Provided by: makedumpfile_1.5.5-2ubuntu1.6_amd64 bug

NAME

       makedumpfile.conf - The filter configuration file for makedumpfile(8).

DESCRIPTION

       The  makedumpfile.conf  is  a configuration file for makedumpfile tool.  makedumpfile.conf
       file contains the erase commands to filter out desired kernel data from the  vmcore  while
       creating  DUMPFILE  using  makedumpfile  tool.   makedumpfile  reads the filter config and
       builds the list of memory addresses and its sizes after processing  filter  commands.  The
       memory locations that require to be filtered out are then poisoned with character X (58 in
       Hex).

FILE FORMAT

       The file consists of module sections that contains filter commands. A section begins  with
       the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next section begins.

       "["<ModuleName>"]"
       <FilterCommands>

       where
       "[" is the character [
       "]" is the character ]

       <ModuleName>
              is either 'vmlinux' or name of a Linux kernel module.

       <FilterCommands>
              is  a  list  of  one  or  more  filter  commands as described in the section FILTER
              COMMANDS of this manual page.

       The section name indicates a kernel module name  (including  vmlinux)  where  the  symbols
       specified  in  subsequent  erase  commands  belong  to.  The  unnamed  section defaults to
       [vmlinux] section. However, a user can  also  explicitly  define  [vmlinux]  section.  The
       sections  help  makedumpfile  tool  to  select appropriate kernel or module debuginfo file
       before processing the subsequent erase commands. Before  selecting  appropriate  debuginfo
       file, the module name is validated against the loaded modules from the vmcore. If no match
       is found, then the section is ignored and makedumpfile skips to the next  module  section.
       If  match  is found, then makedumpfile will try to load the corresponding module debuginfo
       file. If module debuginfo is not available then, makedumpfile will skip the section with a
       warning message.

FILTER COMMANDS

   filter command
       A  filter  command  is either an erase command or a loop construct. Each erase command and
       loop construct must start with a new line. Each filter command describes data in the  dump
       to be erased. Syntax:

       <EraseCommands>|<LoopConstruct>

       where

       <EraseCommands>
              Described in the subsection erase command of this manual page.

       <LoopConstruct>
              Described in the subsection Loop construct of this manual page.

   erase command
       Erase  specified  size  of a kernel data referred by specified kernel/module symbol or its
       member component. The erase command syntax is:

       erase <Symbol>[.member[...]] [size <SizeValue>[K|M]]
       erase <Symbol>[.member[...]] [size <SizeSymbol>]
       erase <Symbol>[.member[...]] [nullify]

       where

       <Symbol>
              A kernel  or  module  symbol  (variable)  name  that  is  part  of  global  symbols
              /proc/kallsyms.

       <SizeValue>
              A  positive integer value as a size of the data in bytes to be erased. The suffixes
              'K' and 'M' can be used to specify kilobytes and Megabytes  respectively  where,  K
              means  1024  bytes and M means 1024 ^ 2 = 1048576 bytes.  The suffixes are not case
              sensitive.

       <SizeSymbol>
              A simple expression of the form <Symbol>[.member[...]] that denotes a symbol  which
              contains a positive integer value as a size of the data in bytes to be erased.

       <Symbol>[.member[...]]
              A  simple  expression  that  results into either a global kernel symbol name or its
              member components. The expression always uses '.' operator to  specify  the  member
              component  of  kernel symbol or its member irrespective of whether it is of pointer
              type or not.

       member[...]
              Member or component of member in <Symbol>.

       The erase command takes two arguments 1. kernel symbol name or its member  components  and
       2.  size of the data referred by argument (1) OR nullify keyword. The second argument size
       OR nullify is optional. The unit for size value  is  in  bytes.  If  size  option  is  not
       specified  then  the  size  of the first argument is determined according to its data type
       using dwarf info from debuginfo file. In case of 'char *' data type, the length of  string
       pointed  by  'char  *'  pointer is determined with an upper limit of 1024. The size can be
       specified in two forms 1.  a integer value as  explained  above  (<SizeValue>)  and  2.  a
       simple  expression  in  the  form  of  <Symbol>[.member[...]]] that results into base type
       (integer) variable.

       If the specified <Symbol> is of type 'void *', then user needs to provide either  size  or
       nullify option, otherwise the erase command will not have any effect.

       The nullify option only works if specified <Symbol> is a pointer.  Instead of erasing data
       pointed by the specified pointer nullify erases the  pointer  value  and  set  it  to  '0'
       (NULL).  Please note that by nullifying the pointer values may affect the debug ability of
       created DUMPFILE.  Use the nullify option only when the size of data to be erased  is  not
       known.  e.g. data pointed by 'void *'.

       Let  us  look at the makedumpfile.conf file from the example below which was configured to
       erase desired kernel data from the kernel module with name mymodule. At line 1 and 3,  the
       user has not specified size option while erasing 'array_var' and 'mystruct1.name' symbols.
       Instead the user depends on makedumpfile to automatically determine the sizes to be erased
       i.e 100 bytes for 'array_var' and 11 bytes for 'mystruct1.name'.  At line 2, while erasing
       the 'mystruct1.buffer' member the user has specified the size value 25 against the  actual
       size  of  50.  In  this case the user specified size takes the precedence and makedumpfile
       erases only 25 bytes from ´mystruct1.buffer'. At line 4, the size of the data  pointed  by
       void * pointer 'mystruct1.addr' is unknown. Hence the nullify option has been specified to
       reset the pointer value to NULL. At line 5, the ´mystruct2.addr_size' is specified as size
       argument to determine the size of the data pointed by void * pointer 'mystruct2.addr'.

