aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/kdump/vmcoreinfo.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/kdump/vmcoreinfo.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/kdump/vmcoreinfo.txt495
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 495 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/kdump/vmcoreinfo.txt b/Documentation/kdump/vmcoreinfo.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index bb94a4bd597a..000000000000
--- a/Documentation/kdump/vmcoreinfo.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,495 +0,0 @@
-================================================================
- VMCOREINFO
-================================================================
-
-===========
-What is it?
-===========
-
-VMCOREINFO is a special ELF note section. It contains various
-information from the kernel like structure size, page size, symbol
-values, field offsets, etc. These data are packed into an ELF note
-section and used by user-space tools like crash and makedumpfile to
-analyze a kernel's memory layout.
-
-================
-Common variables
-================
-
-init_uts_ns.name.release
-------------------------
-
-The version of the Linux kernel. Used to find the corresponding source
-code from which the kernel has been built. For example, crash uses it to
-find the corresponding vmlinux in order to process vmcore.
-
-PAGE_SIZE
----------
-
-The size of a page. It is the smallest unit of data used by the memory
-management facilities. It is usually 4096 bytes of size and a page is
-aligned on 4096 bytes. Used for computing page addresses.
-
-init_uts_ns
------------
-
-The UTS namespace which is used to isolate two specific elements of the
-system that relate to the uname(2) system call. It is named after the
-data structure used to store information returned by the uname(2) system
-call.
-
-User-space tools can get the kernel name, host name, kernel release
-number, kernel version, architecture name and OS type from it.
-
-node_online_map
----------------
-
-An array node_states[N_ONLINE] which represents the set of online nodes
-in a system, one bit position per node number. Used to keep track of
-which nodes are in the system and online.
-
-swapper_pg_dir
--------------
-
-The global page directory pointer of the kernel. Used to translate
-virtual to physical addresses.
-
-_stext
-------
-
-Defines the beginning of the text section. In general, _stext indicates
-the kernel start address. Used to convert a virtual address from the
-direct kernel map to a physical address.
-
-vmap_area_list
---------------
-
-Stores the virtual area list. makedumpfile gets the vmalloc start value
-from this variable and its value is necessary for vmalloc translation.
-
-mem_map
--------
-
-Physical addresses are translated to struct pages by treating them as
-an index into the mem_map array. Right-shifting a physical address
-PAGE_SHIFT bits converts it into a page frame number which is an index
-into that mem_map array.
-
-Used to map an address to the corresponding struct page.
-
-contig_page_data
-----------------
-
-Makedumpfile gets the pglist_data structure from this symbol, which is
-used to describe the memory layout.
-
-User-space tools use this to exclude free pages when dumping memory.
-
-mem_section|(mem_section, NR_SECTION_ROOTS)|(mem_section, section_mem_map)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-The address of the mem_section array, its length, structure size, and
-the section_mem_map offset.
-
-It exists in the sparse memory mapping model, and it is also somewhat
-similar to the mem_map variable, both of them are used to translate an
-address.
-
-page
-----
-
-The size of a page structure. struct page is an important data structure
-and it is widely used to compute contiguous memory.
-
-pglist_data
------------
-
-The size of a pglist_data structure. This value is used to check if the
-pglist_data structure is valid. It is also used for checking the memory
-type.
-
-zone
-----
-
-The size of a zone structure. This value is used to check if the zone
-structure has been found. It is also used for excluding free pages.
-
-free_area
----------
-
-The size of a free_area structure. It indicates whether the free_area
-structure is valid or not. Useful when excluding free pages.
-
-list_head
----------
-
-The size of a list_head structure. Used when iterating lists in a
-post-mortem analysis session.
-
-nodemask_t
-----------
-
-The size of a nodemask_t type. Used to compute the number of online
-nodes.
-
-(page, flags|_refcount|mapping|lru|_mapcount|private|compound_dtor|
- compound_order|compound_head)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-User-space tools compute their values based on the offset of these
-variables. The variables are used when excluding unnecessary pages.
-
-(pglist_data, node_zones|nr_zones|node_mem_map|node_start_pfn|node_
- spanned_pages|node_id)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-On NUMA machines, each NUMA node has a pg_data_t to describe its memory
-layout. On UMA machines there is a single pglist_data which describes the
-whole memory.
-
-These values are used to check the memory type and to compute the
-virtual address for memory map.
-
-(zone, free_area|vm_stat|spanned_pages)
----------------------------------------
-
-Each node is divided into a number of blocks called zones which
-represent ranges within memory. A zone is described by a structure zone.
