linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] kernel: add panic_on

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Date:   Thu, 7 May 2020 18:15:03 -0400
From:   Rafael Aquini <aquini@...hat.com>
To:     Qian Cai <cai@....pw>
Cc:     Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org,
        kexec@...ts.infradead.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
        dyoung@...hat.com, Baoquan He <bhe@...hat.com>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>,
        Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@...nel.org>,
        Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] kernel: add panic_on_taint

On Thu, May 07, 2020 at 06:05:27PM -0400, Qian Cai wrote:
> 
> 
> > On May 7, 2020, at 4:42 PM, Rafael Aquini <aquini@...hat.com> wrote:
> > 
> > On Wed, May 06, 2020 at 10:50:19PM -0400, Qian Cai wrote:
> >> 
> >> 
> >>> On May 6, 2020, at 6:28 PM, Rafael Aquini <aquini@...hat.com> wrote:
> >>> 
> >>> Analogously to the introduction of panic_on_warn, this patch
> >>> introduces a kernel option named panic_on_taint in order to
> >>> provide a simple and generic way to stop execution and catch
> >>> a coredump when the kernel gets tainted by any given taint flag.
> >>> 
> >>> This is useful for debugging sessions as it avoids rebuilding
> >>> the kernel to explicitly add calls to panic() or BUG() into
> >>> code sites that introduce the taint flags of interest.
> >>> Another, perhaps less frequent, use for this option would be
> >>> as a mean for assuring a security policy (in paranoid mode)
> >>> case where no single taint is allowed for the running system.
> >> 
> >> Andrew, you can drop the patch below from -mm now because that one is now obsolete,
> >> 
> >> mm-slub-add-panic_on_error-to-the-debug-facilities.patch
> >> 
> > Please, don't drop it yet. I'll send a patch to get rid of the bits,
> > once this one gets accepted, if it gets accepted.
> 
> Why do you ever want that obsolete patch even show up in linux-next to potentailly waste other people/bots time to test it and develop things on top of it?
>

It's a reasonable and self-contained feature that we have a valid use for. 
I honestly fail to see it causing that amount of annoyance as you are 
suggesting here.