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authorJakub Kicinski2022-05-10 17:48:40 -0700
committerJakub Kicinski2022-05-10 17:48:41 -0700
commit4c0c6e4cf775653d597ba3ce48c5a137d5849443 (patch)
tree78f8c270eb81e3bf7b55b4dad23cf310f6a4b5b0
parentbe76955dea93fe7ee9e0a6f961a7185290a2417f (diff)
parent9facd94114b59afebd405e74b3bc2bf184efe986 (diff)
Merge branch 'docs-document-some-aspects-of-struct-sk_buff'
Jakub Kicinski says: ==================== docs: document some aspects of struct sk_buff This small set creates a place to render sk_buff documentation, documents one random thing (data-only skbs) and converts the big checksum comment to kdoc. ==================== Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220323233715.2104106-1-kuba@kernel.org/ Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220324231312.2241166-1-kuba@kernel.org/ Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220509160456.1058940-1-kuba@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
-rw-r--r--Documentation/networking/index.rst1
-rw-r--r--Documentation/networking/skbuff.rst37
-rw-r--r--include/linux/skbuff.h301
3 files changed, 232 insertions, 107 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/index.rst b/Documentation/networking/index.rst
index 72cf33579b78..a1c271fe484e 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/networking/index.rst
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ Contents:
sctp
secid
seg6-sysctl
+ skbuff
smc-sysctl
statistics
strparser
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/skbuff.rst b/Documentation/networking/skbuff.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5b74275a73a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/networking/skbuff.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+struct sk_buff
+==============
+
+:c:type:`sk_buff` is the main networking structure representing
+a packet.
+
+Basic sk_buff geometry
+----------------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/skbuff.h
+ :doc: Basic sk_buff geometry
+
+Shared skbs and skb clones
+--------------------------
+
+:c:member:`sk_buff.users` is a simple refcount allowing multiple entities
+to keep a struct sk_buff alive. skbs with a ``sk_buff.users != 1`` are referred
+to as shared skbs (see skb_shared()).
+
+skb_clone() allows for fast duplication of skbs. None of the data buffers
+get copied, but caller gets a new metadata struct (struct sk_buff).
+&skb_shared_info.refcount indicates the number of skbs pointing at the same
+packet data (i.e. clones).
+
+dataref and headerless skbs
+---------------------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/skbuff.h
+ :doc: dataref and headerless skbs
+
+Checksum information
+--------------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/skbuff.h
+ :doc: skb checksums
diff --git a/include/linux/skbuff.h b/include/linux/skbuff.h
index 97de40bcfef6..5296b2c37f62 100644
--- a/include/linux/skbuff.h
+++ b/include/linux/skbuff.h
@@ -43,98 +43,112 @@
#include <linux/netfilter/nf_conntrack_common.h>
#endif
-/* The interface for checksum offload between the stack and networking drivers
+/**
+ * DOC: skb checksums
+ *
+ * The interface for checksum offload between the stack and networking drivers
* is as follows...
*
- * A. IP checksum related features
+ * IP checksum related features
+ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*
* Drivers advertise checksum offload capabilities in the features of a device.
* From the stack's point of view these are capabilities offered by the driver.
* A driver typically only advertises features that it is capable of offloading
* to its device.
*
- * The checksum related features are:
- *
- * NETIF_F_HW_CSUM - The driver (or its device) is able to compute one
- * IP (one's complement) checksum for any combination
- * of protocols or protocol layering. The checksum is
- * computed and set in a packet per the CHECKSUM_PARTIAL
- * interface (see below).
- *
- * NETIF_F_IP_CSUM - Driver (device) is only able to checksum plain
- * TCP or UDP packets over IPv4. These are specifically
- * unencapsulated packets of the form IPv4|TCP or
- * IPv4|UDP where the Protocol field in the IPv4 header
- * is TCP or UDP. The IPv4 header may contain IP options.
- * This feature cannot be set in features for a device
- * with NETIF_F_HW_CSUM also set. This feature is being
- * DEPRECATED (see below).
