On Sun, Feb 22, 2026 at 11:25:52AM -0800, Andrew Morton wrote:
> However there's a convention of assuming that __init-time allocations
> cannot fail. Because if a kmalloc() were to fail at this time, the
> kernel is hopelessly messed up anyway.
> So we could simply panic() if that kmalloc failed, then make that
> 350-byte buffer __initdata.
Ah, got it. I made it __initdata, and replaced the warn with panic.
> That saves about $100 per machine with current DRAM prices ;)
Haha, saving every bit counts huh
Signed-off-by: Rio <rioo.tsukatsukii@gmail.com>
---
V2 -> V3: Mark initial buffer as __initdata and panic if allocation
fails
V1 -> V2: Allocate taint string buffer dynamically during init
v2: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260222140804.22225-1-rioo.tsukatsukii@gmail.com/
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260220151500.13585-1-rioo.tsukatsukii@gmail.com/
kernel/panic.c | 10 +++-------
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/panic.c b/kernel/panic.c
index 5d498ff8a18b..20feada5319d 100644
--- a/kernel/panic.c
+++ b/kernel/panic.c
@@ -865,8 +865,8 @@ static void print_tainted_seq(struct seq_buf *s, bool verbose)
*/
#define INIT_TAINT_BUF_MAX 350
-static char init_taint_buf[INIT_TAINT_BUF_MAX];
-static char *taint_buf = init_taint_buf;
+static char init_taint_buf[INIT_TAINT_BUF_MAX] __initdata;
+static char *taint_buf __refdata = init_taint_buf;
static size_t taint_buf_size = INIT_TAINT_BUF_MAX;
static __init int alloc_taint_buf(void)
@@ -887,11 +887,7 @@ static __init int alloc_taint_buf(void)
buf = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL);
if (!buf) {
- /* Allocation may fail; this warning explains possibly
- * truncated taint strings
- */
- pr_warn_once("taint string buffer allocation failed, using fallback buffer\n");
- return 0;
+ panic("Failed to allocate taint string buffer");
}
taint_buf = buf;
--
2.52.0