Re: [RFC][PATCHES v2] checksum stuff

[Al Viro]

On Fri, Dec 08, 2023 at 12:04:24PM +0000, David Laight wrote:
> I've just read RFC 792 and done some experiments.
> The kernel ICMP checksum code is just plain broken.
> 
> RFC 792 is quite clear that the checksum is the 16-bit ones's
> complement of the one's complement sum of the ICMP message
> starting with the ICMP Type.
> 
> The one's complement sum of 0xfffe and 0x0001 is zero (not the 0xffff

It is not.  FYI, N-bit one's complement sum is defined as

X + Y <= MAX_N_BIT ? X + Y : X + Y - MAX_N_BIT,

where MAX_N_BIT is 2^N - 1.

You add them as natural numbers.  If there is no carry and result
fits into N bits, that's it.  If there is carry, you add it to
the lower N bits of sum.

Discussion of properties of that operation is present e.g. in
RFC1071, titled "Computing the Internet Checksum".

May I politely suggest that some basic understanding of the
arithmetics involved might be useful for this discussion?