mirror of
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
synced 2026-09-12 06:03:14 -04:00
ed3b875bea
Pull MM updates from Andrew Morton:
- "mm: drop "sub" prefix from various places" (Dev Jain)
page->folio conversion and a naming cleanup
- "mm/kasan: remove redundant initialization for kasan_flag_write_only"
(Igor Putko)
KASAN cleanup work
- "mm/filemap: reduce unnecessary xarray lookups" (Chi Zhiling)
Small speedup in the pagecaache read code
- "mm/percpu: Fix possible NOFS/NOIO reclaim recursion" (Kaitao Cheng)
Improve the vmalloc code - mainly the avoidance of GFP_KERNEL
allocations when the caller asked for GFP_NOFS or GFP_NOIO
- "mm/kmemleak: avoid soft lockup when scanning task stacks" (Breno
Leitao)
Avoid a soft lockup watchdog trigger from the kmemleak scanning code
in extreme situations
- "mm/page_owner: misc cleanups" (Ye Liu)
Cleanups to the page_owner code. For some reason lots of people have
been working on the page_owner code this cycle.
- "mm: convert to walk_page_range_vma() to eliminate find_vma()"
(Kefeng Wang)
Simplify and accelerate the page walking library function
- "mm/migrate: preparatory cleanups for batch copy and offload"
(Shivank Garg)
Cleanups in the migration code
- "mm/page_owner: add per-fd filter infrastructure for print_mode and
NUMA filtering" (Zhen Ni)
Per-fd filtering to page_owner in order to reduce the sometimes vast
amount of output it can produce
- "mm: Refactor bootmem gigantic hugepage allocation" (Muchun Song)
Fixes and preparatory cleanups around bootmem HugeTLB handling,
sparse initialization ordering, and related vmemmap setup
- "mm/zsmalloc: reduce lock contention in zs_free()" (Wenchao Hao)
Reduce lock contention in zs_free(), which dominates the unmap path
under memory pressure on Android (LMK kills) and on x86 servers
running zswap-heavy workloads.
Up to 1.83x improvement in microbenchmarking.
- "move alloc_tag.c file under mm/" (Suren Baghdasaryan)
- "samples/damon: handle damon_{start,stop}() failures" (SJ Park)
Fix improper handling of damon_start(), damon_stop(), and
damon_call() failures across DAMON sample modules to prevent
potential memory leaks, operation disruptions and use-after-free
bugs
- "mm/damon/sysfs: kobject_del() directories that users can
create/remove" (SJ Park)
Fix delayed sysfs directory removal under DEBUG_KOBJECT_RELEASE
causeing creation failures due to duplicate directory names by adding
missing kobject_del() calls before creating new directories
- "mm: cleanup clear_not_present_full_ptes()" (David Hildenbrand)
Clean up the core pte handling code
- "selftests/damon: misc fixes for test bugs" (Kunwu Chan)
Fix several bugs in the DAMON selftests
- "selftests/damon: fix memcg_path staging handling" (Cheng Nie)
Fix a bug in _damon_sysfs.py for damos_filter memcg_path setup, and
add a test case for it in sysfs.py.
- "selftests/damon: test kdamond refresh_ms" (Ruslan Valiyev)
Selftest coverage for DAMON's refresh_ms sysfs feature by updating
the test control module and verifying that scheme stats update
automatically without manual intervention
- "mm/damon: five misc fixups" (Akinobu Mita)
Miscellaneous DAMON fixups.
