154222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer=================================
254222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerHOWTO interact with BPF subsystem
354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer=================================
454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
5192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThis document provides information for the BPF subsystem about various
6192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerworkflows related to reporting bugs, submitting patches, and queueing
7192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpatches for stable kernels.
8192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
9192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerFor general information about submitting patches, please refer to
1054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer`Documentation/process/`_. This document only describes additional specifics
11192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerrelated to BPF.
12192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
1354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer.. contents::
1454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer    :local:
1554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer    :depth: 2
1654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
1754222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerReporting bugs
1854222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer==============
19192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
20192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: How do I report bugs for BPF kernel code?
2154222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer--------------------------------------------
22192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: Since all BPF kernel development as well as bpftool and iproute2 BPF
23e42da4c6SYonghong Songloader development happens through the bpf kernel mailing list,
24192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerplease report any found issues around BPF to the following mailing
25192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerlist:
26192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
27e42da4c6SYonghong Song bpf@vger.kernel.org
28192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
29192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThis may also include issues related to XDP, BPF tracing, etc.
30192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
31192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerGiven netdev has a high volume of traffic, please also add the BPF
3264ef3ddfSTiezhu Yangmaintainers to Cc (from kernel ``MAINTAINERS`` file):
33192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
3454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer* Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
3554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer* Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
36192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
37192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn case a buggy commit has already been identified, make sure to keep
38192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthe actual commit authors in Cc as well for the report. They can
39192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouertypically be identified through the kernel's git tree.
40192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
4154222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer**Please do NOT report BPF issues to bugzilla.kernel.org since it
4254222838SJesper Dangaard Broueris a guarantee that the reported issue will be overlooked.**
43192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
4454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerSubmitting patches
4554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer==================
46192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
47*26a9b433SDaniel MüllerQ: How do I run BPF CI on my changes before sending them out for review?
48*26a9b433SDaniel Müller------------------------------------------------------------------------
49*26a9b433SDaniel MüllerA: BPF CI is GitHub based and hosted at https://github.com/kernel-patches/bpf.
50*26a9b433SDaniel MüllerWhile GitHub also provides a CLI that can be used to accomplish the same
51*26a9b433SDaniel Müllerresults, here we focus on the UI based workflow.
52*26a9b433SDaniel Müller
53*26a9b433SDaniel MüllerThe following steps lay out how to start a CI run for your patches:
54*26a9b433SDaniel Müller- Create a fork of the aforementioned repository in your own account (one time
55*26a9b433SDaniel Müller  action)
56*26a9b433SDaniel Müller- Clone the fork locally, check out a new branch tracking either the bpf-next
57*26a9b433SDaniel Müller  or bpf branch, and apply your to-be-tested patches on top of it
58*26a9b433SDaniel Müller- Push the local branch to your fork and create a pull request against
59*26a9b433SDaniel Müller  kernel-patches/bpf's bpf-next_base or bpf_base branch, respectively
60*26a9b433SDaniel Müller
61*26a9b433SDaniel MüllerShortly after the pull request has been created, the CI workflow will run. Note
62*26a9b433SDaniel Müllerthat capacity is shared with patches submitted upstream being checked and so
63*26a9b433SDaniel Müllerdepending on utilization the run can take a while to finish.
64*26a9b433SDaniel Müller
65*26a9b433SDaniel MüllerNote furthermore that both base branches (bpf-next_base and bpf_base) will be
66*26a9b433SDaniel Müllerupdated as patches are pushed to the respective upstream branches they track. As
67*26a9b433SDaniel Müllersuch, your patch set will automatically (be attempted to) be rebased as well.
68*26a9b433SDaniel MüllerThis behavior can result in a CI run being aborted and restarted with the new
69*26a9b433SDaniel Müllerbase line.
70*26a9b433SDaniel Müller
71192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: To which mailing list do I need to submit my BPF patches?
7254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer------------------------------------------------------------
73e42da4c6SYonghong SongA: Please submit your BPF patches to the bpf kernel mailing list:
74192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
75e42da4c6SYonghong Song bpf@vger.kernel.org
76192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
77192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn case your patch has changes in various different subsystems (e.g.
78e42da4c6SYonghong Songnetworking, tracing, security, etc), make sure to Cc the related kernel mailing
79192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerlists and maintainers from there as well, so they are able to review
80192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthe changes and provide their Acked-by's to the patches.
