[Crash-utility] [ANNOUNCE] crash version 5.1.9 is available

[Dave Anderson]

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

Changelog:

  - Fixed the compressed kdump panic task determination function to use 
    the kernel's "crashing_cpu" symbol if it exists.  Without the patch,
    the function returned 0 because it was using diskdump-specific header
    variables that are always set to zero in compressed kdump dumpfiles;
    the panic task was then found by searching the kernel stacks of all
    of the active tasks.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
  
  - Fix for the potential of false-positive warning messages during the
    initialization of s390x zdump dumpfiles that would indicate either
    "WARNING: multiple active tasks have called die and/or panic" and/or
    "WARNING: multiple active tasks have called die".
    (holzheu at linux.vnet.ibm.com)
 
  - Removal of superfluous code for gathering registers from the ELF
    header in the ARM get_netdump_regs_arm() function.
    (per.fransson.ml at gmail.com)
 
  - Additional fixes for the ARM architecture gdb-7.0/bfd/elf32-arm.c and 
    gdb-7.0/bfd/cpu-arm.c files to handle gcc-4.6 compiler failures.  
    Without the patch, gcc-4.6 generates "error: variable ‘<variable>’
    set but not used [-Werror=unused-but-set-variable]" fatal errors when
    the (default) -Werror flag is used.  Previous gcc versions considered
    local variables were simply set to some value to be "used", but that
    is no longer the case.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Added new "dis -[xd]" options, which override the current default 
    output format with hexadecimal or decimal format for just the command
    instance.  Without the patch, it would require changing the default 
    output format with "hex" or "dec" prior to executing "dis".
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Added new "task -[xd]" options, which override the current default
    output format with hexadecimal or decimal format for just the command
    instance.  Without the patch, it would require changing the default
    output format with "hex" or "dec" prior to executing "task".  The
    new flags may be used with "foreach task" as well.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Prevent the "struct -[xd]", "union -[xd]", and "p -[xd]" commands 
    from allowing both options being entered on the command line.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Fixes to top-level crash source files filesys.c, memory.c, netdump.c,
    sadump.c, symbols.c, x86.c and lkcd_x86_trace.c to allow them to be
    compiled cleanly with gcc-4.6.  Without the patch, gcc-4.6 generates
    fatal errors indicating "error: variable ‘<variable>’ set but not 
    used [-Werror=unused-but-set-variable]" when building crash with 
    "make Warn", or generates similar warning messages when building with
    "make warn".  This has been tested only on x86, x86_64 and ARM; the
    other architectures may still generate errors/warnings when compiling
    their machine-specific files with gcc-4.6.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Fix for the "irq" command on 2.6.39 and later kernels.  Without the
    patch, the command fails with the message "irq: invalid structure 
    member offset: irq_desc_t_status".
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Fix for the SIAL extension module that solves the problem of getting 
    access to integer variables.
    (maxc at gmx.co.uk)
 
  - Fix for compiler warnings when building the extensions/sial.so
    extension module with recent versions of /usr/bin/ld.  Without the 
    patch, two warning messages are displayed:  "/usr/bin/ld: Warning: 
    alignment 4 of symbol 'sialppdebug' in /tmp/ccYSzE2s.o is smaller 
    than 16 in libsial/libsial.a(sialpp.tab.o)" and "/usr/bin/ld: 
    Warning: alignment 4 of symbol 'sialdebug' in /tmp/ccYSzE2s.o is 
    smaller than 16 in libsial/libsial.a(sial.tab.o)".
    (maxc at gmx.co.uk)
 
  - If the stack pointer found in the register set stored in the ELF
    header of a compressed kdump dumpfile, a KVM dumpfile, or an SADUMP
    dumpfile is either NULL or cannot be accessed, the register set will
    be dumped after the error message.  Without the patch, only the error
    message was displayed. 
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Preparation of the top-level crash sources for more efficient updates
    of the embedded gdb version.  The changes should be invisible other
    than the fact that all top-level source files will now be compiled 
    with the -DGDB_xxx flag, because the gdb-defined TYPE_CODE_xxx values
    that are exported in defs.h changed in more recent gdb versions.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Fixes for potential segmentation violations during the panic task
    search phase of session initialization from a version 4 or later
    x86_64 compressed kdump, in which the number of ELF NT_PRSTATUS
    notes in the dumpfile does not match the number of cpus running
    when the system crashed.
    (Joe.Lawrence at stratus.com, anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Created an exported set_tmpfile2() function that allows the caller 
    to pass in their own FILE pointer of an open file that only exists
    during the execution of a command.  It will afford the recursive-use
    protection of open_tmpfile2() plus the automatic closure of the file
    if the command fails prior to completion or if the user forgets to 
    close it with close_tmpfile2().
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Created a new "rd -r <outputfile>" option that copies raw data 
    from memory to an output file.  It can be invoked either of two 
    possible manners:
 
      crash> rd -r <outputfile> <address> <count>
      crash> rd -r <outputfile> <address> -e <ending-address
     
    The <count> value is always a byte count with this option.
    (adrian.wenl at gmail.com, anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Fix for the ARM "bt" command to store the correct value of the fp 
    register of active tasks.  Without the patch, in rare circumstances, 
    the output may show an empty backtrace.
    (per.xx.fransson at stericsson.com)
 
  - Fix to prevent a harmless warning message when /proc/kallsyms is used
    as a mapfile argument.  Without the patch, during initialization,
    the message "crash: /proc/kallsyms: lseek: Invalid argument" is       
    displayed.  If a regular file copy of /proc/kallsyms is used, the 
    message is not displayed.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Fix for running against live x86 kernels that have been relocated
    by the Intel Trusted Boot or "tboot" facility.  Without the patch, 
    a live crash session fails during invocation with the error message 
    "crash: vmlinux and /dev/mem do not match!" (or "/dev/crash" if 
    applicable).  As a work-around, "/proc/kallsyms" can be entered on 
    the command line, or the "--reloc=<size>" option can be used, but
    this fix obviates that requirement for live systems.
    (anderson at redhat.com)
 
  - Fix for the unlikely event where makedumpfile-generated s390/s390x 
    compressed kdumps do not have a CPU count in the dumpfile header.
    This can happen when older s390 dump tools are used to create a dump
    that do not write the CPU information into the s390 dump header.  
    Without the patch, the warning message "crash: compressed kdump: 
    invalid nr_cpus: 0" is displayed, the dumpfile is not recognized
    as a compressed kdump, and the session fails.  Since s390/s390x have
    a fallback function that gets the CPU register information out of 
    memory, the same warning message will be displayed, but the dumpfile
    will still be recognized as a compressed kdump.
    (holzheu at linux.vnet.ibm.com)
 
  - Fix for the "net -s" command on 2.6.38 and later kernels.  Without
    the patch, the command fails with the error message "net: invalid 
    structure member offset: inet_opt_daddr".
    (bob.montgomery at hp.com, anderson at redhat.com)