[PATCH 1/2] riscv: stacktrace: do not report the walker's own frame from arch_stack_walk()
Shuai Xue
xueshuai at linux.alibaba.com
Mon Oct 12 01:08:16 PDT 2026
On 10/10/26 9:27 PM, Karl Mehltretter wrote:
> stack_trace_save() uses skipnr + 1 because arch_stack_walk() is expected
> to first report the return into stack_trace_save(). With FRAME_POINTER,
> the RISC-V arch_stack_walk() calls walk_stackframe(), which starts from
> its own frame and first reports the return into arch_stack_walk().
> stack_trace_save() therefore starts one frame too early. For example,
> page_owner records begin at __set_page_owner() instead of the allocation
> site.
>
> Move the walker into an always-inlined helper and call it directly from
> arch_stack_walk(). Keep walk_stackframe() as a wrapper for its existing
> callers.
>
> return_address() skips level + 3 entries, while the arm64 implementation
> skips level + 2. After removing the extra frame, use level + 2 so
> ftrace_return_address() and CALLER_ADDR results do not shift by one caller.
>
> Fixes: 6a00ef449370 ("riscv: eliminate unreliable __builtin_frame_address(1)")
> Assisted-by: LLM
> Signed-off-by: Karl Mehltretter <kmehltretter at gmail.com>
> ---
Hi, Karl,
> Tested with the KUnit suite from patch 2 on QEMU's virt machine, clang 22
> (LLVM=1), on af32da41b032:
>
> mainline stack_trace_save 0/3, return_address 2/2
> stacktrace.c change alone stack_trace_save 3/3, return_address 0/2
> this patch stack_trace_save 3/3, return_address 2/2
>
> A BeagleV Ahead (TH1520) booted with this patch passes all five cases.
> The stack_trace_save() result on mainline (0/3) was also reproduced with
> GCC 15.2 and QEMU 10.2.1.
>
> Without CONFIG_FRAME_POINTER the walker scans the stack for anything that
> looks like a text address and its start frame is not exact before or
> after this patch. What return_address() returns there is unchanged: the
> walk loses one leading entry and the skip count goes down by one.
Hi Karl,
As promised in the other thread, here are test results for this series.
Short version: the fix is correct, the KUnit suite reproduces the bug
precisely, and the whole series passes here.
Testing
-------
Your numbers were collected with clang 22, plus the mainline
reproduction with GCC 15.2 you noted in the commit message, so I
re-ran the full matrix with gcc: riscv64 cross-gcc 16.2.0 for the
first three configurations below and a native gcc 14.3 for the last
one, all under QEMU (qemu-system-riscv64 11.1.1, -machine virt,
-cpu rv64) on top of your base af32da41b032.
A. base + 2/2 only (tests, no fix): pass:2 fail:3, i.e. exactly the
"stack_trace_save 0/3, return_address 2/2" you reported for
mainline. The failures show the off-by-one shift nicely; with
skip = 0 the first recorded symbol is the walker itself:
# riscv_stacktrace_skip_zero: skip=0 first=stack_trace_save count=11
# symbol == "stack_trace_save"
# expected[skip] == "riscv_stacktrace_leaf"
The two return_address() cases still pass on unpatched mainline,
which is consistent with the analysis: the current "level + 3" is
calibrated for the buggy frame layout, so ftrace_return_address()
keeps working while stack_trace_save() - and everything built on
top of it - records one bogus leading entry.
B. base + 1/2 + 2/2: pass:5 fail:0.
C. My v6 reliable stack unwinding series [1] + your 2/2, with the
level constant in return_address.c adjusted to the same
unconditional "level + 2" as in your 1/2: pass:5 fail:0, with
per-case results identical to B (skip=0/1/2 first =
leaf/middle/outer, count = 10/9/8).
D. Cross-toolchain check: I rebuilt the C tree with a native riscv64
gcc 14.3 inside an Anolis OS 23.4 riscv64 guest - no cross
toolchain involved at any step - using the same Kconfig options,
and booted the resulting Image under the same QEMU: pass:5 fail:0
again, identical output. The result does not depend on one
particular compiler's frame layout.
Please feel free to add
Tested-by: Shuai Xue <xueshuai at linux.alibaba.com>
Reviewed-by: Shuai Xue <xueshuai at linux.alibaba.com>
Thanks.
Shuai
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