linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] rust: add basic ELF sections parser

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Message-ID: <aDsgO3mq9aJwe3XF@pollux>
Date: Sat, 31 May 2025 17:28:59 +0200
From: Danilo Krummrich <dakr@...nel.org>
To: Timur Tabi <timur@...nel.org>
Cc: Greg KH <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
	Alexandre Courbot <acourbot@...dia.com>,
	John Hubbard <jhubbard@...dia.com>, Miguel Ojeda <ojeda@...nel.org>,
	Alex Gaynor <alex.gaynor@...il.com>,
	Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>, Gary Guo <gary@...yguo.net>,
	Björn Roy Baron <bjorn3_gh@...tonmail.com>,
	Benno Lossin <benno.lossin@...ton.me>,
	Andreas Hindborg <a.hindborg@...nel.org>,
	Alice Ryhl <aliceryhl@...gle.com>, Trevor Gross <tmgross@...ch.edu>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, rust-for-linux@...r.kernel.org,
	Timur Tabi <ttabi@...dia.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] rust: add basic ELF sections parser

On Sat, May 31, 2025 at 09:38:24AM -0500, Timur Tabi wrote:
> On Sat, May 31, 2025 at 7:25 AM Greg KH <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org> wrote:
> >
> > What exactly do you mean by this?  That is what I have been asking, what
> > is the specific reason why this can't be done in userspace?  What
> > hardware "thing" can't be read by userspace, and why not?  Userspace has
> > access to PCI devices directly, surely there is nothing "secret" here.
> 
> Why in the world would you want user space to read hardware registers,
> when the driver is already doing it???????

You're probably talking past each other; maybe Greg was thinking of information
that is also accessible via sysfs, e.g. configuration space registers, etc.

Anyways, I also suggest to take a step back and write up a few lines that
provide a slightly broader context how that process of loading the firmware
works and what the technical requirements are.

It feels like the discussion is missing a common understanding of what are the
exact problems that should be solved here -- let's get this common understanding
first and then let's figure out if the idea of parsing the full ELF image is the
correct solution, is part of the correct solution or whether it can be solved
differently as well.

--

Like I mentioned previously, there's no need to make this discussion a blocker
for progressing nova-core. If we have to, I'm fine to apply the required code
in nova-core in the meantime.

But at the same time I also want to make sure that we discussed this - with a
common understanding of the problem - and find consensus on what's the correct
thing to solve this properly.