bootconfig: render embedded bootconfig as a kernel cmdline at build time

Add the build-time pipeline that renders the "kernel" subtree of
CONFIG_BOOT_CONFIG_EMBED_FILE into a flat cmdline string and stashes
it in .init.rodata as embedded_kernel_cmdline[]. A follow-up patch
adds the runtime helper that prepends this string to boot_command_line
during early architecture setup so parse_early_param() sees the values.

The build wires up:
  tools/bootconfig -C kernel - userspace tool already shared with
                               lib/bootconfig.c, used here in -C mode
                               to render a bootconfig file to a cmdline
  lib/embedded-cmdline.S     - .incbin's the rendered text plus a NUL
                               (listed under the EXTRA BOOT CONFIG
                               MAINTAINERS entry)
  lib/Makefile rule          - runs tools/bootconfig at build time
  Makefile prepare dep       - ensures tools/bootconfig is built first,
                               same pattern as tools/objtool and
                               tools/bpf/resolve_btfids

Drop the test target from tools/bootconfig/Makefile's default 'all'
recipe so that hooking the binary into the kernel build does not run
test-bootconfig.sh on every prepare. The tests stay available as
'make -C tools/bootconfig test', matching the convention of
tools/objtool and tools/bpf/resolve_btfids whose 'all' targets only
build the binary.

Require BOOT_CONFIG_EMBED_FILE to be non-empty before the new option
can be enabled, otherwise tools/bootconfig -C runs against an empty
file and prints a parse error on every kernel build.

The feature gates on CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_CMDLINE_FROM_BOOTCONFIG, a
silent symbol arches select once they've wired the prepend call into
setup_arch(). No arch selects it in this patch, so the user-visible
CONFIG_CMDLINE_FROM_BOOTCONFIG is not yet enableable; when an arch
later opts in, the runtime behavior is added by the follow-up patches.

tools/bootconfig also installs on target systems, so its own Makefile
keeps $(CC) and stays cross-buildable as a standalone tool. The kernel
build, which runs the tool on the build host during prepare, instead
forces CC=$(HOSTCC) from a dedicated tools/bootconfig rule and clears
CROSS_COMPILE= in the sub-make. Without that clear, an LLVM=1 cross
build would inherit CROSS_COMPILE and tools/scripts/Makefile.include
would inject --target=/--sysroot= flags into the host clang invocation,
producing a target binary that fails to exec ("Exec format error").

embedded-cmdline.S places the rendered string in its own .init.rodata
subsection (.init.rodata.embed_cmdline) with the "a" (allocatable,
read-only) flag and %progbits. lib/bootconfig-data.S already places
the embedded bootconfig blob in .init.rodata with the "aw" flag
(xbc_init() rewrites separators in place, so that data must be
writable). Using a distinct subsection name avoids the ld.lld section-
type mismatch that would otherwise arise from mixing "a" and "aw"
under the same name; the linker's "*(.init.rodata .init.rodata.*)"
glob still folds both into the init image and frees them after boot.

A follow-up patch wires the build-time tools/bootconfig into the
top-level clean target.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260626-bootconfig_using_tools-v7-3-24ab72139c29@debian.org/

Reviewed-by: Nicolas Schier <n.schier@fritz.com>
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org>

1 files changed, 36 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index 5230d4879b1c..598690ec313a 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -1566,6 +1566,42 @@ config BOOT_CONFIG_EMBED_FILE
 	  This bootconfig will be used if there is no initrd or no other
 	  bootconfig in the initrd.
 
+config ARCH_SUPPORTS_CMDLINE_FROM_BOOTCONFIG
+	bool
+	help
+	  Silent symbol; no C code reads it directly. Architectures
+	  select it once their setup_arch() calls
+	  xbc_prepend_embedded_cmdline() before parse_early_param().
+	  Its only role is to gate the user-visible
+	  CMDLINE_FROM_BOOTCONFIG option per-arch, the same
+	  ARCH_SUPPORTS_* idiom used by ARCH_SUPPORTS_CFI, etc.
+
+config CMDLINE_FROM_BOOTCONFIG
+	bool "Render embedded bootconfig as kernel cmdline at build time"
+	depends on BOOT_CONFIG_EMBED_FILE != ""
+	depends on ARCH_SUPPORTS_CMDLINE_FROM_BOOTCONFIG
+	depends on CMDLINE = ""
+	default n
+	help
+	  Render the "kernel" subtree of the embedded bootconfig file into a
+	  flat cmdline string at kernel build time and prepend it to
+	  boot_command_line during early architecture setup. This makes
+	  early_param() handlers (e.g. mem=, earlycon=, loglevel=) see the
+	  values supplied via the embedded bootconfig.
+
+	  The runtime bootconfig parser is unaffected, so tree-structured
+	  consumers such as ftrace boot-time tracing keep working.
+
+	  Note: when an initrd also carries a bootconfig, its "kernel"
+	  subtree is still parsed at runtime, but the embedded "kernel"
+	  keys remain in boot_command_line for parse_early_param() and
+	  end up later than the initrd keys in saved_command_line, so
+	  parse_args() last-wins favors the embedded values. If you need
+	  initrd to override embedded kernel.* keys, leave this option
+	  off.
+
+	  If unsure, say N.
+
 config CMDLINE_LOG_WRAP_IDEAL_LEN
 	int "Length to try to wrap the cmdline when logged at boot"
 	default 1021