admin-guide: merge oops-tracing with bug-hunting

Now that oops-tracing.rst has only information about
stack dumps found on OOPS, and bug-hunting.rst has only
information about how to identify the source code line
associated with a stack dump, let's merge them and
improve the information inside it.
Signed-off-by: NMauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com>
Signed-off-by: NJonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>

Documentation/admin-guide/bug-hunting.rst

 Bug hunting
-+++++++++++
-
-Last updated: 28 October 2016
-
-Fixing the bug
-==============
-
-Nobody is going to tell you how to fix bugs. Seriously. You need to work it
-out. But below are some hints on how to use the tools.
-
-objdump
--------
-
-To debug a kernel, use objdump and look for the hex offset from the crash
-output to find the valid line of code/assembler. Without debug symbols, you
-will see the assembler code for the routine shown, but if your kernel has
-debug symbols the C code will also be available. (Debug symbols can be enabled
-in the kernel hacking menu of the menu configuration.) For example::
-
-    $ objdump -r -S -l --disassemble net/dccp/ipv4.o
+===========
+
+Kernel bug reports often come with a stack dump like the one below::
+
+	------------[ cut here ]------------
+	WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 28102 at kernel/module.c:1108 module_put+0x57/0x70
+	Modules linked in: dvb_usb_gp8psk(-) dvb_usb dvb_core nvidia_drm(PO) nvidia_modeset(PO) snd_hda_codec_hdmi snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep snd_hda_core snd_pcm snd_timer snd soundcore nvidia(PO) [last unloaded: rc_core]
+	CPU: 1 PID: 28102 Comm: rmmod Tainted: P        WC O 4.8.4-build.1 #1
+	Hardware name: MSI MS-7309/MS-7309, BIOS V1.12 02/23/2009
+	 00000000 c12ba080 00000000 00000000 c103ed6a c1616014 00000001 00006dc6
+	 c1615862 00000454 c109e8a7 c109e8a7 00000009 ffffffff 00000000 f13f6a10
+	 f5f5a600 c103ee33 00000009 00000000 00000000 c109e8a7 f80ca4d0 c109f617
+	Call Trace:
+	 [<c12ba080>] ? dump_stack+0x44/0x64
+	 [<c103ed6a>] ? __warn+0xfa/0x120
+	 [<c109e8a7>] ? module_put+0x57/0x70
+	 [<c109e8a7>] ? module_put+0x57/0x70
+	 [<c103ee33>] ? warn_slowpath_null+0x23/0x30
+	 [<c109e8a7>] ? module_put+0x57/0x70
+	 [<f80ca4d0>] ? gp8psk_fe_set_frontend+0x460/0x460 [dvb_usb_gp8psk]
+	 [<c109f617>] ? symbol_put_addr+0x27/0x50
+	 [<f80bc9ca>] ? dvb_usb_adapter_frontend_exit+0x3a/0x70 [dvb_usb]
+	 [<f80bb3bf>] ? dvb_usb_exit+0x2f/0xd0 [dvb_usb]
+	 [<c13d03bc>] ? usb_disable_endpoint+0x7c/0xb0
+	 [<f80bb48a>] ? dvb_usb_device_exit+0x2a/0x50 [dvb_usb]
+	 [<c13d2882>] ? usb_unbind_interface+0x62/0x250
+	 [<c136b514>] ? __pm_runtime_idle+0x44/0x70
+	 [<c13620d8>] ? __device_release_driver+0x78/0x120
+	 [<c1362907>] ? driver_detach+0x87/0x90
+	 [<c1361c48>] ? bus_remove_driver+0x38/0x90
+	 [<c13d1c18>] ? usb_deregister+0x58/0xb0
+	 [<c109fbb0>] ? SyS_delete_module+0x130/0x1f0
+	 [<c1055654>] ? task_work_run+0x64/0x80
+	 [<c1000fa5>] ? exit_to_usermode_loop+0x85/0x90
+	 [<c10013f0>] ? do_fast_syscall_32+0x80/0x130
+	 [<c1549f43>] ? sysenter_past_esp+0x40/0x6a
+	---[ end trace 6ebc60ef3981792f ]---
+
+Such stack traces provide enough information to identify the line inside the
+Kernel's source code where the bug happened. Depending on the severity of
+the issue, it may also contain the word **Oops**, as on this one::
+
+	BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at   (null)
+	IP: [<c06969d4>] iret_exc+0x7d0/0xa59
+	*pdpt = 000000002258a001 *pde = 0000000000000000
+	Oops: 0002 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
+	...
+
+Despite being an **Oops** or some other sort of stack trace, the offended
+line is usually required to identify and handle the bug. Along this chapter,
+we'll refer to "Oops" for all kinds of stack traces that need to be analized.
 