81192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
82192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Where can I find patches currently under discussion for BPF subsystem?
8354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-------------------------------------------------------------------------
84192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: All patches that are Cc'ed to netdev are queued for review under netdev
85192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpatchwork project:
86192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
87ebb034b1SAlexei Starovoitov  https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/netdevbpf/list/
88192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
89192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThose patches which target BPF, are assigned to a 'bpf' delegate for
90192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerfurther processing from BPF maintainers. The current queue with
91192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpatches under review can be found at:
92192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
93ebb034b1SAlexei Starovoitov  https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/netdevbpf/list/?delegate=121173
94192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
95192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerOnce the patches have been reviewed by the BPF community as a whole
96192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerand approved by the BPF maintainers, their status in patchwork will be
97192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerchanged to 'Accepted' and the submitter will be notified by mail. This
98192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouermeans that the patches look good from a BPF perspective and have been
99192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerapplied to one of the two BPF kernel trees.
100192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
101192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn case feedback from the community requires a respin of the patches,
102192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouertheir status in patchwork will be set to 'Changes Requested', and purged
103192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerfrom the current review queue. Likewise for cases where patches would
104192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerget rejected or are not applicable to the BPF trees (but assigned to
105192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthe 'bpf' delegate).
106192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
107192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: How do the changes make their way into Linux?
10854222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer------------------------------------------------
109192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: There are two BPF kernel trees (git repositories). Once patches have
110192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbeen accepted by the BPF maintainers, they will be applied to one
111192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerof the two BPF trees:
112192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
11354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer * https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bpf/bpf.git/
11454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer * https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bpf/bpf-next.git/
115192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
116192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe bpf tree itself is for fixes only, whereas bpf-next for features,
117192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouercleanups or other kind of improvements ("next-like" content). This is
118192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueranalogous to net and net-next trees for networking. Both bpf and
119192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbpf-next will only have a master branch in order to simplify against
120192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerwhich branch patches should get rebased to.
121192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
122192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerAccumulated BPF patches in the bpf tree will regularly get pulled
123192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinto the net kernel tree. Likewise, accumulated BPF patches accepted
124192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinto the bpf-next tree will make their way into net-next tree. net and
125192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouernet-next are both run by David S. Miller. From there, they will go
126192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinto the kernel mainline tree run by Linus Torvalds. To read up on the
127192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerprocess of net and net-next being merged into the mainline tree, see
128287f4fa9STobin C. Hardingthe :ref:`netdev-FAQ`
129192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
130287f4fa9STobin C. Harding
131192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
132192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerOccasionally, to prevent merge conflicts, we might send pull requests
133192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerto other trees (e.g. tracing) with a small subset of the patches, but
134192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouernet and net-next are always the main trees targeted for integration.
135192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
136192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe pull requests will contain a high-level summary of the accumulated
137192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpatches and can be searched on netdev kernel mailing list through the
13854222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerfollowing subject lines (``yyyy-mm-dd`` is the date of the pull
13954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerrequest)::
140192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
141192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  pull-request: bpf yyyy-mm-dd
142192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  pull-request: bpf-next yyyy-mm-dd
143192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
14454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: How do I indicate which tree (bpf vs. bpf-next) my patch should be applied to?
14554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
146192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
147287f4fa9STobin C. HardingA: The process is the very same as described in the :ref:`netdev-FAQ`,
148287f4fa9STobin C. Hardingso please read up on it. The subject line must indicate whether the
149192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpatch is a fix or rather "next-like" content in order to let the
150192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouermaintainers know whether it is targeted at bpf or bpf-next.
151192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
152192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerFor fixes eventually landing in bpf -> net tree, the subject must
15354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerlook like::
154192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
155192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  git format-patch --subject-prefix='PATCH bpf' start..finish
156192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
157192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerFor features/improvements/etc that should eventually land in
15854222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerbpf-next -> net-next, the subject must look like::
159192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
160192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  git format-patch --subject-prefix='PATCH bpf-next' start..finish
161192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
162192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIf unsure whether the patch or patch series should go into bpf
163192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueror net directly, or bpf-next or net-next directly, it is not a
164192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerproblem either if the subject line says net or net-next as target.
165192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIt is eventually up to the maintainers to do the delegation of
166192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthe patches.
