Re: [PATCH 4/4] build: rust: provide an option to inline C helpers into Rust

[Matthew Maurer <mmaurer@google.com>]

On Tue, Dec 2, 2025 at 12:28 PM Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@google.com> wrote:
>
> From: Gary Guo <gary@garyguo.net>
>
> A new experimental Kconfig option, `RUST_INLINE_HELPERS` is added to
> allow C helpers (which were created to allow Rust to call into
> inline/macro C functions without having to re-implement the logic in
> Rust) to be inlined into Rust crates without performing global LTO.
>
> If the option is enabled, the following is performed:
> * For helpers, instead of compiling them to an object file to be linked
>   into vmlinux, they're compiled to LLVM IR.
> * The LLVM IR is compiled to bitcode (This is step is not necessary, but
>   is a performance optimisation to prevent LLVM from always have to
>   reparse the same IR).
> * When a Rust crate is compiled, instead of generating an object file, we
>   ask LLVM bitcode to be generated.
> * llvm-link is invoked with --internalize to combine the helper bitcode
>   with the crate bitcode. This step is similar to LTO, but this is much
>   faster since it only needs to inline the helpers.
> * clang is invoked to turn the combined bitcode into a final object file.
>
> The --internalize flag tells llvm-link to treat all symbols in
> helpers.bc using `internal` linkage. This matches the behavior of
> `clang` on `static inline` functions, and avoids exporting the symbol
> from the object file.

I've filed a PR with LLVM [1] to clarify that this is the intended
operation of the tool.