       Example:

       Assuming the following piece of code is from kernel module 'mymodule':

       struct s1 {
            char *name;
            void *addr1;
            void *addr2;
            char buffer[50];
       };
       struct s2 {
            void *addr;
            long addr_size;
       };

       /* Global symbols */
       char array_var[100];
       struct s1 mystruct1;
       struct s2 *mystruct2;

       int foo()
       {
            ...
            s1.name = "Hello World";
            ...
       }

       makedumpfile.conf:
       [mymodule]
       erase array_var
       erase mystruct1.buffer size 25
       erase mystruct1.name
       erase mystruct1.addr1 nullify
       # Assuming addr2 points to 1024 bytes
       erase mystruct1.addr2 size 1K
       erase mystruct2.addr size mystruct2.addr_size
       EOF

   Loop construct
       A  Loop  construct allows the user to traverse the linked list or array elements and erase
       the data contents referred by each element.

       for <id> in {<ArrayVar> |
                    <StructVar> via <NextMember> |
                    <ListHeadVar> within <StructName>:<ListHeadMember>}
            erase <id>[.MemberExpression] [size <SizeExpression>|nullify]
            [erase <id>...]
            [...]
       endfor

       where

       <id>   Arbitrary name used to temporarily point to elements of  the  list.  This  is  also
              called iteration variable.

       <ArrayVar>
              A  simple  expression  in  the  form of <Symbol>[.member[...]] that results into an
              array variable.

       <StructVar>
              A simple expression in the form  of  <Symbol>[.member[...]]  that  results  into  a
              variable that points to a structure.

       <NextMember>
              Member  within  <StructVar>  that  points  to  an  object  of  same  type  that  of
              <StructVar>.

       <ListHeadVar>
              A simple expression in the form  of  <Symbol>[.member[...]]  that  results  into  a
              variable of type struct list_head.

       <StructName>
              Name  of the structure type that can be traversed using HEAD variable <ListHeadVar>
              and contains a member named <ListHeadMember>.

       <ListHeadMember>
              Name of a member in <StructName>, of type struct list_head.

       <MemberExpression>
              A simple expression in the form of [.member[...]] to specify a member or  component
              of an element in <ArrayVar>, <StructVar> or <StructName>.

       <SizeExpression>
              Size    value    in   the   form   of   <SizeValue>,   <id>[.MemberExpression]   or
              <Symbol>[.member[...]].

       The for loop construct allows to iterate on list of elements in an array or linked  lists.
       Each element in the list is assigned to iteration variable <id>. The type of the iteration
       variable is determined by that of the  list  elements.  The  entry  specified  after  'in'
       terminal  is  called  LIST  entry.  The  LIST  entry  can  be an array variable, structure
       variable/pointer or a struct list_head type variable. The set of erase commands  specified
       between for and endfor, will be executed for each element in the LIST entry.

       If  the LIST entry specified is an array variable, then the loop will be executed for each
       array element. The size of the array will be determined by using dwarf information.

       If the LIST entry specified is a  structure  variable/pointer,  then  a  traversal  member
       (<NextMember>)  must  be  specified using 'via' terminal. The for loop will continue until
       the value of traversal  member  is  NULL  or  matches  with  address  of  the  first  node
       <StructVar> if it is a circular linked list.

       If  the  LIST  entry  is  specified  using  a  struct list_head type variable, then within
       terminal must be used to specify the structure name <StructName> that is surrounding to it
       along with the struct list_head type member after ':' which is part of the linked list. In
       the erase statement <id> then denotes the structure that the  list_head  is  contained  in
       (ELEMENT_OF).

       The  below example illustrates how to use loop construct for traversing Array, linked list
       via next member and list_head.

       Example:

       Assuming following piece of code is from kernel module 'mymodule':

       struct s1 {
            struct *next;
            struct list_head list;
            char private[100];
            void *key;
            long key_size;
       };

       /* Global symbols */
       struct s1 mystruct1;
       static LIST_HEAD(s1_list_head);
       struct s1 myarray[100];

       void foo()
       {
            struct s1 *s1_ptr;
            ...
            ...
            s1_ptr = malloc(...);
            ...
            ...
            list_add(&s1_ptr->list, &s1_list_head);
            ...
       }

       makedumpfile.conf:
       [mymodule]
       # erase private fields from list starting with mystruct1 connected via
       # 'next' member:
       for mys1 in mystruct1 via next
            erase mys1.private
            erase mys1.key size mys1.key_size
       endfor

       # erase private fields from list starting with list_head variable
       # s1_list_head.
       for mys1 in s1_list_head.next within s1:list
            erase mys1.private
            erase mys1.key size mys1.key_size
       endfor

       # erase private fields from all elements of the array myarray:
       for mys1 in myarray
            erase mys1.private
            erase mys1.key size mys1.key_size
       endfor
       EOF

       In the above example, the  first  for  construct  traverses  the  linked  list  through  a
       specified  structure  variable  mystruct1  of  type  struct  s1.   The  linked list can be
       traversed using 'next' member of mystruct1.  Hence a via terminal has been used to specify
       the traversal member name 'next'.

       The  second  for  construct traverses the linked list through a specified struct list_head
       variable s1_list_head.next. The global symbol s1_list_head  is  a  start  address  of  the
       linked  list  and  its  next  member points to the address of struct list_head type member
       'list' from struct s1. Hence a within terminal is used to specify the structure name  's1'
       that  can  be  traversed  using  s1_list_head.next  variable along with the name of struct
       list_head type  member  'list'  which  is  part  of  the  linked  list  that  starts  from
       s1_list_head global symbol.

       The  third  for  construct traverses the array elements specified through a array variable
       myarray.

SEE ALSO

       makedumpfile(8)