167192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
168192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIf it is clear that patches should go into bpf or bpf-next tree,
169192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerplease make sure to rebase the patches against those trees in
170192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerorder to reduce potential conflicts.
171192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
172192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn case the patch or patch series has to be reworked and sent out
173192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueragain in a second or later revision, it is also required to add a
17454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerversion number (``v2``, ``v3``, ...) into the subject prefix::
175192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
1764d0d1673SJianlin Lv  git format-patch --subject-prefix='PATCH bpf-next v2' start..finish
177192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
178192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerWhen changes have been requested to the patch series, always send the
179192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerwhole patch series again with the feedback incorporated (never send
180192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerindividual diffs on top of the old series).
181192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
182192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: What does it mean when a patch gets applied to bpf or bpf-next tree?
18354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-----------------------------------------------------------------------
184192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: It means that the patch looks good for mainline inclusion from
185192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouera BPF point of view.
186192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
187192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerBe aware that this is not a final verdict that the patch will
188192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerautomatically get accepted into net or net-next trees eventually:
189192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
190e42da4c6SYonghong SongOn the bpf kernel mailing list reviews can come in at any point
191192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerin time. If discussions around a patch conclude that they cannot
192192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerget included as-is, we will either apply a follow-up fix or drop
193192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthem from the trees entirely. Therefore, we also reserve to rebase
194192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthe trees when deemed necessary. After all, the purpose of the tree
19554222838SJesper Dangaard Broueris to:
19654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
19754222838SJesper Dangaard Broueri) accumulate and stage BPF patches for integration into trees
19854222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer   like net and net-next, and
19954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
20054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerii) run extensive BPF test suite and
201192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer    workloads on the patches before they make their way any further.
202192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
203192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerOnce the BPF pull request was accepted by David S. Miller, then
204192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthe patches end up in net or net-next tree, respectively, and
205192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouermake their way from there further into mainline. Again, see the
206287f4fa9STobin C. Harding:ref:`netdev-FAQ` for additional information e.g. on how often they are
207192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouermerged to mainline.
208192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
209192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: How long do I need to wait for feedback on my BPF patches?
21054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-------------------------------------------------------------
211192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: We try to keep the latency low. The usual time to feedback will
212192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbe around 2 or 3 business days. It may vary depending on the
213192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouercomplexity of changes and current patch load.
214192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
21554222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: How often do you send pull requests to major kernel trees like net or net-next?
21654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
217192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
218192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: Pull requests will be sent out rather often in order to not
219192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueraccumulate too many patches in bpf or bpf-next.
220192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
221192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerAs a rule of thumb, expect pull requests for each tree regularly
222192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerat the end of the week. In some cases pull requests could additionally
223192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouercome also in the middle of the week depending on the current patch
224192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerload or urgency.
225192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
226192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Are patches applied to bpf-next when the merge window is open?
22754222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-----------------------------------------------------------------
228192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: For the time when the merge window is open, bpf-next will not be
229192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerprocessed. This is roughly analogous to net-next patch processing,
230287f4fa9STobin C. Hardingso feel free to read up on the :ref:`netdev-FAQ` about further details.
231192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
232192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerDuring those two weeks of merge window, we might ask you to resend
233192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueryour patch series once bpf-next is open again. Once Linus released
23454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouera ``v*-rc1`` after the merge window, we continue processing of bpf-next.
235192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
236192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerFor non-subscribers to kernel mailing lists, there is also a status
237192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpage run by David S. Miller on net-next that provides guidance:
238192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
239192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  http://vger.kernel.org/~davem/net-next.html
240192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
24154222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Verifier changes and test cases
24254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer----------------------------------
243192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: I made a BPF verifier change, do I need to add test cases for
24454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerBPF kernel selftests_?
245192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
246192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: If the patch has changes to the behavior of the verifier, then yes,
247192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerit is absolutely necessary to add test cases to the BPF kernel
24854222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerselftests_ suite. If they are not present and we think they are
249192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerneeded, then we might ask for them before accepting any changes.
250192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
251192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn particular, test_verifier.c is tracking a high number of BPF test
252192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouercases, including a lot of corner cases that LLVM BPF back end may
253192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouergenerate out of the restricted C code. Thus, adding test cases is
254192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerabsolutely crucial to make sure future changes do not accidentally
255192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueraffect prior use-cases. Thus, treat those test cases as: verifier
256192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbehavior that is not tracked in test_verifier.c could potentially
257192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbe subject to change.
