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diff --git a/Documentation/process/magic-number.rst b/Documentation/process/magic-number.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..7029c3c084 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/process/magic-number.rst @@ -0,0 +1,84 @@ +.. _magicnumbers: + +Linux magic numbers +=================== + +This file is a registry of magic numbers which are in use. When you +add a magic number to a structure, you should also add it to this +file, since it is best if the magic numbers used by various structures +are unique. + +It is a **very** good idea to protect kernel data structures with magic +numbers. This allows you to check at run time whether (a) a structure +has been clobbered, or (b) you've passed the wrong structure to a +routine. This last is especially useful --- particularly when you are +passing pointers to structures via a void * pointer. The tty code, +for example, does this frequently to pass driver-specific and line +discipline-specific structures back and forth. + +The way to use magic numbers is to declare them at the beginning of +the structure, like so:: + + struct tty_ldisc { + int magic; + ... + }; + +Please follow this discipline when you are adding future enhancements +to the kernel! It has saved me countless hours of debugging, +especially in the screwy cases where an array has been overrun and +structures following the array have been overwritten. Using this +discipline, these cases get detected quickly and safely. + +Changelog:: + + Theodore Ts'o + 31 Mar 94 + + The magic table is current to Linux 2.1.55. + + Michael Chastain + <mailto:mec@shout.net> + 22 Sep 1997 + + Now it should be up to date with Linux 2.1.112. Because + we are in feature freeze time it is very unlikely that + something will change before 2.2.x. The entries are + sorted by number field. + + Krzysztof G. Baranowski + <mailto: kgb@knm.org.pl> + 29 Jul 1998 + + Updated the magic table to Linux 2.5.45. Right over the feature freeze, + but it is possible that some new magic numbers will sneak into the + kernel before 2.6.x yet. + + Petr Baudis + <pasky@ucw.cz> + 03 Nov 2002 + + Updated the magic table to Linux 2.5.74. + + Fabian Frederick + <ffrederick@users.sourceforge.net> + 09 Jul 2003 + + +===================== ================ ======================== ========================================== +Magic Name Number Structure File +===================== ================ ======================== ========================================== +PG_MAGIC 'P' pg_{read,write}_hdr ``include/linux/pg.h`` +APM_BIOS_MAGIC 0x4101 apm_user ``arch/x86/kernel/apm_32.c`` +FASYNC_MAGIC 0x4601 fasync_struct ``include/linux/fs.h`` +SLIP_MAGIC 0x5302 slip ``drivers/net/slip.h`` +BAYCOM_MAGIC 0x19730510 baycom_state ``drivers/net/baycom_epp.c`` +HDLCDRV_MAGIC 0x5ac6e778 hdlcdrv_state ``include/linux/hdlcdrv.h`` +KV_MAGIC 0x5f4b565f kernel_vars_s ``arch/mips/include/asm/sn/klkernvars.h`` +CODA_MAGIC 0xC0DAC0DA coda_file_info ``fs/coda/coda_fs_i.h`` +YAM_MAGIC 0xF10A7654 yam_port ``drivers/net/hamradio/yam.c`` +CCB_MAGIC 0xf2691ad2 ccb ``drivers/scsi/ncr53c8xx.c`` +QUEUE_MAGIC_FREE 0xf7e1c9a3 queue_entry ``drivers/scsi/arm/queue.c`` +QUEUE_MAGIC_USED 0xf7e1cc33 queue_entry ``drivers/scsi/arm/queue.c`` +NMI_MAGIC 0x48414d4d455201 nmi_s ``arch/mips/include/asm/sn/nmi.h`` +===================== ================ ======================== ========================================== |