[1]: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/170397

>
> To ensure that RUST_INLINE_HELPERS is not incompatible with BTF, we pass
> the -g0 flag when building helpers. See commit 5daa0c35a1f0 ("rust:
> Disallow BTF generation with Rust + LTO") for details.
>
> We have an intended triple mismatch of `aarch64-unknown-none` vs
> `aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu`, so we suppress the warning.
>
> Co-developed-by: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@gmail.com>
> Signed-off-by: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@gmail.com>
> Co-developed-by: Matthew Maurer <mmaurer@google.com>
> Signed-off-by: Matthew Maurer <mmaurer@google.com>
> Signed-off-by: Gary Guo <gary@garyguo.net>
> Co-developed-by: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@google.com>
> Signed-off-by: Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@google.com>
> ---
>  Makefile               |  4 +++-
>  lib/Kconfig.debug      | 15 +++++++++++++++
>  rust/Makefile          | 26 ++++++++++++++++++++++----
>  rust/exports.c         |  5 ++++-
>  scripts/Makefile.build |  5 ++++-
>  5 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
> index 96ddbaae7e12de71bcfabef4639de3a13a6e4815..5834bfd568548d1bee34b328dccce5d60f85526f 100644
> --- a/Makefile
> +++ b/Makefile
> @@ -517,6 +517,8 @@ OBJCOPY             = $(LLVM_PREFIX)llvm-objcopy$(LLVM_SUFFIX)
>  OBJDUMP                = $(LLVM_PREFIX)llvm-objdump$(LLVM_SUFFIX)
>  READELF                = $(LLVM_PREFIX)llvm-readelf$(LLVM_SUFFIX)
>  STRIP          = $(LLVM_PREFIX)llvm-strip$(LLVM_SUFFIX)
> +LLVM_LINK      = $(LLVM_PREFIX)llvm-link$(LLVM_SUFFIX)
> +LLVM_AS                = $(LLVM_PREFIX)llvm-as$(LLVM_SUFFIX)
>  else
>  CC             = $(CROSS_COMPILE)gcc
>  LD             = $(CROSS_COMPILE)ld
> @@ -625,7 +627,7 @@ export RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP := 1
>  export CLIPPY_CONF_DIR := $(srctree)
>
>  export ARCH SRCARCH CONFIG_SHELL BASH HOSTCC KBUILD_HOSTCFLAGS CROSS_COMPILE LD CC HOSTPKG_CONFIG
> -export RUSTC RUSTDOC RUSTFMT RUSTC_OR_CLIPPY_QUIET RUSTC_OR_CLIPPY BINDGEN
> +export RUSTC RUSTDOC RUSTFMT RUSTC_OR_CLIPPY_QUIET RUSTC_OR_CLIPPY BINDGEN LLVM_LINK LLVM_AS
>  export HOSTRUSTC KBUILD_HOSTRUSTFLAGS
>  export CPP AR NM STRIP OBJCOPY OBJDUMP READELF PAHOLE RESOLVE_BTFIDS LEX YACC AWK INSTALLKERNEL
>  export PERL PYTHON3 CHECK CHECKFLAGS MAKE UTS_MACHINE HOSTCXX
> diff --git a/lib/Kconfig.debug b/lib/Kconfig.debug
> index 3034e294d50df55c4003c5fa5df442f59e711bd8..e63c5eb57b049aff988419ccd12dfd99d59f5080 100644
> --- a/lib/Kconfig.debug
> +++ b/lib/Kconfig.debug
> @@ -3427,6 +3427,21 @@ config RUST_KERNEL_DOCTESTS
>
>           If unsure, say N.
>
> +config RUST_INLINE_HELPERS
> +    bool "Inline C helpers into Rust crates (EXPERIMENTAL)"
> +    depends on RUST && RUSTC_CLANG_LLVM_COMPATIBLE
> +    depends on EXPERT
> +    help
> +        Links C helpers into Rust crates through LLVM IR.
> +
> +        If this option is enabled, instead of generating object files directly,
> +        rustc is asked to produce LLVM IR, which is then linked together with
> +        the LLVM IR of C helpers, before object file is generated.
> +
> +        This requires a matching LLVM version for Clang and rustc.
> +
> +        If unsure, say N.
> +
>  endmenu # "Rust"
>
>  endmenu # Kernel hacking
> diff --git a/rust/Makefile b/rust/Makefile
> index d7d19c21b671dea10242b1772a8bcf0bf5dcc1cd..2344e2662ce29280582215954132c09f63cd8c9d 100644
> --- a/rust/Makefile
> +++ b/rust/Makefile
> @@ -6,15 +6,19 @@ rustdoc_output := $(objtree)/Documentation/output/rust/rustdoc
>  obj-$(CONFIG_RUST) += core.o compiler_builtins.o ffi.o
>  always-$(CONFIG_RUST) += exports_core_generated.h
>
> +ifdef CONFIG_RUST_INLINE_HELPERS
> +always-$(CONFIG_RUST) += helpers/helpers.bc
> +else
> +obj-$(CONFIG_RUST) += helpers/helpers.o
> +always-$(CONFIG_RUST) += exports_helpers_generated.h
> +endif
>  # Missing prototypes are expected in the helpers since these are exported
>  # for Rust only, thus there is no header nor prototypes.
> -obj-$(CONFIG_RUST) += helpers/helpers.o
>  CFLAGS_REMOVE_helpers/helpers.o = -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations
>
