[PATCH bpf-next v2 2/3] bpftool: Compute light skeleton ctx.sz without relying on links

From: Thiébaud Weksteen

Date: Wed Sep 09 2026 - 00:26:09 EST


When generating a light skeleton, gen_trace() unconditionally sets
skel->ctx.sz using (char *)&skel->links - (char *)skel. However, if a
BPF object has no programs and no struct_ops maps (prog_cnt +
attach_map_cnt == 0), do_skeleton() omits the links struct, causing the
generated skeleton header to fail compilation.

Compute skel->ctx.sz from the end of progs (if prog_cnt > 0), maps (if
map_cnt > 0), or ctx instead of relying on skel->links. Also remove the
unused opts.data_sz argument passed to codegen().

Fixes: d510296d331a ("bpftool: Use syscall/loader program in "prog load" and "gen skeleton" command.")
Signed-off-by: Thiébaud Weksteen <tweek@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/bpf/bpftool/gen.c | 15 +++++++++++----
1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/gen.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/gen.c
index e9a1a018f270..4a93c392857a 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/gen.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/gen.c
@@ -711,7 +711,7 @@ static void codegen_destroy(struct bpf_object *obj, const char *obj_name)
}

static int gen_trace(struct bpf_object *obj, const char *obj_name, const char *header_guard,
- const struct gen_loader_opts *opts)
+ const struct gen_loader_opts *opts, size_t prog_cnt, size_t map_cnt)
{
struct bpf_load_and_run_opts sopts = {};
char sig_buf[MAX_SIG_SIZE];
@@ -746,9 +746,16 @@ static int gen_trace(struct bpf_object *obj, const char *obj_name, const char *h
skel = (struct %1$s *)skel_alloc(sizeof(*skel)); \n\
if (!skel) \n\
goto cleanup; \n\
- skel->ctx.sz = (char *)&skel->links - (char *)skel; \n\
",
- obj_name, opts->data_sz);
+ obj_name);
+ if (prog_cnt)
+ printf("\tskel->ctx.sz = (char *)&skel->progs - (char *)skel\n"
+ "\t\t + sizeof(skel->progs);\n");
+ else if (map_cnt)
+ printf("\tskel->ctx.sz = (char *)&skel->maps - (char *)skel\n"
+ "\t\t + sizeof(skel->maps);\n");
+ else
+ printf("\tskel->ctx.sz = sizeof(skel->ctx);\n");
bpf_object__for_each_map(map, obj) {
const void *mmap_data = NULL;
size_t mmap_size = 0;
@@ -1469,7 +1476,7 @@ static int do_skeleton(int argc, char **argv)
goto out;
}
if (use_loader) {
- err = gen_trace(obj, obj_name, header_guard, &gen_opts);
+ err = gen_trace(obj, obj_name, header_guard, &gen_opts, prog_cnt, map_cnt);
goto out;
}

--
2.55.0.979.g7e5102b832-goog