- *
- * NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM - Driver (device) is only able to checksum plain
- * TCP or UDP packets over IPv6. These are specifically
- * unencapsulated packets of the form IPv6|TCP or
- * IPv6|UDP where the Next Header field in the IPv6
- * header is either TCP or UDP. IPv6 extension headers
- * are not supported with this feature. This feature
- * cannot be set in features for a device with
- * NETIF_F_HW_CSUM also set. This feature is being
- * DEPRECATED (see below).
- *
- * NETIF_F_RXCSUM - Driver (device) performs receive checksum offload.
- * This flag is only used to disable the RX checksum
- * feature for a device. The stack will accept receive
- * checksum indication in packets received on a device
- * regardless of whether NETIF_F_RXCSUM is set.
- *
- * B. Checksumming of received packets by device. Indication of checksum
- * verification is set in skb->ip_summed. Possible values are:
- *
- * CHECKSUM_NONE:
+ * .. flat-table:: Checksum related device features
+ * :widths: 1 10
+ *
+ * * - %NETIF_F_HW_CSUM
+ * - The driver (or its device) is able to compute one
+ * IP (one's complement) checksum for any combination
+ * of protocols or protocol layering. The checksum is
+ * computed and set in a packet per the CHECKSUM_PARTIAL
+ * interface (see below).
+ *
+ * * - %NETIF_F_IP_CSUM
+ * - Driver (device) is only able to checksum plain
+ * TCP or UDP packets over IPv4. These are specifically
+ * unencapsulated packets of the form IPv4|TCP or
+ * IPv4|UDP where the Protocol field in the IPv4 header
+ * is TCP or UDP. The IPv4 header may contain IP options.
+ * This feature cannot be set in features for a device
+ * with NETIF_F_HW_CSUM also set. This feature is being
+ * DEPRECATED (see below).
+ *
+ * * - %NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM
+ * - Driver (device) is only able to checksum plain
+ * TCP or UDP packets over IPv6. These are specifically
+ * unencapsulated packets of the form IPv6|TCP or
+ * IPv6|UDP where the Next Header field in the IPv6
+ * header is either TCP or UDP. IPv6 extension headers
+ * are not supported with this feature. This feature
+ * cannot be set in features for a device with
+ * NETIF_F_HW_CSUM also set. This feature is being
+ * DEPRECATED (see below).
+ *
+ * * - %NETIF_F_RXCSUM
+ * - Driver (device) performs receive checksum offload.
+ * This flag is only used to disable the RX checksum
+ * feature for a device. The stack will accept receive
+ * checksum indication in packets received on a device
+ * regardless of whether NETIF_F_RXCSUM is set.
+ *
+ * Checksumming of received packets by device
+ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ *
+ * Indication of checksum verification is set in &sk_buff.ip_summed.
+ * Possible values are:
+ *
+ * - %CHECKSUM_NONE
*
* Device did not checksum this packet e.g. due to lack of capabilities.
* The packet contains full (though not verified) checksum in packet but
* not in skb->csum. Thus, skb->csum is undefined in this case.
*
- * CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY:
+ * - %CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY
*
* The hardware you're dealing with doesn't calculate the full checksum
- * (as in CHECKSUM_COMPLETE), but it does parse headers and verify checksums
- * for specific protocols. For such packets it will set CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY
- * if their checksums are okay. skb->csum is still undefined in this case
+ * (as in %CHECKSUM_COMPLETE), but it does parse headers and verify checksums
+ * for specific protocols. For such packets it will set %CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY
+ * if their checksums are okay. &sk_buff.csum is still undefined in this case
* though. A driver or device must never modify the checksum field in the
* packet even if checksum is verified.
*
- * CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY is applicable to following protocols:
- * TCP: IPv6 and IPv4.
- * UDP: IPv4 and IPv6. A device may apply CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY to a
+ * %CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY is applicable to following protocols:
+ *
+ * - TCP: IPv6 and IPv4.
+ * - UDP: IPv4 and IPv6. A device may apply CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY to a
* zero UDP checksum for either IPv4 or IPv6, the networking stack
* may perform further validation in this case.
- * GRE: only if the checksum is present in the header.
