[PATCH v2] tools: jobserver: Prevent deadlock caused by incorrect jobserver configuration and enhance error reporting

From: Changbin Du

Date: Thu Jan 08 2026 - 10:58:13 EST


When using GNU Make's jobserver feature in kernel builds, a bug in MAKEFLAGS
propagation caused "--jobserver-auth=r,w" to reference an unintended file
descriptor. This led to infinite loops in jobserver-exec's os.read() calls
due to empty token.

My shell opened /etc/passwd for some reason without closing it, and as a
result, all child processes inherited this fd 3.

$ ls -l /proc/self/fd
total 0
lrwx------ 1 changbin changbin 64 Dec 25 13:03 0 -> /dev/pts/1
lrwx------ 1 changbin changbin 64 Dec 25 13:03 1 -> /dev/pts/1
lrwx------ 1 changbin changbin 64 Dec 25 13:03 2 -> /dev/pts/1
lr-x------ 1 changbin changbin 64 Dec 25 13:03 3 -> /etc/passwd
lr-x------ 1 changbin changbin 64 Dec 25 13:03 4 -> /proc/1421383/fd

In this case, the `make` should open a new file descriptor for jobserver
control, but clearly, it did not do so and instead still passed fd 3 as
"--jobserver-auth=3,4" in MAKEFLAGS. (The version of my gnu make is 4.3)

This update ensures robustness against invalid jobserver configurations,
even when `make` incorrectly pass non-pipe file descriptors.
* Rejecting empty reads to prevent infinite loops on EOF.
* Clearing `self.jobs` to avoid writing to incorrect files if invalid tokens
are detected.
* Printing detailed error messages to stderr to inform the user.

Cc: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Changbin Du <changbin.du@xxxxxxxxxx>

---
v2: remove validation for all bytes are '+' characters. (Mauro)
---
tools/lib/python/jobserver.py | 7 ++++++-
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/tools/lib/python/jobserver.py b/tools/lib/python/jobserver.py
index a24f30ef4fa8..8206e4c1497b 100755
--- a/tools/lib/python/jobserver.py
+++ b/tools/lib/python/jobserver.py
@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@ class JobserverExec:
while True:
try:
slot = os.read(self.reader, 8)
+ if not slot:
+ # Clear self.jobs to prevent us from probably writing incorrect file.
+ self.jobs = []
+ raise ValueError("unexpected empty token from jobserver fd, invalid '--jobserver-auth=' setting?")
self.jobs += slot
except (OSError, IOError) as e:
if e.errno == errno.EWOULDBLOCK:
@@ -105,7 +109,8 @@ class JobserverExec:
# to sit here blocked on our child.
self.claim = len(self.jobs) + 1

- except (KeyError, IndexError, ValueError, OSError, IOError):
+ except (KeyError, IndexError, ValueError, OSError, IOError) as e:
+ print(f"Warning: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
# Any missing environment strings or bad fds should result in just
# not being parallel.
self.claim = None
--
2.43.0