 .. note::
 
-   You need to be at the top level of the kernel tree for this to pick up
-   your C files.
-
-If you don't have access to the code you can also debug on some crash dumps
-e.g. crash dump output as shown by Dave Miller::
-
-     EIP is at 	+0x14/0x4c0
-      ...
-     Code: 44 24 04 e8 6f 05 00 00 e9 e8 fe ff ff 8d 76 00 8d bc 27 00 00
-     00 00 55 57  56 53 81 ec bc 00 00 00 8b ac 24 d0 00 00 00 8b 5d 08
-     <8b> 83 3c 01 00 00 89 44  24 14 8b 45 28 85 c0 89 44 24 18 0f 85
-
-     Put the bytes into a "foo.s" file like this:
-
-            .text
-            .globl foo
-     foo:
-            .byte  .... /* bytes from Code: part of OOPS dump */
-
-     Compile it with "gcc -c -o foo.o foo.s" then look at the output of
-     "objdump --disassemble foo.o".
-
-     Output:
-
-     ip_queue_xmit:
-         push       %ebp
-         push       %edi
-         push       %esi
-         push       %ebx
-         sub        $0xbc, %esp
-         mov        0xd0(%esp), %ebp        ! %ebp = arg0 (skb)
-         mov        0x8(%ebp), %ebx         ! %ebx = skb->sk
-         mov        0x13c(%ebx), %eax       ! %eax = inet_sk(sk)->opt
+  ``ksymoops`` is useless on 2.6 or upper.  Please use the Oops in its original
+  format (from ``dmesg``, etc).  Ignore any references in this or other docs to
+  "decoding the Oops" or "running it through ksymoops".
+  If you post an Oops from 2.6+ that has been run through ``ksymoops``,
+  people will just tell you to repost it.
+
+Where is the Oops message is located?
+-------------------------------------
+
+Normally the Oops text is read from the kernel buffers by klogd and
+handed to ``syslogd`` which writes it to a syslog file, typically
+``/var/log/messages`` (depends on ``/etc/syslog.conf``). On systems with
+systemd, it may also be stored by the ``journald`` daemon, and accessed
+by running ``journalctl`` command.
+
+Sometimes ``klogd`` dies, in which case you can run ``dmesg > file`` to
+read the data from the kernel buffers and save it.  Or you can
+``cat /proc/kmsg > file``, however you have to break in to stop the transfer,
+``kmsg`` is a "never ending file".
+
+If the machine has crashed so badly that you cannot enter commands or
+the disk is not available then you have three options:
+
+(1) Hand copy the text from the screen and type it in after the machine
+    has restarted.  Messy but it is the only option if you have not
+    planned for a crash. Alternatively, you can take a picture of
+    the screen with a digital camera - not nice, but better than
+    nothing.  If the messages scroll off the top of the console, you
+    may find that booting with a higher resolution (eg, ``vga=791``)
+    will allow you to read more of the text. (Caveat: This needs ``vesafb``,
+    so won't help for 'early' oopses)
+
+(2) Boot with a serial console (see
+    :ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/serial-console.rst <serial_console>`),
+    run a null modem to a second machine and capture the output there
+    using your favourite communication program.  Minicom works well.
+
+(3) Use Kdump (see Documentation/kdump/kdump.txt),
+    extract the kernel ring buffer from old memory with using dmesg
+    gdbmacro in Documentation/kdump/gdbmacros.txt.
+
+Finding the bug's location
+--------------------------
+
+Reporting a bug works best if you point the location of the bug at the
+Kernel source file. There are two methods for doing that. Usually, using
+``gdb`` is easier, but the Kernel should be pre-compiled with debug info.
 
 gdb
----
+^^^
 
-In addition, you can use GDB to figure out the exact file and line
+The GNU debug (``gdb``) is the best way to figure out the exact file and line
 number of the OOPS from the ``vmlinux`` file.
 