- * SCTP: indicates the CRC in SCTP header has been validated.
- * FCOE: indicates the CRC in FC frame has been validated.
+ * - GRE: only if the checksum is present in the header.
+ * - SCTP: indicates the CRC in SCTP header has been validated.
+ * - FCOE: indicates the CRC in FC frame has been validated.
*
- * skb->csum_level indicates the number of consecutive checksums found in
- * the packet minus one that have been verified as CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY.
+ * &sk_buff.csum_level indicates the number of consecutive checksums found in
+ * the packet minus one that have been verified as %CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY.
* For instance if a device receives an IPv6->UDP->GRE->IPv4->TCP packet
* and a device is able to verify the checksums for UDP (possibly zero),
- * GRE (checksum flag is set) and TCP, skb->csum_level would be set to
+ * GRE (checksum flag is set) and TCP, &sk_buff.csum_level would be set to
* two. If the device were only able to verify the UDP checksum and not
* GRE, either because it doesn't support GRE checksum or because GRE
* checksum is bad, skb->csum_level would be set to zero (TCP checksum is
* not considered in this case).
*
- * CHECKSUM_COMPLETE:
+ * - %CHECKSUM_COMPLETE
*
* This is the most generic way. The device supplied checksum of the _whole_
- * packet as seen by netif_rx() and fills in skb->csum. This means the
+ * packet as seen by netif_rx() and fills in &sk_buff.csum. This means the
* hardware doesn't need to parse L3/L4 headers to implement this.
*
* Notes:
+ *
* - Even if device supports only some protocols, but is able to produce
* skb->csum, it MUST use CHECKSUM_COMPLETE, not CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY.
* - CHECKSUM_COMPLETE is not applicable to SCTP and FCoE protocols.
*
- * CHECKSUM_PARTIAL:
+ * - %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL
*
* A checksum is set up to be offloaded to a device as described in the
* output description for CHECKSUM_PARTIAL. This may occur on a packet
@@ -146,14 +160,18 @@
* packet that are after the checksum being offloaded are not considered to
* be verified.
*
- * C. Checksumming on transmit for non-GSO. The stack requests checksum offload
- * in the skb->ip_summed for a packet. Values are:
+ * Checksumming on transmit for non-GSO
+ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ *
+ * The stack requests checksum offload in the &sk_buff.ip_summed for a packet.
+ * Values are:
*
- * CHECKSUM_PARTIAL:
+ * - %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL
*
* The driver is required to checksum the packet as seen by hard_start_xmit()
- * from skb->csum_start up to the end, and to record/write the checksum at
- * offset skb->csum_start + skb->csum_offset. A driver may verify that the
+ * from &sk_buff.csum_start up to the end, and to record/write the checksum at
+ * offset &sk_buff.csum_start + &sk_buff.csum_offset.
+ * A driver may verify that the
* csum_start and csum_offset values are valid values given the length and
* offset of the packet, but it should not attempt to validate that the
* checksum refers to a legitimate transport layer checksum -- it is the
@@ -165,55 +183,66 @@
* checksum calculation to the device, or call skb_checksum_help (in the case
* that the device does not support offload for a particular checksum).
*
- * NETIF_F_IP_CSUM and NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM are being deprecated in favor of
- * NETIF_F_HW_CSUM. New devices should use NETIF_F_HW_CSUM to indicate
+ * %NETIF_F_IP_CSUM and %NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM are being deprecated in favor of
+ * %NETIF_F_HW_CSUM. New devices should use %NETIF_F_HW_CSUM to indicate
* checksum offload capability.
- * skb_csum_hwoffload_help() can be called to resolve CHECKSUM_PARTIAL based
+ * skb_csum_hwoffload_help() can be called to resolve %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL based
* on network device checksumming capabilities: if a packet does not match
- * them, skb_checksum_help or skb_crc32c_help (depending on the value of
- * csum_not_inet, see item D.) is called to resolve the checksum.
+ * them, skb_checksum_help() or skb_crc32c_help() (depending on the value of
+ * &sk_buff.csum_not_inet, see :ref:`crc`)
+ * is called to resolve the checksum.
