LoongArch Enables More Kernel Functionality With Linux 6.9

Loongson continues enabling more kernel functionality for their LoongArch processor port for the upstream Linux kernel. With Linux 6.9 they sent out today a set of patches enabling more features for this Chinese CPU architecture.

For Linux 6.9 the LoongArch architecture code now allows for objtool support to carry out different validations and transformations on object files during the kernel build process. The new LoongArch code also enables ORC stack unwinder support, kernel live-patching support for applying security/bug fixes to the running kernel without rebooting, and enables more kernel configuration features.

Overall it's a nice incremental update for LoongArch this round in continuing to iron out more of the kernel features for this Chinese CPU architecture derived from MIPS64 and inspired in part by RISC-V. Current generation LoongArch processors though remain much slower than the likes of AMD, Intel, and Arm designs.

1, Add objtool support for LoongArch;
2, Add ORC stack unwinder support for LoongArch;
3, Add kernel livepatching support for LoongArch;
4, Select ARCH_HAS_CURRENT_STACK_POINTER in Kconfig;
5, Select HAVE_ARCH_USERFAULTFD_MINOR in Kconfig;
6, Some bug fixes and other small changes.

The full list of LoongArch updates for Linux 6.9 can be found via this pull request. The Linux 6.9 merge window is wrapping up this weekend with the Linux 6.9-rc1 release.