258192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
25954222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: samples/bpf preference vs selftests?
26054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer---------------------------------------
26164ef3ddfSTiezhu YangQ: When should I add code to ``samples/bpf/`` and when to BPF kernel
26254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerselftests_?
263192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
26454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerA: In general, we prefer additions to BPF kernel selftests_ rather than
26564ef3ddfSTiezhu Yang``samples/bpf/``. The rationale is very simple: kernel selftests are
266192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerregularly run by various bots to test for kernel regressions.
267192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
268192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe more test cases we add to BPF selftests, the better the coverage
269192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerand the less likely it is that those could accidentally break. It is
270192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouernot that BPF kernel selftests cannot demo how a specific feature can
271192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbe used.
272192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
27364ef3ddfSTiezhu YangThat said, ``samples/bpf/`` may be a good place for people to get started,
274192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerso it might be advisable that simple demos of features could go into
27564ef3ddfSTiezhu Yang``samples/bpf/``, but advanced functional and corner-case testing rather
276192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinto kernel selftests.
277192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
278192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIf your sample looks like a test case, then go for BPF kernel selftests
279192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinstead!
280192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
281192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: When should I add code to the bpftool?
28254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-----------------------------------------
283192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: The main purpose of bpftool (under tools/bpf/bpftool/) is to provide
284192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouera central user space tool for debugging and introspection of BPF programs
285192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerand maps that are active in the kernel. If UAPI changes related to BPF
286192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerenable for dumping additional information of programs or maps, then
287192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbpftool should be extended as well to support dumping them.
288192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
289192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: When should I add code to iproute2's BPF loader?
29054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer---------------------------------------------------
29154222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerA: For UAPI changes related to the XDP or tc layer (e.g. ``cls_bpf``),
29254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerthe convention is that those control-path related changes are added to
293192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueriproute2's BPF loader as well from user space side. This is not only
294192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueruseful to have UAPI changes properly designed to be usable, but also
295192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerto make those changes available to a wider user base of major
296192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerdownstream distributions.
297192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
298192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Do you accept patches as well for iproute2's BPF loader?
29954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-----------------------------------------------------------
300192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: Patches for the iproute2's BPF loader have to be sent to:
301192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
302192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  netdev@vger.kernel.org
303192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
304192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerWhile those patches are not processed by the BPF kernel maintainers,
305192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerplease keep them in Cc as well, so they can be reviewed.
306192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
307192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe official git repository for iproute2 is run by Stephen Hemminger
308192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerand can be found at:
309192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
310192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/shemminger/iproute2.git/
311192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
31254222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerThe patches need to have a subject prefix of '``[PATCH iproute2
31354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouermaster]``' or '``[PATCH iproute2 net-next]``'. '``master``' or
31454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer'``net-next``' describes the target branch where the patch should be
31554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerapplied to. Meaning, if kernel changes went into the net-next kernel
31654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouertree, then the related iproute2 changes need to go into the iproute2
31754222838SJesper Dangaard Brouernet-next branch, otherwise they can be targeted at master branch. The
31854222838SJesper Dangaard Broueriproute2 net-next branch will get merged into the master branch after
31954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerthe current iproute2 version from master has been released.
320192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
321192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerLike BPF, the patches end up in patchwork under the netdev project and
322192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerare delegated to 'shemminger' for further processing:
323192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
324192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/netdev/list/?delegate=389
325192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
326192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: What is the minimum requirement before I submit my BPF patches?
32754222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer------------------------------------------------------------------
328192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: When submitting patches, always take the time and properly test your
329192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpatches *prior* to submission. Never rush them! If maintainers find
330192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthat your patches have not been properly tested, it is a good way to
331192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerget them grumpy. Testing patch submissions is a hard requirement!
332192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
33354222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerNote, fixes that go to bpf tree *must* have a ``Fixes:`` tag included.
33454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerThe same applies to fixes that target bpf-next, where the affected
33554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouercommit is in net-next (or in some cases bpf-next). The ``Fixes:`` tag is
33654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouercrucial in order to identify follow-up commits and tremendously helps
33754222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerfor people having to do backporting, so it is a must have!
338192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
339192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerWe also don't accept patches with an empty commit message. Take your
340192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouertime and properly write up a high quality commit message, it is
341192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueressential!
