On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 4:55 PM, Eric W. Biederman
<ebiederm(a)xmission.com> wrote:
Dave Anderson <anderson(a)redhat.com> writes:
> Actually it's not a problem with the vmlinux file, but rather with kernel
> module object files. The crash utility has an embedded gdb module which
> is invoked as "gdb vmlinux", and to get line numbers, the crash utility
> simply uses the relevant built-in gdb function to get them. And line
> numbers work fine with the base kernel code from the vmlinux file.
>
> The debuginfo data of kernel modules can be subsequently added to the
> crash session by doing a gdb "add-symbol-file" command for any or all
> kernel modules. But getting correct line number information for kernel
> modules has been a crap-shoot in the past, depending upon architecture
> and/or kernel version. For example, they don't work with 2.6.9-based
> RHEL4 x86_64 kernel modules, but work fine with 2.6.18-based RHEL5 x86_64
> kernels.
>
> Looking at Mike's suspect kernel patch list, I don't see anything that
> would have any relationship to the issue. Perhaps there was a build tool
> change during the same timeframe?
It look like Mike just built a series of kernels and had a problem,
which should preclude a tool change.
That is correct, I just built/booted/tested a series of kernels one
after the other as part of the standard git bisect procedure. No
tools were changed.
That said. Does this feature of crash work in 2.6.29? If not is
there enough interest to track this down, and fix it if it is a kernel
bug?
If we are going to be using these tools we need them working on the
latest and greatest kernels, not some weird enterprise branch, for
fuddy duddies.
This feature of crash does not work with 2.6.29, nor does it work with
any kernel I've tried >= 2.6.21. Andi Kleen shared with me that he
sees the same problem with a recent crash and 2.6.28.
AFAIK I found the regression point relative to linux (commit:
7460ed28). The verdict is clearly still out on where the actual bug
lives (linux vs crash).
Mike