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Date:   Tue, 12 Jan 2021 12:34:22 +0000
Message-Id: <20210112123422.2011234-1-jackmanb@google.com>
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Subject: [PATCH bpf-next] bpf: Clarify return value of probe str helpers
From:   Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>
To:     bpf@vger.kernel.org
Cc:     Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>,
        Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>,
        Andrii Nakryiko <andrii.nakryiko@gmail.com>,
        KP Singh <kpsingh@chromium.org>,
        Florent Revest <revest@chromium.org>,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>
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Precedence: bulk

When the buffer is too small to contain the input string, these
helpers return the length of the buffer, not the length of the
original string. This tries to make the docs totally clear about
that, since "the length of the [copied ]string" could also refer to
the length of the input.

Signed-off-by: Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>
---
 include/uapi/linux/bpf.h       | 10 +++++-----
 tools/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h | 10 +++++-----
 2 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h b/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h
index 77d7c1bb2923..a1ad32456f89 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h
@@ -2993,10 +2993,10 @@ union bpf_attr {
  * 		string length is larger than *size*, just *size*-1 bytes are
  * 		copied and the last byte is set to NUL.
  *
- * 		On success, the length of the copied string is returned. This
- * 		makes this helper useful in tracing programs for reading
- * 		strings, and more importantly to get its length at runtime. See
- * 		the following snippet:
+ * 		On success, returns the number of bytes that were written,
+ * 		including the terminal NUL. This makes this helper useful in
+ * 		tracing programs for reading strings, and more importantly to
+ * 		get its length at runtime. See the following snippet:
  *
  * 		::
  *
@@ -3024,7 +3024,7 @@ union bpf_attr {
  * 		**->mm->env_start**: using this helper and the return value,
  * 		one can quickly iterate at the right offset of the memory area.
  * 	Return
- * 		On success, the strictly positive length of the string,
+ * 		On success, the strictly positive length of the output string,
  * 		including the trailing NUL character. On error, a negative
  * 		value.
  *
diff --git a/tools/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h b/tools/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h
index 77d7c1bb2923..a1ad32456f89 100644
--- a/tools/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h
+++ b/tools/include/uapi/linux/bpf.h
@@ -2993,10 +2993,10 @@ union bpf_attr {
  * 		string length is larger than *size*, just *size*-1 bytes are
  * 		copied and the last byte is set to NUL.
  *
- * 		On success, the length of the copied string is returned. This
- * 		makes this helper useful in tracing programs for reading
- * 		strings, and more importantly to get its length at runtime. See
- * 		the following snippet:
+ * 		On success, returns the number of bytes that were written,
+ * 		including the terminal NUL. This makes this helper useful in
+ * 		tracing programs for reading strings, and more importantly to
+ * 		get its length at runtime. See the following snippet:
  *
  * 		::
  *
@@ -3024,7 +3024,7 @@ union bpf_attr {
  * 		**->mm->env_start**: using this helper and the return value,
  * 		one can quickly iterate at the right offset of the memory area.
  * 	Return
- * 		On success, the strictly positive length of the string,
+ * 		On success, the strictly positive length of the output string,
  * 		including the trailing NUL character. On error, a negative
  * 		value.
  *

base-commit: e22d7f05e445165e58feddb4e40cc9c0f94453bc
--
2.30.0.284.gd98b1dd5eaa7-goog