342192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
343192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThink about it this way: other developers looking at your code a month
344192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerfrom now need to understand *why* a certain change has been done that
345192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerway, and whether there have been flaws in the analysis or assumptions
346192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthat the original author did. Thus providing a proper rationale and
347192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerdescribing the use-case for the changes is a must.
348192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
349192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerPatch submissions with >1 patch must have a cover letter which includes
350192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouera high level description of the series. This high level summary will
351192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthen be placed into the merge commit by the BPF maintainers such that
352192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerit is also accessible from the git log for future reference.
353192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
35454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Features changing BPF JIT and/or LLVM
35554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer----------------------------------------
356192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: What do I need to consider when adding a new instruction or feature
357192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerthat would require BPF JIT and/or LLVM integration as well?
358192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
359192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: We try hard to keep all BPF JITs up to date such that the same user
360192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerexperience can be guaranteed when running BPF programs on different
361192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerarchitectures without having the program punt to the less efficient
362192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinterpreter in case the in-kernel BPF JIT is enabled.
363192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
364192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIf you are unable to implement or test the required JIT changes for
365192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouercertain architectures, please work together with the related BPF JIT
366192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerdevelopers in order to get the feature implemented in a timely manner.
36754222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerPlease refer to the git log (``arch/*/net/``) to locate the necessary
368192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerpeople for helping out.
369192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
370192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerAlso always make sure to add BPF test cases (e.g. test_bpf.c and
371192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouertest_verifier.c) for new instructions, so that they can receive
372192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbroad test coverage and help run-time testing the various BPF JITs.
373192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
374192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn case of new BPF instructions, once the changes have been accepted
375192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinto the Linux kernel, please implement support into LLVM's BPF back
37654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerend. See LLVM_ section below for further information.
377192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
37854222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerStable submission
37954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer=================
380192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
381192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: I need a specific BPF commit in stable kernels. What should I do?
38254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer--------------------------------------------------------------------
383192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: In case you need a specific fix in stable kernels, first check whether
38454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerthe commit has already been applied in the related ``linux-*.y`` branches:
385192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
386192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/
387192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
388192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIf not the case, then drop an email to the BPF maintainers with the
389192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouernetdev kernel mailing list in Cc and ask for the fix to be queued up:
390192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
391192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  netdev@vger.kernel.org
392192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
393192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe process in general is the same as on netdev itself, see also the
394287f4fa9STobin C. Harding:ref:`netdev-FAQ`.
395192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
396192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Do you also backport to kernels not currently maintained as stable?
39754222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer----------------------------------------------------------------------
398192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: No. If you need a specific BPF commit in kernels that are currently not
399192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouermaintained by the stable maintainers, then you are on your own.
400192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
401192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe current stable and longterm stable kernels are all listed here:
402192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
403192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  https://www.kernel.org/
404192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
40554222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: The BPF patch I am about to submit needs to go to stable as well
40654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-------------------------------------------------------------------
40754222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerWhat should I do?
408192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
409192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: The same rules apply as with netdev patch submissions in general, see
410287f4fa9STobin C. Hardingthe :ref:`netdev-FAQ`.
411192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
41254222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerNever add "``Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org``" to the patch description, but
413192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerask the BPF maintainers to queue the patches instead. This can be done
41454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerwith a note, for example, under the ``---`` part of the patch which does
415192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouernot go into the git log. Alternatively, this can be done as a simple
416192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerrequest by mail instead.
417192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
41854222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Queue stable patches
41954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-----------------------
420192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Where do I find currently queued BPF patches that will be submitted
421192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerto stable?
422192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
423192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: Once patches that fix critical bugs got applied into the bpf tree, they
424192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerare queued up for stable submission under:
425192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
426192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/bundle/bpf/stable/?state=*
427192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
428192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThey will be on hold there at minimum until the related commit made its
429192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerway into the mainline kernel tree.
430192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
431192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerAfter having been under broader exposure, the queued patches will be
432192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouersubmitted by the BPF maintainers to the stable maintainers.