- "mm/damon/core: detect internal variation above max_nr_regions/2"
(Jiayuan Chen)
Fix DAMON's region splitting behavior when region counts exceed half
the maximum budget by dynamically scaling down the split fraction as
the limit approaches, preventing large regions from staying un-split,
and add corresponding KUnit test coverage
- "mm: preparatory patches for PMD level swap entries" (Usama Arif)
Refactor and clean up PMD softleaf helpers, call sites, and
architecture flags to lay the groundwork for a follow-up series that
introduces PMD page table swap entries
- "mm/damon: update, optimize, and clean up doc, tests, and code" (SJ
Park)
Update DAMON design and ABI documentation, expands unit and selftest
coverage, optimize damon_commit_target_regions(), and clean up
recently added sysfs interface code for better readability
- "mm/vmpressure: reduce CPU, memory and code overhead on cgroup v2"
(Usama Arif)
Optimize vmpressure() by skipping unnecessary work on cgroup v2 for
userspace event notifications and refactor v1-only eventfd handling
into mm/memcontrol-v1.c to reduce memory overhead and code complexity
- "selftests/mm: refactor pkey helpers and fix mmap error handling"
(Hongfu Li)
Refactor pkeys shared tracing and assertion helpers into a common
file, unify protection key selftests to use consistent diagnostic
logging and assertions, and enforce standardized MAP_FAILED return
checks for mmap() calls across the tests
- "mm/damon: optimize out nr_accesses_bp" (SJ Park)
Replace the error-prone, continuously updated nr_accesses_bp field in
damon_region with an on-demand moving sum function, reducing
structure memory overhead and avoiding state corruption bugs
- "Open HugeTLB allocation routine for more generic use" (Ackerley Tng)
Decouple HugeTLB folio allocation from VMA dependencies by
introducing hugetlb_alloc_folio(), enabling subsystems like
guest_memfd to allocate HugeTLB folios without standard VMA
reservations or pseudo-VMAs
- "mm/damon: provide pseudo moving sum probe_hits" (SJ Park)
Integrate DAMON's probe_hits attribute counter into the pseudo moving
sum infrastructure, enabling real-time, online monitoring without
waiting for full aggregation intervals
- "mm: Some cleanups for page allocator APIs" (Brendan Jackman)
Simplify and refactor the page allocator entry points and flags by
unifying allocation paths, adding internal alloc_flags arguments, and
eliminating redundant __ prefixed alloc_pages variants.
- "Fix incorrect access of hugetlb pte entries" (Dev Jain)
Enforce the consistent use of huge_ptep_get() instead of ptep_get()
for HugeTLB entries and fixes an unaligned address issue in arm64's
huge_ptep_get() implementation
- "mm/damon: validate all parameters in the core" (SJ Park)
Consolidate parameter validation into the DAMON core specifically
within damon_start() and damon_commit_ctx() to centralize error
checking, eliminate caller-side redundant checks and to improve
maintenance efficiency
- "tools/mm/page_owner_sort: fix filtering and cleanup issues" (Yichong
Chen)
Rename is_need() to filter_record() for clearer return semantics, fix
per-record allocation memory leaks and bound output copies in
search_pattern() to address an existing buffer issue
- "memcg: bail out reclaim when memcg is dying" (Jiayuan Chen)
Mitigate a system-wide stall which occurs when a cgroup is removed
while one of its memory control files is doing synchronous reclaim
- "mm/memory-failure: add panic option for unrecoverable pages" (Breno
Leitao)
Introduce an opt-in vm.panic_on_unrecoverable_memory_failure sysctl
that immediately panics the kernel on unrecoverable memory errors in
kernel-owned pages to preserve error context and prevent delayed,
silent data corruption
- "mm/damon: refactor damon_{start,stop,commit}() for simple error
handling" (SJ Park)
Refactor the DAMON core API functions to guarantee that all contexts
are fully stopped when damon_start(), damon_stop(), or damon_commit()
fail, eliminating the need for complex and error-prone caller-side
cleanup code
- "Keep tail page private zero at free and folio split" (Zi Yan)
Add checks to ensure tail_page->private is zero when freeing compound
or high-order pages and when promoting tail pages during large folio
splits. By validating these fields at free and split time, it allows
the removal of redundant private field clearing inside
prep_compound_tail()
- "mm: drop redundant lru_add_drain in anon folio reuse paths" (Barry
Song)
Eliminate redundant lru_add_drain() calls in
wp_can_reuse_anon_folio() and do_swap_page() to reduce LRU lock
contention and system overhead
By validating folio refcounts against the LRU cache before draining
and removing unnecessary drains in the swap path, it achieves up to a
30.5% reduction in drain calls during heavy swap workloads
- "mm: clean up folio LRU and swap declarations" (Jianyue Wu)
Reorganize folio LRU and swap code by relocating page-cluster state
to mm/swap_state.c, renaming mm/swap.c to mm/folio.c, and moving
MM-internal reclaim declarations into mm/internal.h.
