Subject: Re: [PATCH v4.2-rc1] printk: make extended printk support conditional on netconsole

From: Petr Mladek <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2015 18:05:13 +0200

On Mon 2015-06-29 19:31:40, Tejun Heo wrote:
> 6fe29354befe ("printk: implement support for extended console
> drivers") implemented extended printk support for extended netconsole.
> The code added was miniscule but it added static 8k buffer
> unconditionally unnecessarily bloating the kernel for cases where
> extended netconsole is not used.
> 
> This patch introduces CONFIG_PRINTK_CON_EXTENDED which is selected by
> CONFIG_NETCONSOLE.  If the config option is not set, extended printk
> support is compiled out along with the static buffer.
> 
> Verified 8k reduction in vmlinux bss when !CONFIG_NETCONSOLE.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <[email-masked]>
> Reported-and-suggested-by: Geert Uytterhoeven <[email-masked]>
> ---
> Linus, Andrew.
> 
> This removes an unnecessary 8k bss bloat introduced during v4.2-rc1
> merge window on certain configs.  The original patch was routed
> through -mm.  How should this be routed?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
>  drivers/net/Kconfig    |    1 +
>  init/Kconfig           |    3 +++
>  kernel/printk/printk.c |   33 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
>  3 files changed, 33 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

[...]

> --- a/kernel/printk/printk.c
> +++ b/kernel/printk/printk.c
[...]
> @@ -2561,9 +2584,11 @@ void register_console(struct console *ne
>  		console_drivers->next = newcon;
>  	}
>  
> -	if (newcon->flags & CON_EXTENDED)
> -		if (!nr_ext_console_drivers++)
> +	if (newcon->flags & CON_EXTENDED) {
> +		if (!nr_ext_console_drivers)
>  			pr_info("printk: continuation disabled due to ext consoles, expect more fragments in /dev/kmsg\n");
> +		inc_nr_ext_console_drivers();

We should handle also the situation when CON_EXTENDED is set
and CONFIG_PRINTK_CON_EXTENDED is not set by mistake. Otherwise,
we will not increment nr_ext_console_drivers here => ext_text will
not be filled in console_unlock() => call_console_drivers()
will print nothing for the CON_EXTENDED console.

At least, I would print an error here. Something like.

#ifndef CONFIG_PRINTK_CON_EXTENDED
		pr_err("The registered extended console will print nothing because the kernel is not compiled with PRINTK_CON_EXTENDED\n");
#endif

I wonder if there is a good identification of the console that can be printed.

Otherwise, it looks fine to me.

Best Regards,
Petr