From: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
To: Alexander Graf <graf@amazon.com>, Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
Pasha Tatashin <pasha.tatashin@soleen.com>,
Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@kernel.org>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, kexec@lists.infradead.org,
linux-mm@kvack.org, usamaarif642@gmail.com, rmikey@meta.com,
clm@fb.com, riel@surriel.com, Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>,
SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>,
kernel-team@meta.com
Subject: [PATCH v6 4/4] kho: document kexec-metadata tracking feature
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2026 06:37:39 -0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260127-kho-v6-4-56f9396681c2@debian.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260127-kho-v6-0-56f9396681c2@debian.org>
Add documentation for the kexec-metadata feature that tracks the
previous kernel version and kexec boot count across kexec reboots.
This helps diagnose bugs that only reproduce when kexecing from
specific kernel versions.
Suggested-by: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Mike Rapoport (Microsoft) <rppt@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
---
Documentation/admin-guide/mm/kho.rst | 39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 39 insertions(+)
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/kho.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/kho.rst
index 6dc18ed4b8861..3771e764bb513 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/kho.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/kho.rst
@@ -62,6 +62,45 @@ You can move the system out of KHO finalization phase again by calling ::
After this command, the KHO FDT is no longer available in
``/sys/kernel/debug/kho/out/fdt``.
+Kexec Metadata
+==============
+
+KHO automatically tracks metadata about the kexec chain, passing information
+about the previous kernel to the next kernel. This feature helps diagnose
+bugs that only reproduce when kexecing from specific kernel versions.
+
+On each KHO kexec, the kernel logs the previous kernel's version and the
+number of kexec reboots since the last cold boot::
+
+ [ 0.000000] KHO: exec from: 6.19.0-rc4-next-20260107 (count 1)
+
+The metadata includes:
+
+``previous_release``
+ The kernel version string (from ``uname -r``) of the kernel that
+ initiated the kexec.
+
+``kexec_count``
+ The number of kexec boots since the last cold boot. On cold boot,
+ this counter starts at 0 and increments with each kexec. This helps
+ identify issues that only manifest after multiple consecutive kexec
+ reboots.
+
+Use Cases
+---------
+
+This metadata is particularly useful for debugging kexec transition bugs,
+where a buggy kernel kexecs into a new kernel and the bug manifests only
+in the second kernel. Examples of such bugs include:
+
+- Memory corruption from the previous kernel affecting the new kernel
+- Incorrect hardware state left by the previous kernel
+- Firmware/ACPI state issues that only appear in kexec scenarios
+
+At scale, correlating crashes to the previous kernel version enables
+faster root cause analysis when issues only occur in specific kernel
+transition scenarios.
+
debugfs Interfaces
==================
--
2.47.3
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-01-27 14:38 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-01-27 14:37 [PATCH v6 0/4] kho: history: track previous kernel version and kexec boot count Breno Leitao
2026-01-27 14:37 ` [PATCH v6 1/4] kho: add size parameter to kho_add_subtree() Breno Leitao
2026-02-04 13:54 ` Pratyush Yadav
2026-01-27 14:37 ` [PATCH v6 2/4] kho: rename fdt parameter to blob in kho_add/remove_subtree() Breno Leitao
2026-01-27 14:43 ` Mike Rapoport
2026-01-27 14:37 ` [PATCH v6 3/4] kho: kexec-metadata: track previous kernel chain Breno Leitao
2026-01-27 14:37 ` Breno Leitao [this message]
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