- "userfaultfd: working set tracking for VM guest memory" (Kiryl
Shutsemau)
Add userfaultfd support for tracking the working set of VM guest
memory, so a VMM can identify hot pages and reclaim cold ones to
tiered or remote storage
- "mm: remove CONFIG_HAVE_BOOTMEM_INFO_NODE (Part 2)" (David
Hildenbrand)
Remove the remaining pieces of CONFIG_HAVE_BOOTMEM_INFO_NODE,
performing some smaller cleanups around freeing of reserved vmemmap
pages on the way.
- "mm/damon: update probe hits for runtime parameter commits" (SJ Park)
Ensure that DAMON's probe_hits attribute counter is properly updated
when monitoring intervals are changed at runtime, matching the
behavior of nr_accesses. To achieve this, it refactors and renames
existing helper functions for shared use, applies the updates to
probe_hits, and handles edge cases in damon_probe_hits_mvsum() to
maintain measurement accuracy.
- "KSM: performance optimizations for rmap_walk_ksm" (xu xin)
Resolve a severe KSM reverse-mapping performance bottleneck where
thousands of split VMAs sharing a single anon_vma cause extended lock
contention.
By adding an interval-filtering check during the rmap walk, it
reduces worst-case anon_vma lock hold times from over 500ms down to
under 2ms, preventing application freezes and latency spikes under
memory pressure.
- "mm: split a couple of headers from internal.h" (Mike Rapoport)
Split declarations related to mm_init, memblock, vmalloc and sparse
into new headers
- "KSM: use linear_page_index in collect_procs_ksm()" (xu xin)
Apply the interval tree optimization from rmap_walk_ksm() to
collect_procs_ksm() to avoid iterating over non-matching VMAs during
KSM memory error handling.
It hoists loop-invariant address initialization and restricts the
anon_vma_interval_tree_foreach walk to a targeted page offset range,
reducing redundant checks and improving lookup efficiency.
- "selftests/mm: avoid false failures in hugetlb and KSM tests" (Sayali
Patil)
Fix issues in the hugetlb and KSM MM selftest categories that can
report failures when the prerequisites for the tests are not
satisfied
- "mm/damon: introduce data attributes only monitoring" (SJ Park)
Introduce attribute-weighted region management in DAMON, allowing
users to prioritize specific data attributes (such as page sizes or
cgroups) over or instead of access monitoring.
By assigning weights to attribute probes, DAMON can completely
disable access tracking and adjust monitoring regions based on
weighted probe-hit counters to optimize monitoring quality for
attribute-focused workloads.
- "mm/hmm: Add mmap lock-drop support for userfaultfd-backed mappings"
(Stanislav Kinsburskii)
Extend hmm_range_fault() to support userfaultfd-backed regions by
allowing the mmap lock to be dropped during fault handling via a new
hmm_range_fault_locked() helper.
By accepting a locked pointer and signaling retry status when lock
release occurs, it enables page fault resolution in userfaultfd
regions while preserving backward compatibility for existing callers.
- "mm: make VMA page offset handling more consistent" (Lorenzo Stoakes)
Clean up and standardize how vma->vm_pgoff is accessed and
manipulated across file-backed and anonymous mappings in the kernel
It introduces dedicated helper functions such as vma_start_pgoff(),
vma_end_pgoff(), vma_set_pgoff() and linear_page_delta() while
renaming rmap interval tree helpers to better reflect their
functionality.
These changes establish a cleaner foundation for future work that
will unify virtual page offset indexing for all anonymous and CoW'd
folios.
- "mm: handle device-private PMDs in walk callbacks" (Usama Arif)
Address kernel panics and state corruption caused by MM walk
callbacks reaching non-present device-private PMD swap entries
created during HMM migrations
It ensures that functions which acquire pmd_trans_huge_lock()
properly recognize device-private PMDs instead of assuming a present
THP or a standard migration entry.
- "mm/rmap: Refactor try_to_unmap_one" (Dev Jain)
Refactor try_to_unmap_one by modularizing Hugetlb,
anonymous-lazyfree, and anonymous-swapbacked logic into dedicated
functions, laying the structural groundwork for batched anonymous
large folio unmapping.
- "Docs/ABI/damon: sysfs ABI document fixes and additions" (Song Hu)
Fix typos and fills in missing entries in the DAMON sysfs ABI
document
- "dax/kmem: atomic whole-device hotplug via sysfs" (Gregory Price)
Introduce an atomic sysfs state attribute and supporting DAX/MM
infrastructure to prevent userland races when offlining and removing
entire memory regions
By adding an unplugged state alongside standard online modes, it
enables whole-device atomic hotplug control while preserving backward
compatibility.
- "mm: convert more vm_flags_t users to vma_flags_t" (Lorenzo Stoakes)
Continue transitioning the kernel from the deprecated vm_flags_t type
to vma_flags_t across core memory management infrastructure.
It replaces legacy type usage in core functions such as do_mmap(),
unmapped area allocation, mm->def_vma_flags, and VMA operations like
mlock, mprotect, and mremap.
- "Two small patches to clean up mm/mm_slot.h" (xu xin)
Refactor mm_slot.h by introducing mm_slot_remove() to unify duplicate
slot deletion sequences in khugepaged and KSM. It also adds code
documentation explaining why mm_slot_lookup and mm_slot_insert must
remain as preprocessor macros rather than static inline functions.
- "mm/damon/core: hide core-private struct fields" (SJ Park)
Clean up DAMON core structures by consistently marking internal-only
fields with private: comment tags to prevent improper direct access
from outer layers.
It enforces encapsulation across core structures including
damon_region, damon_target, and damon_ctx and updates DAMON_SYSFS to
interact through approved access APIs instead of exposing raw struct
members.
- "mm/damon: unurgent fixes for infinite loop, NULL de-ref and races"
(SJ Park)
Address potential infinite loops, NULL dereferences, and race
conditions identified in DAMON
It fixes an infinite loop triggered by extreme user configurations, a
NULL pointer dereference within unit tests and minor monitoring
accuracy degradation caused by subtle runtime races.
- "mm/page_alloc: fixes for free_pages_nolock() on RT/UP" (Brendan
Jackman)
Fix an NMI safety flaw in __free_frozen_pages() where freeing pages
on non-SMP or PREEMPT_RT kernels can bypass can_spin_trylock() checks
via non-PCP or isolated migration paths.
It also resolves potential kernel crashes and privilege escalation
risks triggered when BPF tracing runs in NMI context alongside memory
hotplug or large allocation frees.
- "mm/page_alloc: couple of followups for recent cleanups" (Brendan
Jackman)
Clean up and update page allocator nomenclature, documentation, and
debug assertions.
It aligns internal FPI_ flags with the public "nolock" naming
convention, removes outdated internal implementation details from
high-level page allocator comments, and eliminates obsolete
VM_BUG_ON() assertions in allocation paths.
- "mm/mseal: further cleanups" (Lorenzo Stoakes)
Refactor and simplify the mseal implementation by clarifying API
boundaries and removing unnecessary code complexity.
It replaces generic do_mseal() usage outside the syscall with a
dedicated mseal_mmap_page_zero() helper for MMAP_PAGE_ZERO,
eliminates mm_struct parameters to enforce that sealing applies only
to current->mm, and streamlines overall logic and comments with no
functional changes intended.
- "mm/vmscan: fix swappiness=max and clean up per-node proactive
reclaim" (Ridong Chen)
Resolve reclaim behavior bugs and clean up function parameters across
memory reclaim paths
It fixes swappiness=max in both standard reclaim and MGLRU so
unswappable anonymous memory no longer falls back to evicting page
cache, ensures reclaim_store() returns accurate error codes instead
of collapsing all failures into -EAGAIN, and removes the obsolete
gfp_mask parameter from __node_reclaim().
