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Ard Biesheuvel a081b57892
kallsyms: Get rid of kallsyms relative base
When the kallsyms relative base was introduced, per-CPU variable
references on x86_64 SMP were implemented as offsets into the respective
per-CPU region, rather than offsets relative to the location of the
variable's template in the kernel image, which is how other
architectures implement it.

This required kallsyms to reason about the difference between the two,
and the sign of the value in the kallsyms_offsets[] array was used to
distinguish them. This meant that negative offsets were not permitted
for ordinary variables, and so it was crucial that the relative base was
chosen such that all offsets were positive numbers.

This is no longer needed: instead, the offsets can simply be encoded as
values in the range -/+ 2 GiB, which is precisely what PC32 relocations
provide on most architectures. So it is possible to simplify the logic,
and just use _text as the anchor directly, and let the linker calculate
the final value based on the location of the entry itself.

Some architectures (nios2, extensa) do not support place-relative
relocations at all, but these are all 32-bit and non-relocatable, and so
there is no need for place-relative relocations in the first place, and
the actual symbol values can just be stored directly.

This makes all entries in the kallsyms_offsets[] array visible as
place-relative references in the ELF metadata, which will be important
when implementing ELF-based fg-kaslr.

Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260116093359.2442297-6-ardb+git@google.com
Signed-off-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
2026-01-22 15:58:22 -07:00
arch mips: Add support for PC32 relocations in vmlinux 2026-01-22 15:58:17 -07:00
block block-6.19-20251211 2025-12-12 22:04:18 +12:00
certs sign-file,extract-cert: use pkcs11 provider for OPENSSL MAJOR >= 3 2024-09-20 19:52:48 +03:00
crypto Networking changes for 6.19. 2025-12-03 17:24:33 -08:00
Documentation Documentation: dev-tools: add container.rst page 2026-01-22 15:33:27 -07:00
drivers kbuild: cleanup local -Wno-type-limits exceptions 2026-01-05 16:54:14 -07:00
fs kbuild: cleanup local -Wno-type-limits exceptions 2026-01-05 16:54:14 -07:00
include virt: vbox: uapi: Mark inner unions in packed structs as packed 2026-01-16 15:00:54 -07:00
init kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
io_uring io_uring-6.19-20251211 2025-12-12 22:01:32 +12:00
ipc Significant patch series in this pull request: 2025-12-06 14:01:20 -08:00
kernel kallsyms: Get rid of kallsyms relative base 2026-01-22 15:58:22 -07:00
lib Miscellaneous fixes: 2025-12-14 06:04:16 +12:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm There are no significant series in this small merge. Please see the 2025-12-13 20:55:12 +12:00
net We have a patch that adds an initial set of tracepoints to the MDS 2025-12-14 15:24:10 +12:00
rust USB/Thunderbolt changes for 6.19-rc1 2025-12-06 18:42:12 -08:00
samples USB/Thunderbolt changes for 6.19-rc1 2025-12-06 18:42:12 -08:00
scripts kallsyms: Get rid of kallsyms relative base 2026-01-22 15:58:22 -07:00
security Trivial optimization. 2025-12-14 15:21:02 +12:00
sound soundwire updates for 6.19 2025-12-13 16:26:55 +12:00
tools kallsyms: Get rid of kallsyms relative base 2026-01-22 15:58:22 -07:00
usr kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
virt soc: driver updates for 6.19 2025-12-05 17:29:04 -08:00
.clang-format Significant patch series in this merge are as follows: 2025-12-05 13:52:43 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: clean Rust 1.88.0's warning about clippy::disallowed_macros configuration 2025-05-07 00:11:47 +02:00
.cocciconfig scripts: add Linux .cocciconfig for coccinelle 2016-07-22 12:13:39 +02:00
.editorconfig .editorconfig: remove trim_trailing_whitespace option 2024-06-13 16:47:52 +02:00
.get_maintainer.ignore MAINTAINERS: remove Alyssa Rosenzweig 2025-09-18 21:17:31 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore rust: kbuild: add proc macro library support 2025-11-24 17:15:36 +01:00
.mailmap Significant patch series in this pull request: 2025-12-06 14:01:20 -08:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS phy-for-6.19 2025-12-09 06:31:47 +09:00
Kbuild sched: Make migrate_{en,dis}able() inline 2025-09-25 09:57:16 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS Documentation: dev-tools: add container.rst page 2026-01-22 15:33:27 -07:00
Makefile kbuild: Reject unexpected values for LLVM= 2026-01-21 17:01:30 -07:00
README README: restructure with role-based documentation and guidelines 2025-11-29 08:40:33 -07:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst



Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst