Bug 11475

Summary:	linux/bounds.h erased on make clean
Product:	Other	Reporter:	Mike Isely (isely)
Component:	Other	Assignee:	Sam Ravnborg (sam)
Status:	RESOLVED CODE_FIX
Severity:	high	CC:	anand.gaurv, asolokha, isely, kernel-bugs
Priority:	P1
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Kernel Version:	2.6.26.3	Subsystem:
Regression:	Yes	Bisected commit-id:

Description Mike Isely 2008-09-01 08:43:46 UTC

Latest working kernel version: 2.6.25.x
Earliest failing kernel version: 2.6.26.3 (probably also 2.6.26.1+2)
Distribution: vanilla kernel
Hardware Environment: n/a
Software Environment: n/a
Problem Description:

When building a kernel with which later out-of-tree modules can be built against, one normally builds the kernel and then runs a "make clean" on the results. What is left is stripped down but enough to build modules against. But in 2.6.26.3 this fails because linux/bounds.h is missing (the header is encountered is for example the external module tries to include linux/slab.h). This bounds.h header is generated by the build process but make clean is erasing it. It is worth noting that the top-level Makefile has this comment:

# clean - Delete most, but leave enough to build external modules
#

What's happening now violates that principle, i.e. "make clean" is blowing away linux/bounds.h, breaking the ability to later on build external modules. I've also verified that manually restoring this one missing file also restores the ability to build external modules.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Build the kernel in your usual way.
2. Note the existence of linux/bounds.h - save it somewhere out-of-tree for the moment.
3. Run "make clean"
4. Note that linux/bounds.h is missing.
5. Try to build an external module. Odds are it will fail due to this missing header.
6. Manually restore linux/bounds.h from your saved copy.
7. Try to build the external module again. This time it will work.

Comment 1 Mike Isely 2008-09-01 10:26:42 UTC

Just confirmed the same problem is in vanilla (from kernel.org) kernel 2.6.26

  -Mike

Comment 2 Gaurav 2008-09-06 16:05:27 UTC

Yes the problems exists in 2.6.26.
Its a bug in the makefile.

- gaurav

Comment 3 Arseny Solokha 2008-09-17 00:52:13 UTC

Me too.

Comment 4 Darren Hart 2011-04-25 17:10:33 UTC

I believe this is fixed in:

7d3cc8b6d899e53222c22a78d98bb53a695f7962
Don't clean bounds.h and asm-offsets.h

include/generated/bounds.h remains after a make clean for me on today's master. Suggest we close.

Comment 5 Sam Ravnborg 2011-05-19 19:57:49 UTC

Fixed in 7d3cc8b6d899e53222c22a78d98bb53a695f7962 - closed