- "mm: mincore: misc cleanups" (Kefeng Wang)
Clean up and simplifies the mincore code. Most importantly, it
removes the historical special behavior that always reports VM_PFNMAP
pages as non-resident.
- "mm/huge_memory: drop dead split helper variants" (Kiryl Shutsemau)
Two trivial cleanups in the folio split API
- "mm/damon: fix uninitialized DAMOS field and kunit exec expectation
bugs" (SJ Park)
Resolve minor operational and testing bugs in DAMON identified by
Sashiko. It initializes the damos->last_applied field to prevent
occasional efficiency degradation and fixes invalid memory accesses
in DAMON KUnit tests during test failure handling.
- "cleanup for stable_page_flags()" (Jinjiang Tu)
Clean up and refactor stable_page_flags() used by /proc/kpageflags
without altering functionality.
It uses BIT_ULL() to prevent shift-overflow warnings on 64-bit flag
bits, converts folio-specific flag checks to standard folio_test_*()
helpers, and removes redundant CONFIG_PAGE_IDLE_FLAG handling.
- "Batch unmap of uffd-wp file folios" (Dev Jain)
Extend batched folio unmapping support to file folios within
userfaultfd write-protect (uffd-wp) VMAs by adding batching
capabilities to pte_install_uffd_wp_if_needed().
This removes special-case restrictions on uffd-wp VMAs in
try_to_unmap_one(), significantly simplifying the function's control
flow and complexity.
- "mm/early_ioremap: clarify and clean up early_ioremap_reset()"
(Sang-Heon Jeon)
Clarify and clean up the architecture-specific usage of
__late_set_fixmap() and __late_clear_fixmap() after
early_ioremap_reset()
It adds explicit documentation regarding when early_ioremap_reset()
must be called and removes redundant macro definitions and reset
calls in the RISC-V and ARM64 architectures.
- "mm: fix reclaim storms in defrag_mode" (Johannes Weiner)
Address severe performance regressions, swap storms, and spurious
OOMs caused by vm.defrag_mode=1 under high memory pressure in Meta
production
It updates the page allocator slowpath so non-movable allocation
requests actively trigger direct reclaim and direct compaction at
pageblock_order scale, allowing them to claim whole pageblocks rather
than spinning unproductively.
- "zram: lockmap tweaks" (Sebastian Siewior)
Optimize and fix lockdep tracking for zram devices by consolidating
per-entry lockmaps and isolate lock classes across multiple instances
This reduces memory overhead by replacing per-entry lockdep_map
instances with a single map per struct zram, and assigns a dynamic
lock_class_key to each instance to prevent false deadlock reports
when different zram devices are backed by distinct filesystems.
* tag 'mm-stable-2026-08-18-18-39' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm: (501 commits)
selftests/mm: thuge-gen: fix test_shmget() for PAGE_SIZE check
selftests/mm: unpoison pages in memory-failure teardown
mm/shmem: downgrade final i_blocks check in shmem_evict_inode() to pr_warn()
mm/khugepaged: replace mutex_lock/mutex_unlock usage with guard macro
mm/zsmalloc: fix release order of locks in zs_page_migrate()
Documentation: zram: remove sections numbering
ksm: stop iterating VMAs when ksm_test_exit returns true
mm: fold userfaultfd_rwp() to false without CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_PTE_PROTNONE
mm/migrate: report RCU-tasks quiescent states in migrate_pages_batch()
zram: use a custom key for each zram object
zram: move lockmap to be per-zram instead per table
selftests/mm: fix gup_longterm EINVAL error message
mm: page_alloc: fix non-movable reclaim storm in defrag_mode
mm: page_alloc: move capture_control to the page allocator
mm: compaction: support non-movable compaction for pageblock requests
mm: page_alloc: __GFP_FS lockdep annotation for direct compaction
hugetlb: evaluate subpool free state while locked
mm/damon: remove trailing semicolons after function definitions
mm/damon/ops-common: prevent migration fallback to non-target nodes
mm/damon: update outdated comment about DAMOS filter handling
...