433192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
43454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerTesting patches
43554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer===============
436192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
437b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: How to run BPF selftests
438b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer---------------------------
439b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: After you have booted into the newly compiled kernel, navigate to
440b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouerthe BPF selftests_ suite in order to test BPF functionality (current
441b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouerworking directory points to the root of the cloned git tree)::
442b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
443b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer  $ cd tools/testing/selftests/bpf/
444b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer  $ make
445b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
446b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard BrouerTo run the verifier tests::
447b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
448b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer  $ sudo ./test_verifier
449b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
450b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe verifier tests print out all the current checks being
451b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouerperformed. The summary at the end of running all tests will dump
452b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouerinformation of test successes and failures::
453b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
454b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer  Summary: 418 PASSED, 0 FAILED
455b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
456b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn order to run through all BPF selftests, the following command is
457b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouerneeded::
458b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
459b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer  $ sudo make run_tests
460b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
461b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard BrouerSee the kernels selftest `Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst`_
462b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouerdocument for further documentation.
463b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer
4646736aa79SAlan MaguireTo maximize the number of tests passing, the .config of the kernel
4656736aa79SAlan Maguireunder test should match the config file fragment in
4666736aa79SAlan Maguiretools/testing/selftests/bpf as closely as possible.
4676736aa79SAlan Maguire
4686736aa79SAlan MaguireFinally to ensure support for latest BPF Type Format features -
4696736aa79SAlan Maguirediscussed in `Documentation/bpf/btf.rst`_ - pahole version 1.16
4706736aa79SAlan Maguireis required for kernels built with CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF=y.
4716736aa79SAlan Maguirepahole is delivered in the dwarves package or can be built
4726736aa79SAlan Maguirefrom source at
4736736aa79SAlan Maguire
4746736aa79SAlan Maguirehttps://github.com/acmel/dwarves
4756736aa79SAlan Maguire
476350a62caSTiezhu Yangpahole starts to use libbpf definitions and APIs since v1.13 after the
477350a62caSTiezhu Yangcommit 21507cd3e97b ("pahole: add libbpf as submodule under lib/bpf").
478350a62caSTiezhu YangIt works well with the git repository because the libbpf submodule will
479350a62caSTiezhu Yanguse "git submodule update --init --recursive" to update.
480350a62caSTiezhu Yang
481350a62caSTiezhu YangUnfortunately, the default github release source code does not contain
482350a62caSTiezhu Yanglibbpf submodule source code and this will cause build issues, the tarball
483350a62caSTiezhu Yangfrom https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/devel/pahole/pahole.git/ is same with
484350a62caSTiezhu Yanggithub, you can get the source tarball with corresponding libbpf submodule
485350a62caSTiezhu Yangcodes from
486350a62caSTiezhu Yang
487350a62caSTiezhu Yanghttps://fedorapeople.org/~acme/dwarves
488350a62caSTiezhu Yang
4896736aa79SAlan MaguireSome distros have pahole version 1.16 packaged already, e.g.
4906736aa79SAlan MaguireFedora, Gentoo.
4916736aa79SAlan Maguire
492192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Which BPF kernel selftests version should I run my kernel against?
49354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer---------------------------------------------------------------------
49454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerA: If you run a kernel ``xyz``, then always run the BPF kernel selftests
49554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerfrom that kernel ``xyz`` as well. Do not expect that the BPF selftest
49654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerfrom the latest mainline tree will pass all the time.
497192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
498192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIn particular, test_bpf.c and test_verifier.c have a large number of
499192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouertest cases and are constantly updated with new BPF test sequences, or
500192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerexisting ones are adapted to verifier changes e.g. due to verifier
501192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerbecoming smarter and being able to better track certain things.
502192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
50354222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerLLVM
50454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer====
505192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
506192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Where do I find LLVM with BPF support?
50754222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-----------------------------------------
508192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: The BPF back end for LLVM is upstream in LLVM since version 3.7.1.
509192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
510192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerAll major distributions these days ship LLVM with BPF back end enabled,
511192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerso for the majority of use-cases it is not required to compile LLVM by
512192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerhand anymore, just install the distribution provided package.
513192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
51454222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerLLVM's static compiler lists the supported targets through
51554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer``llc --version``, make sure BPF targets are listed. Example::
516192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
517192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer     $ llc --version
518192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer     LLVM (http://llvm.org/):
5194d0d1673SJianlin Lv       LLVM version 10.0.0
520192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       Optimized build.
