allow packed structure in bpf program in python API (iovisor#2020)

Fix issue iovisor#2017.

For python programs, the map data passed from C++ library
is parsed through the key/value desc types which are
generated by C++ json map declaration visitor.

The map declaration visitor visits the map key/value
declaration types and generate a string to represent
the type, which is later used by python to reconstruct
the cttype.

The map declaration already tries to add all the padding
to the type string in order to make sure C++ and python
see the same layout.

This patch further added packed support such that if
C++ json map visitor has applied padding, the python
type reconstructor is free to add _pack_=1 for structure
type since the structure is already packed.

For example, for a type,
  struct t { char a; int b; }
the structure after json visitor will look like
  struct t { char a; char __pad[3]; int b; }

If the type is
  struct t { char a; int b; } __packed;
the structure after json visitor will look like
  struct t { char a; int b; }

In either case, it will be okay to add __packed attribute
for the type generated by json map visitor in order to
match the original declaration.

Thanks Chaitanya for filing the issue and providing the test case!

Signed-off-by: Yonghong Song <[email protected]>

src/cc/json_map_decl_visitor.cc

@@ -159,8 +159,12 @@ bool BMapDeclVisitor::VisitRecordDecl(RecordDecl *D) {
  result_ += "]";
  if (D->isUnion())
  result_ += ", \"union\"";
- else if (D->isStruct())
- result_ += ", \"struct\"";
+ else if (D->isStruct()) {
+ if (SkipPadding)
+ result_ += ", \"struct\"";
+ else
+ result_ += ", \"struct_packed\"";
+ }
  result_ += "]";
  return true;
 }

src/lua/bcc/table.lua

@@ -349,8 +349,13 @@ local function _decode_table_type(desc)
  table.insert(fields, f)
  end
 
- assert(struct == "struct" or struct == "union", "unknown complex type: "..struct)
- return string.format("%s { %s }", struct, table.concat(fields, " "))
+ assert(struct == "struct" or struct == "struct_packed" or struct == "union",
+ "unknown complex type: "..struct)
+ if struct == "union" then
+ return string.format("union { %s }", table.concat(fields, " "))
+ else
+ return string.format("struct { %s }", table.concat(fields, " "))
+ end
  end
  return _dec(json.parse(json_desc))
 end

src/python/bcc/__init__.py

@@ -427,7 +427,8 @@ def _decode_table_type(desc):
  elif isinstance(t[2], int):
  fields.append((t[0], BPF._decode_table_type(t[1]), t[2]))
  elif isinstance(t[2], basestring) and (
- t[2] == u"union" or t[2] == u"struct"):
+ t[2] == u"union" or t[2] == u"struct" or
+ t[2] == u"struct_packed"):
  name = t[0]
  if name == "":
  name = "__anon%d" % len(anon)
@@ -438,13 +439,21 @@ def _decode_table_type(desc):
  else:
  raise Exception("Failed to decode type %s" % str(t))
  base = ct.Structure
+ is_packed = False
  if len(desc) > 2:
  if desc[2] == u"union":
  base = ct.Union
  elif desc[2] == u"struct":
  base = ct.Structure
- cls = type(str(desc[0]), (base,), dict(_anonymous_=anon,
- _fields_=fields))
+ elif desc[2] == u"struct_packed":
+ base = ct.Structure
+ is_packed = True
+ if is_packed:
+ cls = type(str(desc[0]), (base,), dict(_anonymous_=anon, _pack_=1,
+ _fields_=fields))
+ else:
+ cls = type(str(desc[0]), (base,), dict(_anonymous_=anon,
+ _fields_=fields))
  return cls
 
  def get_table(self, name, keytype=None, leaftype=None, reducer=None):

tests/python/test_clang.py

@@ -1225,5 +1225,30 @@ def test_arbitrary_increment_simple(self):
  b.attach_kprobe(event=b"htab_map_delete_elem", fn_name=b"map_delete")
  b.cleanup()
 
+ @skipUnless(kernel_version_ge(4,7), "requires kernel >= 4.7")
+ def test_packed_structure(self):
+ b = BPF(text=b"""
+struct test {
+ u16 a;
+ u32 b;
+} __packed;
+BPF_TABLE("hash", u32, struct test, testing, 2);
+TRACEPOINT_PROBE(kmem, kmalloc) {
+ u32 key = 0;
+ struct test info, *entry;
+ entry = testing.lookup(&key);
+ if (entry == NULL) {
+ info.a = 10;
+ info.b = 20;
+ testing.update(&key, &info);
+ }
+ return 0;
+}
+""")
+ if len(b["testing"].items()):
+ st = b["testing"][ct.c_uint(0)]
+ self.assertEqual(st.a, 10)
+ self.assertEqual(st.b, 20)
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
  main()