.. _readme:
Linux kernel release 6.x <http://kernel.org/>
=============================================
These are the release notes for Linux version 6. Read them carefully,
as they tell you what this is all about, explain how to install the
kernel, and what to do if something goes wrong.
What is Linux?
--------------
Linux is a clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by
Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across
the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.
It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix,
including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand
loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management,
and multistack networking including IPv4 and IPv6.
It is distributed under the GNU General Public License v2 - see the
accompanying COPYING file for more details.
On what hardware does it run?
-----------------------------
Although originally developed first for 32-bit x86-based PCs (386 or higher),
today Linux also runs on (at least) the Compaq Alpha AXP, Sun SPARC and
UltraSPARC, Motorola 68000, PowerPC, PowerPC64, ARM, Hitachi SuperH, Cell,
IBM S/390, MIPS, HP PA-RISC, Intel IA-64, DEC VAX, AMD x86-64 Xtensa, and
ARC architectures.
Linux is easily portable to most general-purpose 32- or 64-bit architectures
as long as they have a paged memory management unit (PMMU) and a port of the
GNU C compiler (gcc) (part of The GNU Compiler Collection, GCC). Linux has
also been ported to a number of architectures without a PMMU, although
functionality is then obviously somewhat limited.
Linux has also been ported to itself. You can now run the kernel as a
userspace application - this is called UserMode Linux (UML).
Documentation
-------------
- There is a lot of documentation available both in electronic form on
the Internet and in books, both Linux-specific and pertaining to
general UNIX questions. I'd recommend looking into the documentation
subdirectories on any Linux FTP site for the LDP (Linux Documentation
Project) books. This README is not meant to be documentation on the
system: there are much better sources available.
- There are various README files in the Documentation/ subdirectory:
these typically contain kernel-specific installation notes for some
drivers for example. Please read the
:ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` file, as it
contains information about the problems which may result from upgrading
your kernel.
Installing the kernel source
----------------------------
- If you install the full sources, put the kernel tarball in a
directory where you have permissions (e.g. your home directory) and
unpack it::
xz -cd linux-6.x.tar.xz | tar xvf -
Replace "X" with the version number of the latest kernel.
Do NOT use the /usr/src/linux area! This area has a (usually
incomplete) set of kernel headers that are used by the library header
files. They should match the library, and not get messed up by
whatever the kernel-du-jour happens to be.
- You can also upgrade between 6.x releases by patching. Patches are
distributed in the xz format. To install by patching, get all the
newer patch files, enter the top level directory of the kernel source
(linux-6.x) and execute::
xz -cd ../patch-6.x.xz | patch -p1
Replace "x" for all versions bigger than the version "x" of your current
source tree, **in_order**, and you should be ok. You may want to remove
the backup files (some-file-name~ or some-file-name.orig), and make sure
that there are no failed patches (some-file-name# or some-file-name.rej).
If there are, either you or I have made a mistake.
Unlike patches for the 6.x kernels, patches for the 6.x.y kernels
(also known as the -stable kernels) are not incremental but instead apply
directly to the base 6.x kernel. For example, if your base kernel is 6.0
and you want to apply the 6.0.3 patch, you must not first apply the 6.0.1
and 6.0.2 patches. Similarly, if you are running kernel version 6.0.2 and
want to jump to 6.0.3, you must first reverse the 6.0.2 patch (that is,
patch -R) **before** applying the 6.0.3 patch. You can read more on this in
:ref:`Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst <applying_patches>`.
Alternatively, the script patch-kernel can be used to automate this
process. It determines the current kernel version and applies any
patches found::
linux/scripts/patch-kernel linux
The first argument in the command above is the location of the
kernel source. Patches are applied from the current directory, but
an alternative directory can be specified as the second argument.
- Make sure you have no stale .o files and dependencies lying around::
cd linux
make mrproper
You should now have the sources correctly installed.