-The usage of gdb requires a kernel compiled with ``CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO``.
+The usage of gdb works best on a kernel compiled with ``CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO``.
 This can be set by running::
 
   $ ./scripts/config -d COMPILE_TEST -e DEBUG_KERNEL -e DEBUG_INFO
@@ -84,6 +129,7 @@ offset from the OOPS::
 
 And recompile the kernel with ``CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO`` enabled::
 
+  $ ./scripts/config -d COMPILE_TEST -e DEBUG_KERNEL -e DEBUG_INFO
   $ make vmlinux
   $ gdb vmlinux
   (gdb) l *vt_ioctl+0xda8
@@ -125,17 +171,199 @@ in gdb and list the relevant code::
   $ gdb fs/jbd/jbd.ko
   (gdb) l *log_wait_commit+0xa3
 
-Another very useful option of the Kernel Hacking section in menuconfig is
-Debug memory allocations. This will help you see whether data has been
-initialised and not set before use etc. To see the values that get assigned
-with this look at ``mm/slab.c`` and search for ``POISON_INUSE``. When using
-this an Oops will often show the poisoned data instead of zero which is the
-default.
+.. note::
+
+     You can also do the same for any function call at the stack trace,
+     like this one::
+
+	 [<f80bc9ca>] ? dvb_usb_adapter_frontend_exit+0x3a/0x70 [dvb_usb]
+
+     The position where the above call happened can be seen with::
+
+	$ gdb drivers/media/usb/dvb-usb/dvb-usb.o
+	(gdb) l *dvb_usb_adapter_frontend_exit+0x3a
+
+objdump
+^^^^^^^
+
+To debug a kernel, use objdump and look for the hex offset from the crash
+output to find the valid line of code/assembler. Without debug symbols, you
+will see the assembler code for the routine shown, but if your kernel has
+debug symbols the C code will also be available. (Debug symbols can be enabled
+in the kernel hacking menu of the menu configuration.) For example::
+
+    $ objdump -r -S -l --disassemble net/dccp/ipv4.o
+
+.. note::
 