-
-User-space tools compute required values based on the offset of these
-variables.
-
-(free_area, free_list)
-----------------------
-
-Offset of the free_list's member. This value is used to compute the number
-of free pages.
-
-Each zone has a free_area structure array called free_area[MAX_ORDER].
-The free_list represents a linked list of free page blocks.
-
-(list_head, next|prev)
-----------------------
-
-Offsets of the list_head's members. list_head is used to define a
-circular linked list. User-space tools need these in order to traverse
-lists.
-
-(vmap_area, va_start|list)
---------------------------
-
-Offsets of the vmap_area's members. They carry vmalloc-specific
-information. Makedumpfile gets the start address of the vmalloc region
-from this.
-
-(zone.free_area, MAX_ORDER)
----------------------------
-
-Free areas descriptor. User-space tools use this value to iterate the
-free_area ranges. MAX_ORDER is used by the zone buddy allocator.
-
-log_first_idx
--------------
-
-Index of the first record stored in the buffer log_buf. Used by
-user-space tools to read the strings in the log_buf.
-
-log_buf
--------
-
-Console output is written to the ring buffer log_buf at index
-log_first_idx. Used to get the kernel log.
-
-log_buf_len
------------
-
-log_buf's length.
-
-clear_idx
----------
-
-The index that the next printk() record to read after the last clear
-command. It indicates the first record after the last SYSLOG_ACTION
-_CLEAR, like issued by 'dmesg -c'. Used by user-space tools to dump
-the dmesg log.
-
-log_next_idx
-------------
-
-The index of the next record to store in the buffer log_buf. Used to
-compute the index of the current buffer position.
-
-printk_log
-----------
-
-The size of a structure printk_log. Used to compute the size of
-messages, and extract dmesg log. It encapsulates header information for
-log_buf, such as timestamp, syslog level, etc.
-
-(printk_log, ts_nsec|len|text_len|dict_len)
--------------------------------------------
-
-It represents field offsets in struct printk_log. User space tools
-parse it and check whether the values of printk_log's members have been
-changed.
-
-(free_area.free_list, MIGRATE_TYPES)
-------------------------------------
-
-The number of migrate types for pages. The free_list is described by the
-array. Used by tools to compute the number of free pages.
-
-NR_FREE_PAGES
--------------
-
-On linux-2.6.21 or later, the number of free pages is in
-vm_stat[NR_FREE_PAGES]. Used to get the number of free pages.
-
-PG_lru|PG_private|PG_swapcache|PG_swapbacked|PG_slab|PG_hwpoision
-|PG_head_mask|PAGE_BUDDY_MAPCOUNT_VALUE(~PG_buddy)
-|PAGE_OFFLINE_MAPCOUNT_VALUE(~PG_offline)
------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-Page attributes. These flags are used to filter various unnecessary for
-dumping pages.
-
-HUGETLB_PAGE_DTOR
------------------
-
-The HUGETLB_PAGE_DTOR flag denotes hugetlbfs pages. Makedumpfile
-excludes these pages.
-
-======
-x86_64
-======
-
-phys_base
----------
-
-Used to convert the virtual address of an exported kernel symbol to its
-corresponding physical address.
-
-init_top_pgt
-------------
-
-Used to walk through the whole page table and convert virtual addresses
-to physical addresses. The init_top_pgt is somewhat similar to
-swapper_pg_dir, but it is only used in x86_64.
-
-pgtable_l5_enabled
-------------------
-
-User-space tools need to know whether the crash kernel was in 5-level
-paging mode.
-
-node_data
----------
-
-This is a struct pglist_data array and stores all NUMA nodes
-information. Makedumpfile gets the pglist_data structure from it.
-
-(node_data, MAX_NUMNODES)
--------------------------
-
-The maximum number of nodes in system.
-
-KERNELOFFSET
-------------
-
-The kernel randomization offset. Used to compute the page offset. If
-KASLR is disabled, this value is zero.
-
-KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE
------------------
-
-Currently unused by Makedumpfile. Used to compute the module virtual
-address by Crash.
-
-sme_mask
---------
-
-AMD-specific with SME support: it indicates the secure memory encryption
-mask. Makedumpfile tools need to know whether the crash kernel was
-encrypted. If SME is enabled in the first kernel, the crash kernel's
-page table entries (pgd/pud/pmd/pte) contain the memory encryption
-mask. This is used to remove the SME mask and obtain the true physical
-address.
