The relationships between the headers are analogous to the various data
sections:
setup_header = .data
boot_params/setup_data = .bss
What is missing from the above list? That's right:
kernel_info = .rodata
We have been (ab)using .data for things that could go into .rodata or .bss for
a long time, for lack of alternatives and -- especially early on -- inertia.
Also, the BIOS stub is responsible for creating boot_params, so it isn't
available to a BIOS-based loader (setup_data is, though).
setup_header is permanently limited to 144 bytes due to the reach of the
2-byte jump field, which doubles as a length field for the structure, combined
with the size of the "hole" in struct boot_params that a protected-mode loader
or the BIOS stub has to copy it into. It is currently 119 bytes long, which
leaves us with 25 very precious bytes. This isn't something that can be fixed
without revising the boot protocol entirely, breaking backwards compatibility.
boot_params proper is limited to 4096 bytes, but can be arbitrarily extended
by adding setup_data entries. It cannot be used to communicate properties of
the kernel image, because it is .bss and has no image-provided content.
kernel_info solves this by providing an extensible place for information about
the kernel image. It is readonly, because the kernel cannot rely on a
bootloader copying its contents anywhere, but that is OK; if it becomes
necessary it can still contain data items that an enabled bootloader would be
expected to copy into a setup_data chunk.
Do not bump setup_header version in arch/x86/boot/header.S because it
will be followed by additional changes coming into the Linux/x86 boot
protocol.
Suggested-by: H. Peter Anvin (Intel) <hpa@zytor.com>
Signed-off-by: Daniel Kiper <daniel.kiper@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov <bp@suse.de>
Reviewed-by: Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Ross Philipson <ross.philipson@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: H. Peter Anvin (Intel) <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net>
Cc: ard.biesheuvel@linaro.org
Cc: Boris Ostrovsky <boris.ostrovsky@oracle.com>
Cc: dave.hansen@linux.intel.com
Cc: eric.snowberg@oracle.com
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>
Cc: kanth.ghatraju@oracle.com
Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-efi <linux-efi@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: rdunlap@infradead.org
Cc: ross.philipson@oracle.com
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Cc: x86-ml <x86@kernel.org>
Cc: xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20191112134640.16035-2-daniel.kiper@oracle.com
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