From d6957f3396d0b1ee54d183524550d791054b5ebe Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Helge Deller Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 11:34:19 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] printk-formats.txt: Better describe the difference between %pS and %pF Sometimes people seems unclear when to use the %pS or %pF printk format. For example, see commit 51d96dc2e2dc ("random: fix warning message on ia64 and parisc") which fixed such a wrong format string. The documentation should be more clear about the difference. Signed-off-by: Helge Deller [pmladek@suse.com: Restructure the entire section] Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek Reviewed-by: Sergey Senozhatsky Signed-off-by: Helge Deller --- Documentation/printk-formats.txt | 19 +++++++++++-------- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/printk-formats.txt b/Documentation/printk-formats.txt index 65ea5915178b..074670b98bac 100644 --- a/Documentation/printk-formats.txt +++ b/Documentation/printk-formats.txt @@ -58,20 +58,23 @@ Symbols/Function Pointers %ps versatile_init %pB prev_fn_of_versatile_init+0x88/0x88 -For printing symbols and function pointers. The ``S`` and ``s`` specifiers -result in the symbol name with (``S``) or without (``s``) offsets. Where -this is used on a kernel without KALLSYMS - the symbol address is -printed instead. +The ``F`` and ``f`` specifiers are for printing function pointers, +for example, f->func, &gettimeofday. They have the same result as +``S`` and ``s`` specifiers. But they do an extra conversion on +ia64, ppc64 and parisc64 architectures where the function pointers +are actually function descriptors. + +The ``S`` and ``s`` specifiers can be used for printing symbols +from direct addresses, for example, __builtin_return_address(0), +(void *)regs->ip. They result in the symbol name with (``S``) or +without (``s``) offsets. If KALLSYMS are disabled then the symbol +address is printed instead. The ``B`` specifier results in the symbol name with offsets and should be used when printing stack backtraces. The specifier takes into consideration the effect of compiler optimisations which may occur when tail-call``s are used and marked with the noreturn GCC attribute. -On ia64, ppc64 and parisc64 architectures function pointers are -actually function descriptors which must first be resolved. The ``F`` and -``f`` specifiers perform this resolution and then provide the same -functionality as the ``S`` and ``s`` specifiers. Kernel Pointers =============== -- 2.20.1