Software requirements
---------------------
Compiling and running the 6.x kernels requires up-to-date
versions of various software packages. Consult
:ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` for the minimum version numbers
required and how to get updates for these packages. Beware that using
excessively old versions of these packages can cause indirect
errors that are very difficult to track down, so don't assume that
you can just update packages when obvious problems arise during
build or operation.
Build directory for the kernel
------------------------------
When compiling the kernel, all output files will per default be
stored together with the kernel source code.
Using the option ``make O=output/dir`` allows you to specify an alternate
place for the output files (including .config).
Example::
kernel source code: /usr/src/linux-6.x
build directory: /home/name/build/kernel
To configure and build the kernel, use::
cd /usr/src/linux-6.x
make O=/home/name/build/kernel menuconfig
make O=/home/name/build/kernel
sudo make O=/home/name/build/kernel modules_install install
Please note: If the ``O=output/dir`` option is used, then it must be
used for all invocations of make.
Configuring the kernel
----------------------
Do not skip this step even if you are only upgrading one minor
version. New configuration options are added in each release, and
odd problems will turn up if the configuration files are not set up
as expected. If you want to carry your existing configuration to a
new version with minimal work, use ``make oldconfig``, which will
only ask you for the answers to new questions.
- Alternative configuration commands are::
"make config" Plain text interface.
"make menuconfig" Text based color menus, radiolists & dialogs.
"make nconfig" Enhanced text based color menus.
"make xconfig" Qt based configuration tool.
"make gconfig" GTK based configuration tool.
"make oldconfig" Default all questions based on the contents of
your existing ./.config file and asking about
new config symbols.
"make olddefconfig"
Like above, but sets new symbols to their default
values without prompting.
"make defconfig" Create a ./.config file by using the default
symbol values from either arch/$ARCH/configs/defconfig
or arch/$ARCH/configs/${PLATFORM}_defconfig,
depending on the architecture.
"make ${PLATFORM}_defconfig"
Create a ./.config file by using the default
symbol values from
arch/$ARCH/configs/${PLATFORM}_defconfig.
Use "make help" to get a list of all available
platforms of your architecture.
"make allyesconfig"
Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
values to 'y' as much as possible.
"make allmodconfig"
Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
values to 'm' as much as possible.
"make allnoconfig" Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
values to 'n' as much as possible.
"make randconfig" Create a ./.config file by setting symbol
values to random values.
"make localmodconfig" Create a config based on current config and
loaded modules (lsmod). Disables any module
option that is not needed for the loaded modules.
To create a localmodconfig for another machine,
store the lsmod of that machine into a file
and pass it in as a LSMOD parameter.
Also, you can preserve modules in certain folders
or kconfig files by specifying their paths in
parameter LMC_KEEP.
target$ lsmod > /tmp/mylsmod
target$ scp /tmp/mylsmod host:/tmp
host$ make LSMOD=/tmp/mylsmod \
LMC_KEEP="drivers/usb:drivers/gpu:fs" \
localmodconfig
The above also works when cross compiling.
"make localyesconfig" Similar to localmodconfig, except it will convert
all module options to built in (=y) options. You can
also preserve modules by LMC_KEEP.
"make kvm_guest.config" Enable additional options for kvm guest kernel
support.
"make xen.config" Enable additional options for xen dom0 guest kernel
support.
"make tinyconfig" Configure the tiniest possible kernel.
You can find more information on using the Linux kernel config tools
in Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst.
- NOTES on ``make config``:
- Having unnecessary drivers will make the kernel bigger, and can
under some circumstances lead to problems: probing for a
nonexistent controller card may confuse your other controllers.
- A kernel with math-emulation compiled in will still use the
coprocessor if one is present: the math emulation will just
never get used in that case. The kernel will be slightly larger,
but will work on different machines regardless of whether they
have a math coprocessor or not.
- The "kernel hacking" configuration details usually result in a
bigger or slower kernel (or both), and can even make the kernel
less stable by configuring some routines to actively try to
break bad code to find kernel problems (kmalloc()). Thus you
should probably answer 'n' to the questions for "development",
"experimental", or "debugging" features.