521192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       Default target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
522192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       Host CPU: skylake
523192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
524192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       Registered Targets:
5254d0d1673SJianlin Lv         aarch64    - AArch64 (little endian)
526192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer         bpf        - BPF (host endian)
527192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer         bpfeb      - BPF (big endian)
528192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer         bpfel      - BPF (little endian)
529192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer         x86        - 32-bit X86: Pentium-Pro and above
530192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer         x86-64     - 64-bit X86: EM64T and AMD64
531192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
532192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerFor developers in order to utilize the latest features added to LLVM's
533192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerBPF back end, it is advisable to run the latest LLVM releases. Support
534192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerfor new BPF kernel features such as additions to the BPF instruction
535192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerset are often developed together.
536192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
537192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerAll LLVM releases can be found at: http://releases.llvm.org/
538192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
539192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Got it, so how do I build LLVM manually anyway?
54054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer--------------------------------------------------
541628add78STiezhu YangA: We recommend that developers who want the fastest incremental builds
542628add78STiezhu Yanguse the Ninja build system, you can find it in your system's package
543628add78STiezhu Yangmanager, usually the package is ninja or ninja-build.
544628add78STiezhu Yang
545628add78STiezhu YangYou need ninja, cmake and gcc-c++ as build requisites for LLVM. Once you
546628add78STiezhu Yanghave that set up, proceed with building the latest LLVM and clang version
54754222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerfrom the git repositories::
548192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
549e42da4c6SYonghong Song     $ git clone https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project.git
550628add78STiezhu Yang     $ mkdir -p llvm-project/llvm/build
551e42da4c6SYonghong Song     $ cd llvm-project/llvm/build
552e42da4c6SYonghong Song     $ cmake .. -G "Ninja" -DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD="BPF;X86" \
553e42da4c6SYonghong Song                -DLLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS="clang"    \
554192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer                -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release        \
555192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer                -DLLVM_BUILD_RUNTIME=OFF
556e42da4c6SYonghong Song     $ ninja
557192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
558192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerThe built binaries can then be found in the build/bin/ directory, where
559192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueryou can point the PATH variable to.
560192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
5614d0d1673SJianlin LvSet ``-DLLVM_TARGETS_TO_BUILD`` equal to the target you wish to build, you
5624d0d1673SJianlin Lvwill find a full list of targets within the llvm-project/llvm/lib/Target
5634d0d1673SJianlin Lvdirectory.
5644d0d1673SJianlin Lv
56554222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Reporting LLVM BPF issues
56654222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer----------------------------
567192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: Should I notify BPF kernel maintainers about issues in LLVM's BPF code
568192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouergeneration back end or about LLVM generated code that the verifier
569192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerrefuses to accept?
570192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
57154222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerA: Yes, please do!
57254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
57354222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerLLVM's BPF back end is a key piece of the whole BPF
574192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerinfrastructure and it ties deeply into verification of programs from the
575192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerkernel side. Therefore, any issues on either side need to be investigated
576192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerand fixed whenever necessary.
577192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
578192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerTherefore, please make sure to bring them up at netdev kernel mailing
579192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerlist and Cc BPF maintainers for LLVM and kernel bits:
580192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
58154222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer* Yonghong Song <yhs@fb.com>
58254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer* Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
58354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer* Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
584192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
585192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerLLVM also has an issue tracker where BPF related bugs can be found:
586192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
587192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  https://bugs.llvm.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=bpf
588192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
589192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerHowever, it is better to reach out through mailing lists with having
590192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouermaintainers in Cc.
591192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
59254222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: New BPF instruction for kernel and LLVM
59354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer------------------------------------------
594192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: I have added a new BPF instruction to the kernel, how can I integrate
595192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerit into LLVM?
596192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
59754222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerA: LLVM has a ``-mcpu`` selector for the BPF back end in order to allow
59854222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerthe selection of BPF instruction set extensions. By default the
59954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer``generic`` processor target is used, which is the base instruction set
60054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer(v1) of BPF.
601192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
60254222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerLLVM has an option to select ``-mcpu=probe`` where it will probe the host
603192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerkernel for supported BPF instruction set extensions and selects the
604192092faSJesper Dangaard Broueroptimal set automatically.
605192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
60654222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerFor cross-compilation, a specific version can be select manually as well ::
607192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
608192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer     $ llc -march bpf -mcpu=help
609192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer     Available CPUs for this target:
610192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
611192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       generic - Select the generic processor.
