Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
337c188d MCC |
1 | Tainted kernels |
2 | --------------- | |
3 | ||
4 | Some oops reports contain the string **'Tainted: '** after the program | |
5 | counter. This indicates that the kernel has been tainted by some | |
6 | mechanism. The string is followed by a series of position-sensitive | |
7 | characters, each representing a particular tainted value. | |
8 | ||
9 | 1) 'G' if all modules loaded have a GPL or compatible license, 'P' if | |
10 | any proprietary module has been loaded. Modules without a | |
11 | MODULE_LICENSE or with a MODULE_LICENSE that is not recognised by | |
12 | insmod as GPL compatible are assumed to be proprietary. | |
13 | ||
14 | 2) ``F`` if any module was force loaded by ``insmod -f``, ``' '`` if all | |
15 | modules were loaded normally. | |
16 | ||
17 | 3) ``S`` if the oops occurred on an SMP kernel running on hardware that | |
18 | hasn't been certified as safe to run multiprocessor. | |
19 | Currently this occurs only on various Athlons that are not | |
20 | SMP capable. | |
21 | ||
22 | 4) ``R`` if a module was force unloaded by ``rmmod -f``, ``' '`` if all | |
23 | modules were unloaded normally. | |
24 | ||
25 | 5) ``M`` if any processor has reported a Machine Check Exception, | |
26 | ``' '`` if no Machine Check Exceptions have occurred. | |
27 | ||
28 | 6) ``B`` if a page-release function has found a bad page reference or | |
29 | some unexpected page flags. | |
30 | ||
31 | 7) ``U`` if a user or user application specifically requested that the | |
32 | Tainted flag be set, ``' '`` otherwise. | |
33 | ||
34 | 8) ``D`` if the kernel has died recently, i.e. there was an OOPS or BUG. | |
35 | ||
36 | 9) ``A`` if the ACPI table has been overridden. | |
37 | ||
38 | 10) ``W`` if a warning has previously been issued by the kernel. | |
39 | (Though some warnings may set more specific taint flags.) | |
40 | ||
41 | 11) ``C`` if a staging driver has been loaded. | |
42 | ||
43 | 12) ``I`` if the kernel is working around a severe bug in the platform | |
44 | firmware (BIOS or similar). | |
45 | ||
46 | 13) ``O`` if an externally-built ("out-of-tree") module has been loaded. | |
47 | ||
48 | 14) ``E`` if an unsigned module has been loaded in a kernel supporting | |
49 | module signature. | |
50 | ||
51 | 15) ``L`` if a soft lockup has previously occurred on the system. | |
52 | ||
53 | 16) ``K`` if the kernel has been live patched. | |
54 | ||
55 | The primary reason for the **'Tainted: '** string is to tell kernel | |
56 | debuggers if this is a clean kernel or if anything unusual has | |
57 | occurred. Tainting is permanent: even if an offending module is | |
58 | unloaded, the tainted value remains to indicate that the kernel is not | |
59 | trustworthy. |