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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, usama.arif@linux.dev,
	Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>,  SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org>,
	kernel-team@meta.com
Subject: [PATCH v9 6/6] kho: document kexec-metadata tracking feature
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2026 04:54:36 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260316-kho-v9-6-ed6dcd951988@debian.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260316-kho-v9-0-ed6dcd951988@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>
Reviewed-by: Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@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 6a4ddf3440465..2c26e560bd78a 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/kho.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/kho.rst
@@ -42,6 +42,45 @@ For example, if you used ``reserve_mem`` command line parameter to create
 an early memory reservation, the new kernel will have that memory at the
 same physical address as the old kernel.
 
+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
 ==================
 

-- 
2.52.0



  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-03-16 11:56 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 12+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-03-16 11:54 [PATCH v9 0/6] kho: history: track previous kernel version and kexec boot count Breno Leitao
2026-03-16 11:54 ` [PATCH v9 1/6] kho: add size parameter to kho_add_subtree() Breno Leitao
2026-04-03 11:21   ` Pratyush Yadav
2026-03-16 11:54 ` [PATCH v9 2/6] kho: rename fdt parameter to blob in kho_add/remove_subtree() Breno Leitao
2026-03-16 11:54 ` [PATCH v9 3/6] kho: persist blob size in KHO FDT Breno Leitao
2026-04-03 11:24   ` Pratyush Yadav
2026-03-16 11:54 ` [PATCH v9 4/6] kho: fix kho_in_debugfs_init() to handle non-FDT blobs Breno Leitao
2026-04-03 11:27   ` Pratyush Yadav
2026-03-16 11:54 ` [PATCH v9 5/6] kho: kexec-metadata: track previous kernel chain Breno Leitao
2026-04-03 11:29   ` Pratyush Yadav
2026-03-16 11:54 ` Breno Leitao [this message]
2026-04-03 11:33 ` [PATCH v9 0/6] kho: history: track previous kernel version and kexec boot count Pratyush Yadav

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