-
-Currently, sme_mask stores the value of the C-bit position. If needed,
-additional SME-relevant info can be placed in that variable.
-
-For example:
-[ misc ][ enc bit ][ other misc SME info ]
-0000_0000_0000_0000_1000_0000_0000_0000_0000_0000_..._0000
-63 59 55 51 47 43 39 35 31 27 ... 3
-
-======
-x86_32
-======
-
-X86_PAE
--------
-
-Denotes whether physical address extensions are enabled. It has the cost
-of a higher page table lookup overhead, and also consumes more page
-table space per process. Used to check whether PAE was enabled in the
-crash kernel when converting virtual addresses to physical addresses.
-
-====
-ia64
-====
-
-pgdat_list|(pgdat_list, MAX_NUMNODES)
--------------------------------------
-
-pg_data_t array storing all NUMA nodes information. MAX_NUMNODES
-indicates the number of the nodes.
-
-node_memblk|(node_memblk, NR_NODE_MEMBLKS)
-------------------------------------------
-
-List of node memory chunks. Filled when parsing the SRAT table to obtain
-information about memory nodes. NR_NODE_MEMBLKS indicates the number of
-node memory chunks.
-
-These values are used to compute the number of nodes the crashed kernel used.
-
-node_memblk_s|(node_memblk_s, start_paddr)|(node_memblk_s, size)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-
-The size of a struct node_memblk_s and the offsets of the
-node_memblk_s's members. Used to compute the number of nodes.
-
-PGTABLE_3|PGTABLE_4
--------------------
-
-User-space tools need to know whether the crash kernel was in 3-level or
-4-level paging mode. Used to distinguish the page table.
-
-=====
-ARM64
-=====
-
-VA_BITS
--------
-
-The maximum number of bits for virtual addresses. Used to compute the
-virtual memory ranges.
-
-kimage_voffset
---------------
-
-The offset between the kernel virtual and physical mappings. Used to
-translate virtual to physical addresses.
-
-PHYS_OFFSET
------------
-
-Indicates the physical address of the start of memory. Similar to
-kimage_voffset, which is used to translate virtual to physical
-addresses.
-
-KERNELOFFSET
-------------
-
-The kernel randomization offset. Used to compute the page offset. If
-KASLR is disabled, this value is zero.
-
-====
-arm
-====
-
-ARM_LPAE
---------
-
-It indicates whether the crash kernel supports large physical address
-extensions. Used to translate virtual to physical addresses.
-
-====
-s390
-====
-
-lowcore_ptr
-----------
-
-An array with a pointer to the lowcore of every CPU. Used to print the
-psw and all registers information.
-
-high_memory
------------
-
-Used to get the vmalloc_start address from the high_memory symbol.
-
-(lowcore_ptr, NR_CPUS)
-----------------------
-
-The maximum number of CPUs.
-
-=======
-powerpc
-=======
-
-
-node_data|(node_data, MAX_NUMNODES)
------------------------------------
-
-See above.
-
-contig_page_data
-----------------
-
-See above.
-
-vmemmap_list
-------------
-
-The vmemmap_list maintains the entire vmemmap physical mapping. Used
-to get vmemmap list count and populated vmemmap regions info. If the
-vmemmap address translation information is stored in the crash kernel,
-it is used to translate vmemmap kernel virtual addresses.
-
-mmu_vmemmap_psize
------------------
-
-The size of a page. Used to translate virtual to physical addresses.
-
-mmu_psize_defs
---------------
-
-Page size definitions, i.e. 4k, 64k, or 16M.
-
-Used to make vtop translations.
-
-vmemmap_backing|(vmemmap_backing, list)|(vmemmap_backing, phys)|
-(vmemmap_backing, virt_addr)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-
-The vmemmap virtual address space management does not have a traditional
-page table to track which virtual struct pages are backed by a physical
-mapping. The virtual to physical mappings are tracked in a simple linked
-list format.
-
-User-space tools need to know the offset of list, phys and virt_addr
-when computing the count of vmemmap regions.
-
-mmu_psize_def|(mmu_psize_def, shift)
-------------------------------------
-
-The size of a struct mmu_psize_def and the offset of mmu_psize_def's
-member.
-
-Used in vtop translations.
-
-==
-sh
-==
-
-node_data|(node_data, MAX_NUMNODES)
------------------------------------
-
-See above.
-
-X2TLB
------
-
-Indicates whether the crashed kernel enabled SH extended mode.