +         Leave empty for default.
> > +
> >  endchoice
> >
> >  config ARCH_SUPPORTS_CFI_CLANG
> > diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.lib b/scripts/Makefile.lib
> > index 10950559b223..bca87a6aa35b 100644
> > --- a/scripts/Makefile.lib
> > +++ b/scripts/Makefile.lib
> > @@ -197,6 +197,10 @@ endif
> >  part-of-module = $(if $(filter $(basename $@).o, $(real-obj-m)),y)
> >  quiet_modtag = $(if $(part-of-module),[M],   )
> >
> > +ifdef CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_THIN
> > +KBUILD_LDFLAGS +=
> > --thinlto-cache-dir=$(thinlto-dir)$(extmod-prefix).thinlto-cache
> > +endif
> > +
> >  modkern_cflags =                                          \
> >         $(if $(part-of-module),                           \
> >                 $(KBUILD_CFLAGS_MODULE) $(CFLAGS_MODULE), \
> > diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.modfinal b/scripts/Makefile.modfinal
> > index 5e9b8057fb24..ab0d72e21318 100644
> > --- a/scripts/Makefile.modfinal
> > +++ b/scripts/Makefile.modfinal
> > @@ -35,6 +35,10 @@ ifdef CONFIG_LTO_CLANG
> >  # avoid a second slow LTO link
> >  prelink-ext := .lto
> >
> > +ifdef CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_THIN
> > +KBUILD_LDFLAGS +=
> > --thinlto-cache-dir=$(thinlto-dir)$(extmod-prefix).thinlto-cache
> > +endif # CONFIG_LTO_CLANG_THIN
> > +
> >  # ELF processing was skipped earlier because we didn't have native code,
> >  # so let's now process the prelinked binary before we link the module.
> >
> > --
> > 2.32.0
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Best Regards
> Masahiro Yamada