Re: PATCH: Fix removed sections (Re: 2.12.90.0.12 Kernel Miscompile)

["H. J. Lu" <hjl at lucon dot org>]

On Mon, Jul 01, 2002 at 09:10:46PM +0930, Alan Modra wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 25, 2002 at 01:24:05PM -0700, H. J. Lu wrote:
> > On Tue, Jun 25, 2002 at 11:56:53AM -0700, H. J. Lu wrote:
> > > http://sources.redhat.com/ml/binutils/2002-06/msg00289.html
> > > 
> > > breaks the Linux kernel 2.2.21 on x86. Reverting
> 
> I'm curious to know exactly why.  So far, I've only seen symptoms
> reported, which could well be due to bugs in the kernel.  (*)  My
> builds of 2.2.21 had no signifigant differences after applying your
> patch, just the version string.  I probably don't use the same
> config as you do.
> 
> Can one of you provide a little more information about vmlinux file
> differences?  "readelf -S vmlinux" output before/after HJ's patch, if
> different would be useful.  My suspicion is that something in the
> kernel is relying on a removed output section's alignment to affect
> placement of the next output section.
> 
> *) Not that we want binutils to break kernel builds!  However, if the
> kernel is relying on what can be argued as ld _bugs_, then we need to
> a) fix the kernel and b) consider whether we can live with a ld bug
> in order to support old code.
> 

FYI, I couldn't duplicate the problem on 2.4 kernel nor I can run 2.2
kernel on my machines. It is entirely possible that it is a kernel bug.
But I don't want a Linux bintuils which creates a bad kernel for any
reason. I will keep my patch in my Linux bintuils until the whole issue
got resolved.

Leonard, could you please help Alan to figure out why it only happens
to 2.2 kernel if you have time? Thanks.


H.J.