Re: [PATCH] selftests/mm: ksm_tests: skip when not run as root

From: SeongJae Park

Date: Fri Jan 09 2026 - 20:16:49 EST


On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 17:43:13 +0800 Sun Jian <sun.jian.kdev@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> ksm_tests writes KSM sysfs knobs under /sys/kernel/mm/ksm, which requires
> root privileges. When run unprivileged, it fails with permission errors
> and reports FAIL, which is misleading.
>
> Skip the test early when not run as root to avoid false failures.
>
> Signed-off-by: Sun Jian <sun.jian.kdev@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c | 5 +++++
> 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c
> index a0b48b839d54..c22cd9c61711 100644
> --- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c
> +++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c
> @@ -766,6 +766,11 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
> bool merge_across_nodes = KSM_MERGE_ACROSS_NODES_DEFAULT;
> long size_MB = 0;
>
> + if (geteuid() != 0) {
> + printf("# SKIP ksm_tests requires root privileges\n");
> + return KSFT_SKIP;

What about using ksft_exit_skip() instead, like compaction_test.c does?


Thanks,
SJ

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