Bug 931

Summary: Kprobes: separate stacks for kprobes handlers
Product: systemtap Reporter: Frank Ch. Eigler <fche>
Component: kprobesAssignee: Jim Keniston <jkenisto>
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX    
Severity: enhancement    
Priority: P3    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Host: Target:
Build: Last reconfirmed:
Bug Depends on:    
Bug Blocks: 912    
Attachments: Run kprobes handlers on a separate stack - i386

Description Frank Ch. Eigler 2005-05-05 17:33:44 UTC
separate per-cpu stacks for executing kprobes handlers
arrange to disable interrupts during handler execution
Comment 1 Jim Keniston 2005-05-11 19:49:13 UTC
Created attachment 484 [details]
Run kprobes handlers on a separate stack - i386

This patch is described in my SystemTap posting of 5/11/05 and in CVS:
patches/kprobe_stack (sic).
Comment 2 Jim Keniston 2005-05-11 19:50:52 UTC
I've attached a working prototype for i386.
Comment 3 Jim Keniston 2005-11-17 22:58:12 UTC
The necessity for this feature is diminished significantly by the SystemTap
translator's practice of statically allocating space for the handler's "local"
variables.
Comment 4 Frank Ch. Eigler 2005-11-18 17:47:38 UTC
That practice was factored in at the time this suggestion was initially raised.
 We still use probably a few hundred bytes of stack, just with kprobes and
translator artifacts.  The question was whether even those few hundred could
pose a problem.
Comment 5 Frank Ch. Eigler 2007-05-08 20:24:20 UTC
Systemtap probe handlers now check for a minimum of available stack space upon
entry, so maybe we don't need to pursue this any more.