[Crash-utility] crash version 4.0-7.5 is available

[Dave Anderson]

Changelog for crash version 4.0-7.5:

- Fix for "kmem -i" and "kmem -p" on 2.6.26 x86 CONFIG_SPARSEMEM
  PAE kernels to account for the change in value of SECTION_SIZE_BITS.
  (oomichi at mxs.nes.nec.co.jp)

- Fix for "bt -[tT]" options on x86 architectures when the backtrace
  starts on the hard IRQ stack.  Without the patch, the backtrace
  may not properly make the transition back to the process stack.
  (anderson at redhat.com)

- Fix for the "bt" command when run on a xen hypervisor in which the
  backtrace leads to either "process_softirqs" or "page_fault".  
  Without the patch, the backtrace indicates: "bt: cannot resolve stack
  trace", and then the recovery code terminates the command with the 
  nonsensical error message: "bt: invalid structure size: task_struct".
  (oda at valinux.co.jp, anderson at redhat.com)

- Fix for the "kmem -[sS]" options that could cause a segmentation
  violation or bogus "bad slab pointer" and "bad inuse counter" error 
  messages.  Reported on 2.6.25-based CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB kernels, but
  could conceivably occur on any kernel with a kmem_cache.nodelists[]
  array.  (anderson at redhat.com)
 
- Fix for a bug in the SIAL extension when dealing with bitfields.
  (olaf at sgi.com, hedi at sgi.com)

- Fix for the "files" command when run on 2.6.25 and later kernels, 
  which would either fail with an "invalid kernel virtual address"
  error of type "fill_dentry_cache", or would show nonsensical/garbage
  "ROOT" and "CWD" pathnames.  This was due to the change in format 
  of the kernel's fs_struct.  (anderson at redhat.com)

- Addition of a new "null-stop" environment variable that can be turned
  on/off with the "set" command.  It simply controls the embedded gdb's 
  "null-stop" print setting, which, if on, will stop printing character
  arrays when the first NULL is encountered.  The default setting is
  still "off", so there will be no behavioral changes unless it is 
  turned on during runtime or in .crashrc files.  
  (anderson at redhat.com)

- Fix for the builtin "g" alias, which would fail with an "Ambiguous
  command" error from the embedded gdb module.  
  (anderson at redhat.com)

- Fix to handle the 2.6.27 kernel's change of the module structure's
  num_symtab, core_size and core_text_size members from long to int.
  Without the patch, initialization-time failures would result when 
  running against 64-bit big-endian kernels, and potentially on little-
  endian 64-bit kernels.  (bwalle at suse.de)

- Implement support for the /dev/crash driver being built into x86 or
  x86_64 Red Hat kernels with the restricted /dev/mem driver.  Without 
  the patch, if the kernel was built with CONFIG_CRASH configured as 
  "y" instead of "m", and crash was run against the resultant live 
  kernel, it would fail during initialization attempting to use the
  restricted /dev/mem device.  (anderson at redhat.com)

- If the /dev/crash driver module has been loaded prior to a live crash
  session, then it will not be unloaded when the crash session exits.
  Normally the module gets loaded by the crash utility during its
  initialization on a live system, and then unloaded when the crash 
  session exits, regardless whether the module was loaded by the crash
  utility itself or if it was pre-loaded manually.  However, if a cpu 
  subsequently hangs, then a live crash session attempt would also hang
  when it tries to load the module.  This patch will allow the crash.ko
  module to be pre-loaded -- for example during kernel boot-time -- and
  if a cpu subsequently hangs, a live crash session can be initiated to 
  investigate the problem.  (anderson at redhat.com) 
       
- Fix to recognize the 2.6.25 re-naming of the x86 user_regs_struct
  structure members.  Without the patch, running against a kdump 
  dumpfile would fail with the error: "crash: invalid structure member
  offset: user_regs_struct_ebp".  (anderson at redhat.com)

- Fix for initialization-time failure when running against 2.6.27
  x86_64 xen kernels, which indicate "crash: cannot resolve: end_pfn".
  (bwalle at suse.de)

- Fix for initialization-time failure when running against Xen 4.4 
  hypervisor binaries, which indicate "crash: invalid structure member
  offset: domain_is_polling".  (bwalle at suse.de)

- Added a new "p -u" option, which indicates that the gdb expression
  argument evaluates to a user virtual address in the current context.
  This option could be used, for example, if a known kernel data
  structure exists at user virtual address in the current context,
  or if the debuginfo data of a user program were loaded into the
  crash session via the gdb "add-symbol-file" command.
  (anderson at redhat.com)

- Fix for "bt -a" command when running against the xen hypervisor where
  the number of physical cpus outnumber the MAX_VIRT_CPUS value for the
  processor type.  Without the patch on such a system, "bt -a" would 
  fail after displaying backtraces for the first 32 (MAX_VIRT_CPUS) 
  pcpus with the the error message: "bt: invalid vcpu".  The patch also
  corrects the "vcpus" command output to show the vcpus associated with
  pcpus 32 through 63, and the "doms" command output to show the second
  idle domain associated with pcpus 32 through 63. 
  (oda at valinux.co.jp) 

- Fix for the display of the processor speed on IBM Power6 hardware. 
  Without the patch, "MACHINE: ppc64 (unknown Mhz)" would be displayed 
  upon initialization and by the "sys" command.
  (sachinp at in.ibm.com, acv at linux.vnet.ibm.com)

Download from: http://people.redhat.com/anderson