>  always-$(CONFIG_RUST) += bindings/bindings_generated.rs bindings/bindings_helpers_generated.rs
>  obj-$(CONFIG_RUST) += bindings.o pin_init.o kernel.o
> -always-$(CONFIG_RUST) += exports_helpers_generated.h \
> -    exports_bindings_generated.h exports_kernel_generated.h
> +always-$(CONFIG_RUST) += exports_bindings_generated.h exports_kernel_generated.h
>
>  always-$(CONFIG_RUST) += uapi/uapi_generated.rs
>  obj-$(CONFIG_RUST) += uapi.o
> @@ -468,6 +472,13 @@ $(obj)/bindings/bindings_helpers_generated.rs: private bindgen_target_extra = ;
>  $(obj)/bindings/bindings_helpers_generated.rs: $(src)/helpers/helpers.c FORCE
>         $(call if_changed_dep,bindgen)
>
> +quiet_cmd_rust_helper = HELPER  $@
> +      cmd_rust_helper = \
> +       $(CC) $(filter-out $(CFLAGS_REMOVE_helpers/helpers.o), $(c_flags)) -c -g0 $< -emit-llvm -o $@
> +
> +$(obj)/helpers/helpers.bc: $(obj)/helpers/helpers.c FORCE
> +       +$(call if_changed_dep,rust_helper)
> +
>  rust_exports = $(NM) -p --defined-only $(1) | awk '$$2~/(T|R|D|B)/ && $$3!~/__(pfx|cfi|odr_asan)/ { printf $(2),$$3 }'
>
>  quiet_cmd_exports = EXPORTS $@
> @@ -547,11 +558,13 @@ quiet_cmd_rustc_library = $(if $(skip_clippy),RUSTC,$(RUSTC_OR_CLIPPY_QUIET)) L
>         OBJTREE=$(abspath $(objtree)) \
>         $(if $(skip_clippy),$(RUSTC),$(RUSTC_OR_CLIPPY)) \
>                 $(filter-out $(skip_flags),$(rust_flags)) $(rustc_target_flags) \
> -               --emit=dep-info=$(depfile) --emit=obj=$@ \
> +               --emit=dep-info=$(depfile) --emit=$(if $(link_helper),llvm-bc=$(patsubst %.o,%.bc,$@),obj=$@) \
>                 --emit=metadata=$(dir $@)$(patsubst %.o,lib%.rmeta,$(notdir $@)) \
>                 --crate-type rlib -L$(objtree)/$(obj) \
>                 --crate-name $(patsubst %.o,%,$(notdir $@)) $< \
>                 --sysroot=/dev/null \
> +       $(if $(link_helper),;$(LLVM_LINK) --internalize --suppress-warnings $(patsubst %.o,%.bc,$@) $(obj)/helpers/helpers.bc -o $(patsubst %.o,%.m.bc,$@); \
> +               $(CC) $(CLANG_FLAGS) $(KBUILD_CFLAGS) -Wno-override-module -c $(patsubst %.o,%.m.bc,$@) -o $@) \
>         $(if $(rustc_objcopy),;$(OBJCOPY) $(rustc_objcopy) $@) \
>         $(cmd_objtool)
>
> @@ -678,4 +691,9 @@ $(obj)/kernel.o: $(obj)/kernel/generated_arch_warn_asm.rs $(obj)/kernel/generate
>  endif
>  endif
>
> +ifdef CONFIG_RUST_INLINE_HELPERS
> +$(obj)/kernel.o: private link_helper = 1
> +$(obj)/kernel.o: $(obj)/helpers/helpers.bc
> +endif
> +
>  endif # CONFIG_RUST
> diff --git a/rust/exports.c b/rust/exports.c
> index 587f0e776aba52854080f15aa91094b55996c072..1b52460b0f4eeef6df9081abb9b7e054a28c3c21 100644
> --- a/rust/exports.c
> +++ b/rust/exports.c
> @@ -16,10 +16,13 @@
>  #define EXPORT_SYMBOL_RUST_GPL(sym) extern int sym; EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sym)
>
>  #include "exports_core_generated.h"
> -#include "exports_helpers_generated.h"
>  #include "exports_bindings_generated.h"
>  #include "exports_kernel_generated.h"
>
> +#ifndef CONFIG_RUST_INLINE_HELPERS
> +#include "exports_helpers_generated.h"
> +#endif
> +
>  // For modules using `rust/build_error.rs`.
>  #ifdef CONFIG_RUST_BUILD_ASSERT_ALLOW
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL_RUST_GPL(rust_build_error);
> diff --git a/scripts/Makefile.build b/scripts/Makefile.build
> index d0ee33a487be95f8ba9a5c964ebecfbebc6c4bf8..04eaf2b4fbca2245f904a6dc7875cb3275aa7df6 100644
> --- a/scripts/Makefile.build
> +++ b/scripts/Makefile.build
> @@ -343,7 +343,10 @@ rust_common_cmd = \
>  # would not match each other.
>
>  quiet_cmd_rustc_o_rs = $(RUSTC_OR_CLIPPY_QUIET) $(quiet_modtag) $@
> -      cmd_rustc_o_rs = $(rust_common_cmd) --emit=obj=$@ $< $(cmd_objtool)
> +      cmd_rustc_o_rs = $(rust_common_cmd) --emit=$(if $(CONFIG_RUST_INLINE_HELPERS),llvm-bc=$(patsubst %.o,%.bc,$@),obj=$@) $< \
> +       $(if $(CONFIG_RUST_INLINE_HELPERS),;$(LLVM_LINK) --internalize --suppress-warnings $(patsubst %.o,%.bc,$@) $(objtree)/rust/helpers/helpers.bc -o $(patsubst %.o,%.m.bc,$@); \
> +               $(CC) $(CLANG_FLAGS) $(KBUILD_CFLAGS) -Wno-override-module -c $(patsubst %.o,%.m.bc,$@) -o $@) \
> +       $(cmd_objtool)
>
>  define rule_rustc_o_rs
>         $(call cmd_and_fixdep,rustc_o_rs)
>
> --
> 2.52.0.158.g65b55ccf14-goog
>