Re: [PATCH bpf-next v8] selftests/bpf: trace_helpers.c: optimize kallsyms cache

[Rong Tao]

Hi, jirka. Thanks for your reply.

> > @@ -164,13 +165,14 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
> >  	}
> >  
> >  	/* initialize kernel symbol translation */
> > -	if (load_kallsyms()) {
> > +	ksyms = load_kallsyms();
> 
> if we keep the load_kallsyms/ksym_search/ksym_get_addr functions as described
> in [1] the samples/bpf would stay untouched apart from the Makefile change

Maybe we should make this modification, wouldn't it be better? After all,
not modifying the source code of samples/bpf is not really a reason not to
make modifications to load_kallsyms(), what do you think?

In addition, if we continue to keep the original ksym_search() interface,
the following problems are very difficult to deal with:

	Source code ksym_search [1]

    struct ksym *ksym_search(long key)
    {
    	int start = 0, end = sym_cnt;
    	int result;
    
    	/* kallsyms not loaded. return NULL */
    	if (sym_cnt <= 0)
    		return NULL;
    
    	while (start < end) {
    		size_t mid = start + (end - start) / 2;
    
    		result = key - syms[mid].addr;
    		if (result < 0)
    			end = mid;
    		else if (result > 0)
    			start = mid + 1;
    		else
    			return &syms[mid];                         <<<
    	}
    
    	if (start >= 1 && syms[start - 1].addr < key &&
    	    key < syms[start].addr)
    		/* valid ksym */
    		return &syms[start - 1];                       <<<
    
    	/* out of range. return _stext */
    	return &syms[0];                                   <<<
    }

The original ksym_search() interface directly returns the global syms 
address, which is also dangerous for multi-threading. If we allocate new
memory for this, it is not a perfect solution.

If we rewrite

	struct ksym *ksym_search(long key)

to
	struct ksym ksym_search(long key)

This also affects the source code in samples/bpf.

The same problem exists with ksym_get_addr().

Best wishes,
Rong Tao

[1] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bpf/bpf-next.git/tree/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/trace_helpers.c#n100