-Once you have worked out a fix please submit it upstream. After all open
-source is about sharing what you do and don't you want to be recognised for
-your genius?
+   You need to be at the top level of the kernel tree for this to pick up
+   your C files.
+
+If you don't have access to the code you can also debug on some crash dumps
+e.g. crash dump output as shown by Dave Miller::
+
+     EIP is at 	+0x14/0x4c0
+      ...
+     Code: 44 24 04 e8 6f 05 00 00 e9 e8 fe ff ff 8d 76 00 8d bc 27 00 00
+     00 00 55 57  56 53 81 ec bc 00 00 00 8b ac 24 d0 00 00 00 8b 5d 08
+     <8b> 83 3c 01 00 00 89 44  24 14 8b 45 28 85 c0 89 44 24 18 0f 85
+
+     Put the bytes into a "foo.s" file like this:
+
+            .text
+            .globl foo
+     foo:
+            .byte  .... /* bytes from Code: part of OOPS dump */
+
+     Compile it with "gcc -c -o foo.o foo.s" then look at the output of
+     "objdump --disassemble foo.o".
+
+     Output:
+
+     ip_queue_xmit:
+         push       %ebp
+         push       %edi
+         push       %esi
+         push       %ebx
+         sub        $0xbc, %esp
+         mov        0xd0(%esp), %ebp        ! %ebp = arg0 (skb)
+         mov        0x8(%ebp), %ebx         ! %ebx = skb->sk
+         mov        0x13c(%ebx), %eax       ! %eax = inet_sk(sk)->opt
+
+Reporting the bug
+-----------------
+
+Once you find where the bug happened, by inspecting its location,
+you could either try to fix it yourself or report it upstream.
+
+In order to report it upstream, you should identify the mailing list
+used for the development of the affected code. This can be done by using
+the ``get_maintainer.pl`` script.
+
+For example, if you find a bug at the gspca's conex.c file, you can get
+their maintainers with::
+
+	$ ./scripts/get_maintainer.pl -f drivers/media/usb/gspca/sonixj.c
+	Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> (odd fixer:GSPCA USB WEBCAM DRIVER,commit_signer:1/1=100%)
+	Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@kernel.org> (maintainer:MEDIA INPUT INFRASTRUCTURE (V4L/DVB),commit_signer:1/1=100%)
+	Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org> (commit_signer:1/1=100%)
+	Bhaktipriya Shridhar <bhaktipriya96@gmail.com> (commit_signer:1/1=100%,authored:1/1=100%,added_lines:4/4=100%,removed_lines:9/9=100%)
+	linux-media@vger.kernel.org (open list:GSPCA USB WEBCAM DRIVER)
+	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org (open list)
+
+Please notice that it will point to:
+
+- The last developers that touched on the source code. On the above example,
+  Tejun and Bhaktipriya (in this specific case, none really envolved on the
+  development of this file);
+- The driver maintainer (Hans Verkuil);
+- The subsystem maintainer (Mauro Carvalho Chehab)
+- The driver and/or subsystem mailing list (linux-media@vger.kernel.org);
+- the Linux Kernel mailing list (linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org).
+
+Usually, the fastest way to have your bug fixed is to report it to mailing
+list used for the development of the code (linux-media ML) copying the driver maintainer (Hans).
+
+If you are totally stumped as to whom to send the report, and
+``get_maintainer.pl`` didn't provide you anything useful, send it to
+linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org.
+
+Thanks for your help in making Linux as stable as humanly possible.
+
+Fixing the bug
+--------------
+
+If you know programming, you could help us by not only reporting the bug,
+but also providing us with a solution. After all open source is about
+sharing what you do and don't you want to be recognised for your genius?
+
+If you decide to take this way, once you have worked out a fix please submit
+it upstream.
 
 Please do read
 ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>` though
 to help your code get accepted.
+
+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Notes on Oops tracing with ``klogd``
+------------------------------------
+
+In order to help Linus and the other kernel developers there has been
+substantial support incorporated into ``klogd`` for processing protection
+faults.  In order to have full support for address resolution at least
+version 1.3-pl3 of the ``sysklogd`` package should be used.
+
+When a protection fault occurs the ``klogd`` daemon automatically
