[Crash-utility] [ANNOUNCE] crash version 6.0.1 is available

Wed Nov 30 16:44:47 UTC 2011

 Download from: http://people.redhat.com/anderson

 - Several fixes/updates for the 32-bit PPC architecture: 
    (1) Delete "__func__.<number>" symbols from the symbol list.
    (2) Update manner of determining the processor speed displayed
        by the initial system banner and the "sys" command.
    (3) Use the kernel's online cpus mask for determining the cpu count.
    (4) Enable the "bt" command to follow traces that start in a per-cpu
        IRQ stack.
    (5) Fix for the "bt" command to better prevent runaway stack traces.
    (6) Fix for the "bt" command to recognize/display 2.6 kernel 
        exception frames.
    (7) Update "bt" command's exception frame register display.
    (8) Implement "bt -f" option.
   (nakayama.ts at ncos.nec.co.jp)

 - Fix for the X86 kernel module line-number capability on some kernels. 
   It is unclear why only some kernel versions exhibit this problem, 
   but the newly-embedded gdb version 7.3.1 has changed behaviour such
   that the addrmap arrays of module text address blocks may contain 
   the module text offset values instead of their loaded vmalloc 
   addresses, and so without the patch, there is no "match" for the 
   vmalloc address when searching for its line number information.  
   It is fixed by doing a preliminary symbol search before accessing 
   the line-number access routine.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the X86_64 kernel module line-number capability on kernels 
   that have functions preceded by the __vsyscall_fn macro, which
   puts the kernel text function in the vsyscall page that starts
   at virtual address 0xffffffffff600000.  This results in a text
   address block that starts at a normal kernel text address but 
   ends with a vsyscall address, which inadvertently contains the
   whole vmalloc address range.  Without the patch, line number
   requests for module vmalloc text addresses would be mistakenly
   issued the first text section that ended with a vsyscall address,
   but then cannot find line number information in that section.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the inadvertent patching of the symbols of the 32-bit Xen
   hypervisor binary.  Without the patch, during initialization the 
   minimal_symbols are "patched" with their original values, so they
   remain unchanged, and the message "WARNING: kernel relocated [0MB]: 
   patching 3434 gdb minimal_symbol values" is displayed.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - If the "--mod <directory-tree>" command line option, or the 
   setting of the CRASH_MODULE_PATH environment variable, or the 
   "mod -S <directory-tree>" point to a tree that contains only the
   separate debuginfo "<module>.ko.debug" files, then those 
   debuginfo files will be used as the internal "add-symbol-file" 
   arguments to the embedded gdb module.  Without the patch, it was
   only acceptable to point to a directory tree that contained the
   base "<module>.ko" files, and the separate debuginfo files
   were found automatically based upon the directory path to the 
   base module file.  This will allow an alternate module-debuginfo
   directory tree to be set up like so:

     # cd <directory>
     # rpm2cpio kernel-debuginfo-<release>.rpm | cpio -idv

   Having done that, the <directory> may be used with the "--mod",
   command line argument, or as the CRASH_MODULE_PATH environment 
   variable, or as the "mod -S <directory> argument.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Make the suspension of the verbose/time-consuming "sym -l" output
   immediate upon the killing of the output pipe, or the entry of the
   first CTRL-c.  Without the patch, it would typically take several 
   seconds, or multiple CTRL-c entries, for the "crash>" prompt to be 
   re-displayed.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the handling of piped commands if the command receiving
   the crash output is non-existent or invalid.  Without the patch,
   the crash command would wait indefinitely unless multiple CTRL-c 
   entries were entered. 
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the s390x "bt" command's floating point register display
   header.  Without the patch, the header indicates that only registers 
   0, 2, 4 and 6 are printed, a relic of the s390 architecture, whereas
   on the s390x all floating point registers are displayed.          
   (holzheu at linux.vnet.ibm.com)

 - Fix for the error message displayed when an untrusted .gdbinit file
   exists in the current directory.  Without the patch, the error 
   message "WARNING: not using untrusted file: " would be followed by 
   garbage ASCII data instead of the full pathname of the .gdbinit file.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the "kmem -p" and "kmem -i" commands in 3.1 and later kernels
   where the page structure's "_count" member was moved into an embedded 
   anonymous structure.  Without the patch, the commands fail with the
   error message "kmem: invalid structure member offset: page_count 
   FILE: memory.c  LINE: 4610  FUNCTION: dump_mem_map_SPARSEMEM()".
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Allow the user to append data to the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS variables in 
   the top-level Makefile.  The extra data should be put in files named
   "CFLAGS.extra" and "LDFLAGS.extra" in the top-level directory; if
   either or both files exist, the extra data within them will be 
   appended to the relevant variable.  Typically the LDFLAGS.extra file
   will contain "-l<library>" strings, and the CFLAGS.extra file will
   contain "-D<value>" strings.  This will allow the crash utility to
   be built with optional libraries, and the code that references them
   to be encapsulated with associated "#ifdef <value>" sections.  The
   extra CFLAGS data will also be passed to extension modules that are 
   built within the local "crash-<version>/extensions" subdirectory.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - The LDFLAGS setting in the Makefile can no longer be modified by
   hand.  It will be automatically configured by the "configure -b" 
   option, based upon the contents of the optional "LDFLAGS.extra" file.
   (anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the "runq" command to display the runnable tasks that
   are contained within a cgroup's task-group scheduling entity.
   Without the patch, only scheduling entities that are individual
   tasks get displayed, and runnable tasks in task-group scheduling 
   entities get skipped.
   (d.hatayama at jp.fujitsu.com, anderson at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the SIAL extension module when repeatedly loading and 
   unloading a sial script when a full pathname is specified for the 
   script.  Without the patch, the 4th unload attempt generates a
   segmentation violation. 
   (lmcilroy at redhat.com)

 - Fix for the SIAL extension module to register the help and usage
   functions for a command only when loading a script.
   (lchouinard at s2sys.com)