Compiling the kernel
--------------------
- Make sure you have at least gcc 8.1 available.
For more information, refer to :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>`.
- Do a ``make`` to create a compressed kernel image. It is also possible to do
``make install`` if you have lilo installed or if your distribution has an
install script recognised by the kernel's installer. Most popular
distributions will have a recognized install script. You may want to
check your distribution's setup first.
To do the actual install, you have to be root, but none of the normal
build should require that. Don't take the name of root in vain.
- If you configured any of the parts of the kernel as ``modules``, you
will also have to do ``make modules_install``.
- Verbose kernel compile/build output:
Normally, the kernel build system runs in a fairly quiet mode (but not
totally silent). However, sometimes you or other kernel developers need
to see compile, link, or other commands exactly as they are executed.
For this, use "verbose" build mode. This is done by passing
``V=1`` to the ``make`` command, e.g.::
make V=1 all
To have the build system also tell the reason for the rebuild of each
target, use ``V=2``. The default is ``V=0``.
- Keep a backup kernel handy in case something goes wrong. This is
especially true for the development releases, since each new release
contains new code which has not been debugged. Make sure you keep a
backup of the modules corresponding to that kernel, as well. If you
are installing a new kernel with the same version number as your
working kernel, make a backup of your modules directory before you
do a ``make modules_install``.
Alternatively, before compiling, use the kernel config option
"LOCALVERSION" to append a unique suffix to the regular kernel version.
LOCALVERSION can be set in the "General Setup" menu.
- In order to boot your new kernel, you'll need to copy the kernel
image (e.g. .../linux/arch/x86/boot/bzImage after compilation)
to the place where your regular bootable kernel is found.
- Booting a kernel directly from a storage device without the assistance
of a bootloader such as LILO or GRUB, is no longer supported in BIOS
(non-EFI systems). On UEFI/EFI systems, however, you can use EFISTUB
which allows the motherboard to boot directly to the kernel.
On modern workstations and desktops, it's generally recommended to use a
bootloader as difficulties can arise with multiple kernels and secure boot.
For more details on EFISTUB,
see "Documentation/admin-guide/efi-stub.rst".
- It's important to note that as of 2016 LILO (LInux LOader) is no longer in
active development, though as it was extremely popular, it often comes up
in documentation. Popular alternatives include GRUB2, rEFInd, Syslinux,
systemd-boot, or EFISTUB. For various reasons, it's not recommended to use
software that's no longer in active development.
- Chances are your distribution includes an install script and running
``make install`` will be all that's needed. Should that not be the case
you'll have to identify your bootloader and reference its documentation or
configure your EFI.
Legacy LILO Instructions
------------------------
- If you use LILO the kernel images are specified in the file /etc/lilo.conf.
The kernel image file is usually /vmlinuz, /boot/vmlinuz, /bzImage or
/boot/bzImage. To use the new kernel, save a copy of the old image and copy
the new image over the old one. Then, you MUST RERUN LILO to update the
loading map! If you don't, you won't be able to boot the new kernel image.
- Reinstalling LILO is usually a matter of running /sbin/lilo. You may wish
to edit /etc/lilo.conf to specify an entry for your old kernel image
(say, /vmlinux.old) in case the new one does not work. See the LILO docs
for more information.
- After reinstalling LILO, you should be all set. Shutdown the system,
reboot, and enjoy!
- If you ever need to change the default root device, video mode, etc. in the
kernel image, use your bootloader's boot options where appropriate. No need
to recompile the kernel to change these parameters.
- Reboot with the new kernel and enjoy.
If something goes wrong
-----------------------
If you have problems that seem to be due to kernel bugs, please follow the
instructions at 'Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst'.
Hints on understanding kernel bug reports are in
'Documentation/admin-guide/bug-hunting.rst'. More on debugging the kernel
with gdb is in 'Documentation/process/debugging/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst' and
'Documentation/process/debugging/kgdb.rst'.