+translates important addresses in the kernel log messages to their
+symbolic equivalents.  This translated kernel message is then
+forwarded through whatever reporting mechanism ``klogd`` is using.  The
+protection fault message can be simply cut out of the message files
+and forwarded to the kernel developers.
+
+Two types of address resolution are performed by ``klogd``.  The first is
+static translation and the second is dynamic translation.  Static
+translation uses the System.map file in much the same manner that
+ksymoops does.  In order to do static translation the ``klogd`` daemon
+must be able to find a system map file at daemon initialization time.
+See the klogd man page for information on how ``klogd`` searches for map
+files.
+
+Dynamic address translation is important when kernel loadable modules
+are being used.  Since memory for kernel modules is allocated from the
+kernel's dynamic memory pools there are no fixed locations for either
+the start of the module or for functions and symbols in the module.
+
+The kernel supports system calls which allow a program to determine
+which modules are loaded and their location in memory.  Using these
+system calls the klogd daemon builds a symbol table which can be used
+to debug a protection fault which occurs in a loadable kernel module.
+
+At the very minimum klogd will provide the name of the module which
+generated the protection fault.  There may be additional symbolic
+information available if the developer of the loadable module chose to
+export symbol information from the module.
+
+Since the kernel module environment can be dynamic there must be a
+mechanism for notifying the ``klogd`` daemon when a change in module
+environment occurs.  There are command line options available which
+allow klogd to signal the currently executing daemon that symbol
+information should be refreshed.  See the ``klogd`` manual page for more
+information.
+
+A patch is included with the sysklogd distribution which modifies the
+``modules-2.0.0`` package to automatically signal klogd whenever a module
+is loaded or unloaded.  Applying this patch provides essentially
+seamless support for debugging protection faults which occur with
+kernel loadable modules.
+
+The following is an example of a protection fault in a loadable module
+processed by ``klogd``::
+
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address f15e97cc
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: current->tss.cr3 = 0062d000, %cr3 = 0062d000
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: *pde = 00000000
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Oops: 0002
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: CPU:    0
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: EIP:    0010:[oops:_oops+16/3868]
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: EFLAGS: 00010212
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: eax: 315e97cc   ebx: 003a6f80   ecx: 001be77b   edx: 00237c0c
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: esi: 00000000   edi: bffffdb3   ebp: 00589f90   esp: 00589f8c
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: ds: 0018   es: 0018   fs: 002b   gs: 002b   ss: 0018
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Process oops_test (pid: 3374, process nr: 21, stackpage=00589000)
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Stack: 315e97cc 00589f98 0100b0b4 bffffed4 0012e38e 00240c64 003a6f80 00000001
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel:        00000000 00237810 bfffff00 0010a7fa 00000003 00000001 00000000 bfffff00
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel:        bffffdb3 bffffed4 ffffffda 0000002b 0007002b 0000002b 0000002b 00000036
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Call Trace: [oops:_oops_ioctl+48/80] [_sys_ioctl+254/272] [_system_call+82/128]
+	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Code: c7 00 05 00 00 00 eb 08 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 89 ec 5d c3
+
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+::
+
+  Dr. G.W. Wettstein           Oncology Research Div. Computing Facility
+  Roger Maris Cancer Center    INTERNET: greg@wind.rmcc.com
+  820 4th St. N.
+  Fargo, ND  58122
+  Phone: 701-234-7556

Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst

@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ problems and bugs in particular.
    security-bugs
    bug-hunting
    bug-bisect
-   oops-tracing
    tainted-kernels
    ramoops
    dynamic-debug-howto

Documentation/admin-guide/oops-tracing.rst

-OOPS tracing
-============
-
-.. note::
-
-  ``ksymoops`` is useless on 2.6 or upper.  Please use the Oops in its original
-  format (from ``dmesg``, etc).  Ignore any references in this or other docs to
-  "decoding the Oops" or "running it through ksymoops".
-  If you post an Oops from 2.6+ that has been run through ``ksymoops``,
-  people will just tell you to repost it.
-
-Quick Summary
--------------
-
-Find the Oops and send it to the maintainer of the kernel area that seems to be
-involved with the problem.  Don't worry too much about getting the wrong person.
-If you are unsure send it to the person responsible for the code relevant to
-what you were doing.  If it occurs repeatably try and describe how to recreate
-it.  That's worth even more than the oops.
-
-If you are totally stumped as to whom to send the report, send it to
-linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org. Thanks for your help in making Linux as
-stable as humanly possible.
-
-Where is the Oops?
-----------------------
-
-Normally the Oops text is read from the kernel buffers by klogd and
-handed to ``syslogd`` which writes it to a syslog file, typically
-``/var/log/messages`` (depends on ``/etc/syslog.conf``).  Sometimes ``klogd``
-dies, in which case you can run ``dmesg > file`` to read the data from the
-kernel buffers and save it.  Or you can ``cat /proc/kmsg > file``, however you
-have to break in to stop the transfer, ``kmsg`` is a "never ending file".
-If the machine has crashed so badly that you cannot enter commands or
-the disk is not available then you have three options :
-
-(1) Hand copy the text from the screen and type it in after the machine
-    has restarted.  Messy but it is the only option if you have not
-    planned for a crash. Alternatively, you can take a picture of
-    the screen with a digital camera - not nice, but better than
-    nothing.  If the messages scroll off the top of the console, you
-    may find that booting with a higher resolution (eg, ``vga=791``)
-    will allow you to read more of the text. (Caveat: This needs ``vesafb``,
-    so won't help for 'early' oopses)
-
-(2) Boot with a serial console (see
-    :ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/serial-console.rst <serial_console>`),
-    run a null modem to a second machine and capture the output there
-    using your favourite communication program.  Minicom works well.
-
-(3) Use Kdump (see Documentation/kdump/kdump.txt),
-    extract the kernel ring buffer from old memory with using dmesg
-    gdbmacro in Documentation/kdump/gdbmacros.txt.
-
-
-Full Information
-----------------
-
-.. note::
-
-  the message from Linus below applies to 2.4 kernel.  I have preserved it
-  for historical reasons, and because some of the information in it still
-  applies.  Especially, please ignore any references to ksymoops.
-
-  ::
-
-	From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
-
-	How to track down an Oops.. [originally a mail to linux-kernel]
-
-	The main trick is having 5 years of experience with those pesky oops
-	messages ;-)
-
-Actually, there are things you can do that make this easier. I have two
-separate approaches::
-
-	gdb /usr/src/linux/vmlinux
-	gdb> disassemble <offending_function>
-
-That's the easy way to find the problem, at least if the bug-report is
-well made (like this one was - run through ``ksymoops`` to get the
-information of which function and the offset in the function that it
-happened in).
-
-Oh, it helps if the report happens on a kernel that is compiled with the
-same compiler and similar setups.
-
-The other thing to do is disassemble the "Code:" part of the bug report:
-ksymoops will do this too with the correct tools, but if you don't have
-the tools you can just do a silly program::
-
-	char str[] = "\xXX\xXX\xXX...";
-	main(){}
-
-and compile it with ``gcc -g`` and then do ``disassemble str`` (where the ``XX``
-stuff are the values reported by the Oops - you can just cut-and-paste
-and do a replace of spaces to ``\x`` - that's what I do, as I'm too lazy
-to write a program to automate this all).
-
-Alternatively, you can use the shell script in ``scripts/decodecode``.
-Its usage is::
-
-	decodecode < oops.txt
-
-The hex bytes that follow "Code:" may (in some architectures) have a series
-of bytes that precede the current instruction pointer as well as bytes at and
-following the current instruction pointer.  In some cases, one instruction
-byte or word is surrounded by ``<>`` or ``()``, as in ``<86>`` or ``(f00d)``.
-These ``<>`` or ``()`` markings indicate the current instruction pointer.
-
-Example from i386, split into multiple lines for readability::
-
-	Code: f9 0f 8d f9 00 00 00 8d 42 0c e8 dd 26 11 c7 a1 60 ea 2b f9 8b 50 08 a1
-	64 ea 2b f9 8d 34 82 8b 1e 85 db 74 6d 8b 15 60 ea 2b f9 <8b> 43 04 39 42 54
-	7e 04 40 89 42 54 8b 43 04 3b 05 00 f6 52 c0
-
-Finally, if you want to see where the code comes from, you can do::
-
-	cd /usr/src/linux
-	make fs/buffer.s 	# or whatever file the bug happened in
-
-and then you get a better idea of what happens than with the gdb
-disassembly.
-
-Now, the trick is just then to combine all the data you have: the C
-sources (and general knowledge of what it **should** do), the assembly
-listing and the code disassembly (and additionally the register dump you
-also get from the "oops" message - that can be useful to see **what** the
-corrupted pointers were, and when you have the assembler listing you can
-also match the other registers to whatever C expressions they were used
-for).
-
-Essentially, you just look at what doesn't match (in this case it was the