612192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       probe   - Select the probe processor.
613192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       v1      - Select the v1 processor.
614192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer       v2      - Select the v2 processor.
615192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer     [...]
616192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
617192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerNewly added BPF instructions to the Linux kernel need to follow the same
618192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerscheme, bump the instruction set version and implement probing for the
61954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerextensions such that ``-mcpu=probe`` users can benefit from the
62054222838SJesper Dangaard Broueroptimization transparently when upgrading their kernels.
621192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
622192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerIf you are unable to implement support for the newly added BPF instruction
623192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerplease reach out to BPF developers for help.
624192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
62554222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerBy the way, the BPF kernel selftests run with ``-mcpu=probe`` for better
626192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouertest coverage.
627192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
62854222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: clang flag for target bpf?
62954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer-----------------------------
63054222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerQ: In some cases clang flag ``-target bpf`` is used but in other cases the
631192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerdefault clang target, which matches the underlying architecture, is used.
632192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerWhat is the difference and when I should use which?
633192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
634192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerA: Although LLVM IR generation and optimization try to stay architecture
63554222838SJesper Dangaard Brouerindependent, ``-target <arch>`` still has some impact on generated code:
636192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
637192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer- BPF program may recursively include header file(s) with file scope
638192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  inline assembly codes. The default target can handle this well,
63954222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer  while ``bpf`` target may fail if bpf backend assembler does not
640192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  understand these assembly codes, which is true in most cases.
641192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
64254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer- When compiled without ``-g``, additional elf sections, e.g.,
643192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  .eh_frame and .rela.eh_frame, may be present in the object file
64454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer  with default target, but not with ``bpf`` target.
645192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
646192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer- The default target may turn a C switch statement into a switch table
647192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  lookup and jump operation. Since the switch table is placed
648192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  in the global readonly section, the bpf program will fail to load.
649192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  The bpf target does not support switch table optimization.
65054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer  The clang option ``-fno-jump-tables`` can be used to disable
651192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  switch table generation.
652192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
65354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer- For clang ``-target bpf``, it is guaranteed that pointer or long /
654192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  unsigned long types will always have a width of 64 bit, no matter
655192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  whether underlying clang binary or default target (or kernel) is
656192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  32 bit. However, when native clang target is used, then it will
657192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  compile these types based on the underlying architecture's conventions,
658192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  meaning in case of 32 bit architecture, pointer or long / unsigned
659192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  long types e.g. in BPF context structure will have width of 32 bit
660192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  while the BPF LLVM back end still operates in 64 bit. The native
66154222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer  target is mostly needed in tracing for the case of walking ``pt_regs``
662192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  or other kernel structures where CPU's register width matters.
66354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer  Otherwise, ``clang -target bpf`` is generally recommended.
664192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
665192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerYou should use default target when:
666192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
667192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer- Your program includes a header file, e.g., ptrace.h, which eventually
668192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  pulls in some header files containing file scope host assembly codes.
669192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
67054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer- You can add ``-fno-jump-tables`` to work around the switch table issue.
67154222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
67254222838SJesper Dangaard BrouerOtherwise, you can use ``bpf`` target. Additionally, you *must* use bpf target
673192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouerwhen:
674192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
675192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer- Your program uses data structures with pointer or long / unsigned long
676192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  types that interface with BPF helpers or context data structures. Access
677192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  into these structures is verified by the BPF verifier and may result
678192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  in verification failures if the native architecture is not aligned with
679192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer  the BPF architecture, e.g. 64-bit. An example of this is
68054222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer  BPF_PROG_TYPE_SK_MSG require ``-target bpf``
68154222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
68254222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer
68354222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer.. Links
68454222838SJesper Dangaard Brouer.. _Documentation/process/: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/
6858df01363SJakub Kicinski.. _netdev-FAQ: Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst
68664ef3ddfSTiezhu Yang.. _selftests:
68764ef3ddfSTiezhu Yang   https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/
688b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer.. _Documentation/dev-tools/kselftest.rst:
689b7a27c3aSJesper Dangaard Brouer   https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/dev-tools/kselftest.html
690009abf5bSDaniel W. S. Almeida.. _Documentation/bpf/btf.rst: btf.rst
691192092faSJesper Dangaard Brouer
692192092faSJesper Dangaard BrouerHappy BPF hacking!
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