linux-kernel - [tip: objtool/core] scripts/faddr2line: Fix "Argument list too long" error

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Message-ID: <176060840170.709179.14105443112485527789.tip-bot2@tip-bot2>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2025 09:53:21 -0000
From: "tip-bot2 for Pankaj Raghav" <tip-bot2@...utronix.de>
To: linux-tip-commits@...r.kernel.org
Cc: Pankaj Raghav <p.raghav@...sung.com>, Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...nel.org>,
 x86@...nel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject:
 [tip: objtool/core] scripts/faddr2line: Fix "Argument list too long" error

The following commit has been merged into the objtool/core branch of tip:

Commit-ID:     ff5c0466486ba8d07ab2700380e8fd6d5344b4e9
Gitweb:        https://git.kernel.org/tip/ff5c0466486ba8d07ab2700380e8fd6d5344b4e9
Author:        Pankaj Raghav <p.raghav@...sung.com>
AuthorDate:    Sun, 21 Sep 2025 12:03:58 +02:00
Committer:     Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...nel.org>
CommitterDate: Tue, 14 Oct 2025 14:45:20 -07:00

scripts/faddr2line: Fix "Argument list too long" error

The run_readelf() function reads the entire output of readelf into a
single shell variable. For large object files with extensive debug
information, the size of this variable can exceed the system's
command-line argument length limit.

When this variable is subsequently passed to sed via `echo "${out}"`, it
triggers an "Argument list too long" error, causing the script to fail.

Fix this by redirecting the output of readelf to a temporary file
instead of a variable. The sed commands are then modified to read from
this file, avoiding the argument length limitation entirely.

Signed-off-by: Pankaj Raghav <p.raghav@...sung.com>
Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...nel.org>
---
 scripts/faddr2line | 13 +++++++++----
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/faddr2line b/scripts/faddr2line
index 7746d4a..6228753 100755
--- a/scripts/faddr2line
+++ b/scripts/faddr2line
@@ -111,14 +111,19 @@ find_dir_prefix() {
 
 run_readelf() {
 	local objfile=$1
-	local out=$(${READELF} --file-header --section-headers --symbols --wide $objfile)
+	local tmpfile
+	tmpfile=$(mktemp)
+
+	${READELF} --file-header --section-headers --symbols --wide "$objfile" > "$tmpfile"
 
 	# This assumes that readelf first prints the file header, then the section headers, then the symbols.
 	# Note: It seems that GNU readelf does not prefix section headers with the "There are X section headers"
 	# line when multiple options are given, so let's also match with the "Section Headers:" line.
-	ELF_FILEHEADER=$(echo "${out}" | sed -n '/There are [0-9]* section headers, starting at offset\|Section Headers:/q;p')
-	ELF_SECHEADERS=$(echo "${out}" | sed -n '/There are [0-9]* section headers, starting at offset\|Section Headers:/,$p' | sed -n '/Symbol table .* contains [0-9]* entries:/q;p')
-	ELF_SYMS=$(echo "${out}" | sed -n '/Symbol table .* contains [0-9]* entries:/,$p')
+	ELF_FILEHEADER=$(sed -n '/There are [0-9]* section headers, starting at offset\|Section Headers:/q;p' "$tmpfile")
+	ELF_SECHEADERS=$(sed -n '/There are [0-9]* section headers, starting at offset\|Section Headers:/,$p' "$tmpfile" | sed -n '/Symbol table .* contains [0-9]* entries:/q;p')
+	ELF_SYMS=$(sed -n '/Symbol table .* contains [0-9]* entries:/,$p' "$tmpfile")
+
+	rm -f -- "$tmpfile"
 }
 
 check_vmlinux() {