linux-kernel - [PATCH 0/2] Restrict module namespace to in-tree modules and rename macro

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Message-Id: <20250708-export_modules-v1-0-fbf7a282d23f@suse.cz>
Date: Tue, 08 Jul 2025 09:28:56 +0200
From: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
To: Matthias Maennich <maennich@...gle.com>, 
 Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>, Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@...nel.org>, 
 Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@...e.com>, Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@...gle.com>, 
 Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@...sung.com>, Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@...nel.org>, 
 Nathan Chancellor <nathan@...nel.org>, 
 Nicolas Schier <nicolas.schier@...ux.dev>, 
 Alexander Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>, 
 Christian Brauner <brauner@...nel.org>, Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>
Cc: Christoph Hellwig <hch@...radead.org>, 
 Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>, David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>, 
 Shivank Garg <shivankg@....com>, "Jiri Slaby (SUSE)" <jirislaby@...nel.org>, 
 Stephen Rothwell <sfr@...b.auug.org.au>, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org, 
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-modules@...r.kernel.org, 
 linux-kbuild@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org, 
 Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
Subject: [PATCH 0/2] Restrict module namespace to in-tree modules and
 rename macro

Christian asked [1] for EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES() without the _GPL_
part to avoid controversy converting selected existing EXPORT_SYMBOL().
Christoph argued [2] that the _FOR_MODULES() export is intended for
in-tree modules and thus GPL is implied anyway and can be simply dropped
from the export macro name. Peter agreed [3] about the intention for
in-tree modules only, although nothing currently enforces it.

It seems straightforward to add this enforcement, so patch 1 does that.
Patch 2 then drops the _GPL_ from the name and so we're left with
EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES() restricted to in-tree modules only.

Current -next has some new instances of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL_FOR_MODULES()
in drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_rsa.c by commit b20d6576cdb3 ("serial:
8250: export RSA functions"). Hopefully it's resolvable by a merge
commit fixup and we don't need to provide a temporary alias.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250623-warmwasser-giftig-ff656fce89ad@brauner/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/aFleJN_fE-RbSoFD@infradead.org/
[3] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250623142836.GT1613200@noisy.programming.kicks-ass.net/

Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
---
Vlastimil Babka (2):
      module: Restrict module namespace access to in-tree modules
      module: Rename EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL_FOR_MODULES to EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES

 Documentation/core-api/symbol-namespaces.rst | 11 ++++++-----
 fs/anon_inodes.c                             |  2 +-
 include/linux/export.h                       |  2 +-
 kernel/module/main.c                         |  3 ++-
 scripts/mod/modpost.c                        |  6 +++++-
 5 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: d7b8f8e20813f0179d8ef519541a3527e7661d3a
change-id: 20250708-export_modules-12908fa41006

Best regards,
-- 
Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>