copy_to_user not working in kernel module - linux

Question

I was trying to use copy_to_user in kernel module read function, but am not able to copy the data from kernel to user buffer. Please can anyone tell me if I am doing some mistake. My kernel version is 2.6.35. I am giving the portion of kernel module as well as the application being used to test it. Right now my focus is why this copy_to_user is not working. Any help will great.
///////////////////////////////////kernel module//////////////////////////////////////
#define BUF_LEN 80
static char msg[BUF_LEN];
static char *msg_Ptr;
static int device_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
{
static int counter = 0;
if (Device_Open)
return -EBUSY;
Device_Open++;
printk(KERN_ALERT "In open device call\n");
sprintf(msg, "I already told you %d times Hello world!\n", counter++);
msg_Ptr = msg;
try_module_get(THIS_MODULE);
return SUCCESS;
}
static ssize_t device_read(struct file *filp,
char __user *buffer,
size_t length,
loff_t * offset)
{
/*
* Number of bytes actually written to the buffer
*/
int bytes_read = 0;
/*
* If we are at the end of the message,
* return 0 signifying end of file
*/
if (*msg_Ptr == 0)
return 0;
/*
* Actually put the data into the buffer
*/
else {
bytes_read=copy_to_user(buffer, msg, length);
if (bytes_read==-1);
{
printk(KERN_INFO "Error in else while copying the data \n");
}
}
return bytes_read;
}
////////////////////////////////////////application////////////////////////
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#define BUF_SIZE 40
int main()
{
ssize_t num_bytes;
int fd, n=0;
char buf[BUF_SIZE];
fd=open("/dev/chardev", O_RDWR);
if(fd== -1){perror("Error while opening device");exit(1);}
printf("fd=%d\n",fd);
num_bytes=read(fd, buf, BUF_SIZE);
if(num_bytes==-1){perror("Error while reading"); exit(2);}
printf("The value fetched is %lu bytes\n", num_bytes);
while(n<=num_bytes)
{
printf("%c",buf[n]);
n++;
}
close(fd);
return 0;
}

Answer 1

There are a few problems in the code snippet you wrote. First of all, it is not a good thing to make the call try_module_get(THIS_MODULE);
This statement tries to increase the refcount of the module ... in the module itself ! Instead, you should set the owner field of the file_ops structure to THIS_MODULE in your init method. This way, the reference handling will happen outside the module code, in the VFS layer. You might take a look at Linux Kernel Modules: When to use try_module_get / module_put.
Then, as it was stated by Vineet you should retrieve the pointer from the file_ops private_data field.
And last but not least, here is the reason why it seems an error happened while ... Actually ... It did not :
The copy_to_user call returns 0 if it has successfully copied all the desired bytes into the destination memory area and a strictly positive value stating the number of bytes that were NOT copied in case of error. That said, when you run :
/* Kernel part */
bytes_read=copy_to_user(buffer, msg, length);
/*
* Wrong error checking :
* In the below statement, "-1" is viewed as an unsigned long.
* With a simple equality test, this will not bother you
* But this is dangerous with other comparisons like "<" or ">"
* (unsigned long)(-1) is at least 2^32 - 1 so ...
*/
if (-1 == bytes_read) {
/* etc. */
}
return bytes_read;
/* App part */
num_bytes=read(fd, buf, BUF_SIZE);
/* etc.. */
while(n<=num_bytes) {
printf("%c",buf[n]);
n++;
}
You should only get one character upon a successful copy, that is only a single "I" in your case.
Moreover, you use your msg_Ptr pointer as a safeguard but you never update it. This might result in a wrong call to copy_to_user.
copy_to_user checks the user-space pointer with a call to access_ok, but if the kernel-space pointer and the given length are not allright, this might end in a Kernel Oops/Panic.

Answer 2

I think you should update the file->private_data in open and then you have to fetch that in your structure. Because I guess the msg buffer ( kernel buffer ) is not getting proper refernce.