*
- * CHECKSUM_NONE:
+ * - %CHECKSUM_NONE
*
* The skb was already checksummed by the protocol, or a checksum is not
* required.
*
- * CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY:
+ * - %CHECKSUM_UNNECESSARY
*
* This has the same meaning as CHECKSUM_NONE for checksum offload on
* output.
*
- * CHECKSUM_COMPLETE:
+ * - %CHECKSUM_COMPLETE
+ *
* Not used in checksum output. If a driver observes a packet with this value
- * set in skbuff, it should treat the packet as if CHECKSUM_NONE were set.
- *
- * D. Non-IP checksum (CRC) offloads
- *
- * NETIF_F_SCTP_CRC - This feature indicates that a device is capable of
- * offloading the SCTP CRC in a packet. To perform this offload the stack
- * will set csum_start and csum_offset accordingly, set ip_summed to
- * CHECKSUM_PARTIAL and set csum_not_inet to 1, to provide an indication in
- * the skbuff that the CHECKSUM_PARTIAL refers to CRC32c.
- * A driver that supports both IP checksum offload and SCTP CRC32c offload
- * must verify which offload is configured for a packet by testing the
- * value of skb->csum_not_inet; skb_crc32c_csum_help is provided to resolve
- * CHECKSUM_PARTIAL on skbs where csum_not_inet is set to 1.
- *
- * NETIF_F_FCOE_CRC - This feature indicates that a device is capable of
- * offloading the FCOE CRC in a packet. To perform this offload the stack
- * will set ip_summed to CHECKSUM_PARTIAL and set csum_start and csum_offset
- * accordingly. Note that there is no indication in the skbuff that the
- * CHECKSUM_PARTIAL refers to an FCOE checksum, so a driver that supports
- * both IP checksum offload and FCOE CRC offload must verify which offload
- * is configured for a packet, presumably by inspecting packet headers.
- *
- * E. Checksumming on output with GSO.
- *
- * In the case of a GSO packet (skb_is_gso(skb) is true), checksum offload
+ * set in skbuff, it should treat the packet as if %CHECKSUM_NONE were set.
+ *
+ * .. _crc:
+ *
+ * Non-IP checksum (CRC) offloads
+ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ *
+ * .. flat-table::
+ * :widths: 1 10
+ *
+ * * - %NETIF_F_SCTP_CRC
+ * - This feature indicates that a device is capable of
+ * offloading the SCTP CRC in a packet. To perform this offload the stack
+ * will set csum_start and csum_offset accordingly, set ip_summed to
+ * %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL and set csum_not_inet to 1, to provide an indication
+ * in the skbuff that the %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL refers to CRC32c.
+ * A driver that supports both IP checksum offload and SCTP CRC32c offload
+ * must verify which offload is configured for a packet by testing the
+ * value of &sk_buff.csum_not_inet; skb_crc32c_csum_help() is provided to
+ * resolve %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL on skbs where csum_not_inet is set to 1.
+ *
+ * * - %NETIF_F_FCOE_CRC
+ * - This feature indicates that a device is capable of offloading the FCOE
+ * CRC in a packet. To perform this offload the stack will set ip_summed
+ * to %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL and set csum_start and csum_offset
+ * accordingly. Note that there is no indication in the skbuff that the
+ * %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL refers to an FCOE checksum, so a driver that supports
+ * both IP checksum offload and FCOE CRC offload must verify which offload
+ * is configured for a packet, presumably by inspecting packet headers.
+ *
+ * Checksumming on output with GSO
+ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ *
+ * In the case of a GSO packet (skb_is_gso() is true), checksum offload
* is implied by the SKB_GSO_* flags in gso_type. Most obviously, if the
- * gso_type is SKB_GSO_TCPV4 or SKB_GSO_TCPV6, TCP checksum offload as
+ * gso_type is %SKB_GSO_TCPV4 or %SKB_GSO_TCPV6, TCP checksum offload as
* part of the GSO operation is implied. If a checksum is being offloaded
- * with GSO then ip_summed is CHECKSUM_PARTIAL, and both csum_start and
+ * with GSO then ip_summed is %CHECKSUM_PARTIAL, and both csum_start and
* csum_offset are set to refer to the outermost checksum being offloaded
* (two offloaded checksums are possible with UDP encapsulation).
