From: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
To: Jiri Kosina <jikos@kernel.org>,
Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com>,
Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz>
Cc: Jason Baron <jbaron@akamai.com>,
Joe Lawrence <joe.lawrence@redhat.com>,
Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>,
Evgenii Shatokhin <eshatokhin@virtuozzo.com>,
live-patching@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Subject: [PATCH v9 9/9] livepatch: Atomic replace and cumulative patches documentation
Date: Fri, 2 Mar 2018 11:29:35 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20180302102935.14564-10-pmladek@suse.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20180302102935.14564-1-pmladek@suse.com>
User documentation for the atomic replace feature. It makes it easier
to maintain livepatches using so-called cumulative patches.
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com>
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz>
---
Documentation/livepatch/cumulative-patches.txt | 83 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 83 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Documentation/livepatch/cumulative-patches.txt
diff --git a/Documentation/livepatch/cumulative-patches.txt b/Documentation/livepatch/cumulative-patches.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c041fc1bd259
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/livepatch/cumulative-patches.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+===================================
+Atomic Replace & Cumulative Patches
+===================================
+
+There might be dependencies between livepatches. If multiple patches need
+to do different changes to the same function(s) then we need to define
+an order in which the patches will be installed. And function implementations
+from any newer livepatch must be done on top of the older ones.
+
+This might become a maintenance nightmare. Especially if anyone would want
+to remove a patch that is in the middle of the stack.
+
+An elegant solution comes with the feature called "Atomic Replace". It allows
+to create so called "Cumulative Patches". They include all wanted changes
+from all older livepatches and completely replace them in one transition.
+
+Usage
+-----
+
+The atomic replace can be enabled by setting "replace" flag in struct klp_patch,
+for example:
+
+ static struct klp_patch patch = {
+ .mod = THIS_MODULE,
+ .objs = objs,
+ .replace = true,
+ };
+
+Such a patch is added on top of the livepatch stack when registered. It can
+be enabled even when some earlier patches have not been enabled yet.
+
+All processes are then migrated to use the code only from the new patch.
+Once the transition is finished, all older patches are removed from the stack
+of patches. Even the older not-enabled patches mentioned above.
+
+Ftrace handlers are transparently removed from functions that are no
+longer modified by the new cumulative patch.
+
+As a result, the livepatch author might maintain sources only for one
+cumulative patch. It helps to keep the patch consistent while adding or
+removing various fixes or features.
+
+
+Limitations:
+------------
+
+ + Replaced patches can no longer be enabled. But if the transition
+ to the cumulative patch was not forced, the kernel modules with
+ the older livepatches can be removed and eventually added again.
+
+ A good practice is to set .replace flag in any released livepatch.
+ Then re-adding an older livepatch is equivalent to downgrading
+ to that patch. This is safe as long as the livepatches do _not_ do
+ extra modifications in (un)patching callbacks or in the module_init()
+ or module_exit() functions, see below.
+
+
+ + Only the (un)patching callbacks from the _new_ cumulative livepatch are
+ executed. Any callbacks from the replaced patches are ignored.
+
+ By other words, the cumulative patch is responsible for doing any actions
+ that are necessary to properly replace any older patch.
+
+ As a result, it might be dangerous to replace newer cumulative patches by
+ older ones. The old livepatches might not provide the necessary callbacks.
+
+ This might be seen as a limitation in some scenarios. But it makes the life
+ easier in many others. Only the new cumulative livepatch knows what
+ fixes/features are added/removed and what special actions are necessary
+ for a smooth transition.
+
+ In each case, it would be a nightmare to think about the order of
+ the various callbacks and their interactions if the callbacks from all
+ enabled patches were called.
+
+
+ + There is no special handling of shadow variables. Livepatch authors
+ must create their own rules how to pass them from one cumulative
+ patch to the other. Especially they should not blindly remove them
+ in module_exit() functions.
+
+ A good practice might be to remove shadow variables in the post-unpatch
+ callback. It is called only when the livepatch is properly disabled.
--
2.13.6
prev parent reply other threads:[~2018-03-02 10:30 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 10+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2018-03-02 10:29 [PATCH v9 0/9] livepatch: Atomic replace feature Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 1/9] livepatch: Use lists to manage patches, objects and functions Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 2/9] livepatch: Free only structures with initialized kobject Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 3/9] livepatch: Initial support for dynamic structures Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 4/9] livepatch: Allow to unpatch only functions of the given type Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 5/9] livepatch: Support separate list for replaced patches Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 6/9] livepatch: Add atomic replace Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 7/9] livepatch: Correctly handle atomic replace for not yet loaded modules Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` [PATCH v9 8/9] livepatch: Improve dynamic struct klp_object detection and manipulation Petr Mladek
2018-03-02 10:29 ` Petr Mladek [this message]
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