-"Code" disassembly that didn't match with what the compiler generated).
-Then you need to find out **why** they don't match. Often it's simple - you
-see that the code uses a NULL pointer and then you look at the code and
-wonder how the NULL pointer got there, and if it's a valid thing to do
-you just check against it..
-
-Now, if somebody gets the idea that this is time-consuming and requires
-some small amount of concentration, you're right. Which is why I will
-mostly just ignore any panic reports that don't have the symbol table
-info etc looked up: it simply gets too hard to look it up (I have some
-programs to search for specific patterns in the kernel code segment, and
-sometimes I have been able to look up those kinds of panics too, but
-that really requires pretty good knowledge of the kernel just to be able
-to pick out the right sequences etc..)
-
-**Sometimes** it happens that I just see the disassembled code sequence
-from the panic, and I know immediately where it's coming from. That's when
-I get worried that I've been doing this for too long ;-)
-
-		Linus
-
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-Notes on Oops tracing with ``klogd``
-------------------------------------
-
-In order to help Linus and the other kernel developers there has been
-substantial support incorporated into ``klogd`` for processing protection
-faults.  In order to have full support for address resolution at least
-version 1.3-pl3 of the ``sysklogd`` package should be used.
-
-When a protection fault occurs the ``klogd`` daemon automatically
-translates important addresses in the kernel log messages to their
-symbolic equivalents.  This translated kernel message is then
-forwarded through whatever reporting mechanism ``klogd`` is using.  The
-protection fault message can be simply cut out of the message files
-and forwarded to the kernel developers.
-
-Two types of address resolution are performed by ``klogd``.  The first is
-static translation and the second is dynamic translation.  Static
-translation uses the System.map file in much the same manner that
-ksymoops does.  In order to do static translation the ``klogd`` daemon
-must be able to find a system map file at daemon initialization time.
-See the klogd man page for information on how ``klogd`` searches for map
-files.
-
-Dynamic address translation is important when kernel loadable modules
-are being used.  Since memory for kernel modules is allocated from the
-kernel's dynamic memory pools there are no fixed locations for either
-the start of the module or for functions and symbols in the module.
-
-The kernel supports system calls which allow a program to determine
-which modules are loaded and their location in memory.  Using these
-system calls the klogd daemon builds a symbol table which can be used
-to debug a protection fault which occurs in a loadable kernel module.
-
-At the very minimum klogd will provide the name of the module which
-generated the protection fault.  There may be additional symbolic
-information available if the developer of the loadable module chose to
-export symbol information from the module.
-
-Since the kernel module environment can be dynamic there must be a
-mechanism for notifying the ``klogd`` daemon when a change in module
-environment occurs.  There are command line options available which
-allow klogd to signal the currently executing daemon that symbol
-information should be refreshed.  See the ``klogd`` manual page for more
-information.
-
-A patch is included with the sysklogd distribution which modifies the
-``modules-2.0.0`` package to automatically signal klogd whenever a module
-is loaded or unloaded.  Applying this patch provides essentially
-seamless support for debugging protection faults which occur with
-kernel loadable modules.
-
-The following is an example of a protection fault in a loadable module
-processed by ``klogd``::
-
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address f15e97cc
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: current->tss.cr3 = 0062d000, %cr3 = 0062d000
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: *pde = 00000000
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Oops: 0002
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: CPU:    0
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: EIP:    0010:[oops:_oops+16/3868]
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: EFLAGS: 00010212
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: eax: 315e97cc   ebx: 003a6f80   ecx: 001be77b   edx: 00237c0c
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: esi: 00000000   edi: bffffdb3   ebp: 00589f90   esp: 00589f8c
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: ds: 0018   es: 0018   fs: 002b   gs: 002b   ss: 0018
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Process oops_test (pid: 3374, process nr: 21, stackpage=00589000)
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Stack: 315e97cc 00589f98 0100b0b4 bffffed4 0012e38e 00240c64 003a6f80 00000001
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel:        00000000 00237810 bfffff00 0010a7fa 00000003 00000001 00000000 bfffff00
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel:        bffffdb3 bffffed4 ffffffda 0000002b 0007002b 0000002b 0000002b 00000036
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Call Trace: [oops:_oops_ioctl+48/80] [_sys_ioctl+254/272] [_system_call+82/128]
-	Aug 29 09:51:01 blizard kernel: Code: c7 00 05 00 00 00 eb 08 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 89 ec 5d c3
-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-::
-
-  Dr. G.W. Wettstein           Oncology Research Div. Computing Facility
-  Roger Maris Cancer Center    INTERNET: greg@wind.rmcc.com
-  820 4th St. N.
-  Fargo, ND  58122
-  Phone: 701-234-7556
-
-
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-