*/
@@ -727,16 +756,32 @@ struct skb_shared_info {
skb_frag_t frags[MAX_SKB_FRAGS];
};
-/* We divide dataref into two halves. The higher 16 bits hold references
- * to the payload part of skb->data. The lower 16 bits hold references to
- * the entire skb->data. A clone of a headerless skb holds the length of
- * the header in skb->hdr_len.
- *
- * All users must obey the rule that the skb->data reference count must be
- * greater than or equal to the payload reference count.
- *
- * Holding a reference to the payload part means that the user does not
- * care about modifications to the header part of skb->data.
+/**
+ * DOC: dataref and headerless skbs
+ *
+ * Transport layers send out clones of payload skbs they hold for
+ * retransmissions. To allow lower layers of the stack to prepend their headers
+ * we split &skb_shared_info.dataref into two halves.
+ * The lower 16 bits count the overall number of references.
+ * The higher 16 bits indicate how many of the references are payload-only.
+ * skb_header_cloned() checks if skb is allowed to add / write the headers.
+ *
+ * The creator of the skb (e.g. TCP) marks its skb as &sk_buff.nohdr
+ * (via __skb_header_release()). Any clone created from marked skb will get
+ * &sk_buff.hdr_len populated with the available headroom.
+ * If there's the only clone in existence it's able to modify the headroom
+ * at will. The sequence of calls inside the transport layer is::
+ *
+ * <alloc skb>
+ * skb_reserve()
+ * __skb_header_release()
+ * skb_clone()
+ * // send the clone down the stack
+ *
+ * This is not a very generic construct and it depends on the transport layers
+ * doing the right thing. In practice there's usually only one payload-only skb.
+ * Having multiple payload-only skbs with different lengths of hdr_len is not
+ * possible. The payload-only skbs should never leave their owner.
*/
#define SKB_DATAREF_SHIFT 16
#define SKB_DATAREF_MASK ((1 << SKB_DATAREF_SHIFT) - 1)
@@ -801,6 +846,46 @@ typedef unsigned char *sk_buff_data_t;
#endif
/**
+ * DOC: Basic sk_buff geometry
+ *
+ * struct sk_buff itself is a metadata structure and does not hold any packet
+ * data. All the data is held in associated buffers.
+ *
+ * &sk_buff.head points to the main "head" buffer. The head buffer is divided
+ * into two parts:
+ *
+ * - data buffer, containing headers and sometimes payload;
+ * this is the part of the skb operated on by the common helpers
+ * such as skb_put() or skb_pull();
+ * - shared info (struct skb_shared_info) which holds an array of pointers
+ * to read-only data in the (page, offset, length) format.
+ *
+ * Optionally &skb_shared_info.frag_list may point to another skb.
+ *
+ * Basic diagram may look like this::
+ *
+ * ---------------
+ * | sk_buff |
+ * ---------------
+ * ,--------------------------- + head
+ * / ,----------------- + data
+ * / / ,----------- + tail
+ * | | | , + end
+ * | | | |
+ * v v v v
+ * -----------------------------------------------
+ * | headroom | data | tailroom | skb_shared_info |
+ * -----------------------------------------------
+ * + [page frag]
+ * + [page frag]
+ * + [page frag]
+ * + [page frag] ---------
+ * + frag_list --> | sk_buff |
+ * ---------
+ *
+ */
+
+/**
* struct sk_buff - socket buffer
* @next: Next buffer in list
* @prev: Previous buffer in list
@@ -1987,8 +2072,10 @@ static inline int skb_header_unclone(struct sk_buff *skb, gfp_t pri)
}
/**
- * __skb_header_release - release reference to header
- * @skb: buffer to operate on
+ * __skb_header_release() - allow clones to use the headroom
+ * @skb: buffer to operate on
+ *
+ * See "DOC: dataref and headerless skbs".
*/
static inline void __skb_header_release(struct sk_buff *skb)
{