Re: [PATCH v2 1/2] x86/boot: robustify calling startup_{32,64}() from the decompressor code

[Jiri Slaby]

On 01. 11. 22, 17:15, Alexander Lobakin wrote:
> After commit ce697ccee1a8 ("kbuild: remove head-y syntax"), I
> started digging whether x86 is ready for removing this old cruft.
> Removing its objects from the list makes the kernel unbootable.
> This applies only to bzImage, vmlinux still works correctly.
> The reason is that with no strict object order determined by the
> linker arguments, not the linker script, startup_64 can be placed
> not right at the beginning of the kernel.
> Here's vmlinux.map's beginning before removing:
>
> ffffffff81000000         vmlinux.o:(.head.text)
> ffffffff81000000                 startup_64
> ffffffff81000070                 secondary_startup_64
> ffffffff81000075                 secondary_startup_64_no_verify
> ffffffff81000160                 verify_cpu
>
> and after:
>
> ffffffff81000000         vmlinux.o:(.head.text)
> ffffffff81000000                 pvh_start_xen
> ffffffff81000080                 startup_64
> ffffffff810000f0                 secondary_startup_64
> ffffffff810000f5                 secondary_startup_64_no_verify
>
> Not a problem itself, but the self-extractor code has the address of
> that function hardcoded the beginning, not looking onto the ELF
> header, which always contains the address of startup_{32,64}().
>
> So, instead of doing an "act of blind faith", just take the address
> from the ELF header and extract a relative offset to the entry
> point. The decompressor function already returns a pointer to the
> beginning of the kernel to the Asm code, which then jumps to it,
> so add that offset to the return value.
> This doesn't change anything for now, but allows to resign from the
> "head object list" for x86 and makes sure valid Kbuild or any other
> improvements won't break anything here in general.
>
> Tested-by: Jiri Slaby <jirislaby@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Alexander Lobakin <alexandr.lobakin@xxxxxxxxx>

Reviewed-by: Jiri Slaby <jirislaby@xxxxxxxxxx>

thanks,
--
js
suse labs