[PATCH v9 4/5] Documentation/kbuild: Document storage of symbol information

Matthew Maurer mmaurer at google.com
Sat Nov 23 11:19:01 AEDT 2024


Document where exported and imported symbols are kept, format options,
and limitations.

Signed-off-by: Matthew Maurer <mmaurer at google.com>
---
 Documentation/kbuild/modules.rst | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/modules.rst b/Documentation/kbuild/modules.rst
index 101de236cd0c9abe1f5684d80063ff3f9a7fc673..c32e3ed67cd26070f6929f6ad98c4308a1ab71f8 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/modules.rst
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/modules.rst
@@ -423,6 +423,26 @@ Symbols From the Kernel (vmlinux + modules)
 	1) It lists all exported symbols from vmlinux and all modules.
 	2) It lists the CRC if CONFIG_MODVERSIONS is enabled.
 
+Version Information Formats
+---------------------------
+
+	Exported symbols have information stored in __ksymtab or __ksymtab_gpl
+	sections. Symbol names and namespaces are stored in __kstrtab and
+	__kstrtabns respectively, using a format similar to the string table
+	used for ELF. If CONFIG_MODVERSIONS is enabled, the CRCs corresponding
+	to exported symbols will be added to the __kcrctab or __kcrctab_gpl.
+
+	If CONFIG_BASIC_MODVERSIONS is enabled (default with
+	CONFIG_MODVERSIONS), imported symbols will have their symbol name and
+	CRC stored in the __versions section of the importing module. This
+	mode only supports symbols of length up to 64 bytes.
+
+	If CONFIG_EXTENDED_MODVERSIONS is enabled (required to enable both
+	CONFIG_MODVERSIONS and CONFIG_RUST at the same time), imported symbols
+	will have their symbol name recorded in the __version_ext_names
+	section as a series of concatenated, null-terminated strings. CRCs for
+	these symbols will be recorded in the __version_ext_crcs section.
+
 Symbols and External Modules
 ----------------------------
 

-- 
2.47.0.371.ga323438b13-goog



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