alternative() breaks on compilation with .text.exit on 2.5.69

        ld -m elf_i386  -T arch/i386/vmlinux.lds.s arch/i386/kernel/head.o arch/i386/kernel/init_task.o   init/built-in.o --start-group  usr/built-in.o  arch/i386/kernel/built-in.o arch/i386/mm/built-in.o  arch/i386/mach-default/built-in.o kernel/built-in.o  mm/built-in.o  fs/built-in.o  ipc/built-in.o security/built-in.o  crypto/built-in.o  lib/lib.a  arch/i386/lib/lib.a drivers/built-in.o  sound/built-in.o  arch/i386/pci/built-in.o net/built-in.o --end-group  -o vmlinux

drivers/built-in.o(.altinstructions+0x84c): undefined reference to local symbols in discarded section .exit.text' drivers/built-in.o(.altinstructions+0x858): undefined reference to local symbols in discarded section .exit.text'
make: *** [vmlinux] Error 1

There are two problems visible with this:
1) Macros using alternative*() break when called from a discarded section (probably some driver compiled in the kernel that can also be compiled as a module and thus has an exit routine which was discarded)
2) I'm not using a CONFIG_X86_GENERIC kernel, so it has no need for dynamic patching (it already knows the CPU type with enough level of detail, since I told it).

Here's the .config file to reproduce the error:

CONFIG_X86=y
CONFIG_MMU=y
CONFIG_UID16=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y
CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y
CONFIG_SWAP=y
CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y
CONFIG_BSD_PROCESS_ACCT=y
CONFIG_SYSCTL=y
CONFIG_LOG_BUF_SHIFT=14
CONFIG_MODULES=y
CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD=y
CONFIG_OBSOLETE_MODPARM=y
CONFIG_MODVERSIONS=y
CONFIG_KMOD=y
CONFIG_X86_PC=y
CONFIG_MK6=y
CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG=y
CONFIG_X86_XADD=y
CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT=5
CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y
CONFIG_X86_WP_WORKS_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_INVLPG=y
CONFIG_X86_BSWAP=y
CONFIG_X86_POPAD_OK=y
CONFIG_X86_ALIGNMENT_16=y
CONFIG_X86_USE_PPRO_CHECKSUM=y
CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE=y
CONFIG_PREEMPT=y
CONFIG_X86_TSC=y
CONFIG_X86_MCE=y
CONFIG_X86_MSR=y
CONFIG_X86_CPUID=y
CONFIG_NOHIGHMEM=y
CONFIG_MTRR=y
CONFIG_HAVE_DEC_LOCK=y
CONFIG_PM=y
CONFIG_SOFTWARE_SUSPEND=y
CONFIG_ACPI=y
CONFIG_ACPI_BOOT=y
CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP=y
CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON=y
CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=y
CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=y
CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=y
CONFIG_ACPI_BUS=y
CONFIG_ACPI_INTERPRETER=y
CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y
CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y
CONFIG_ACPI_PCI=y
CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y
CONFIG_PCI=y
CONFIG_PCI_GOANY=y
CONFIG_PCI_BIOS=y
CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT=y
CONFIG_PCI_NAMES=y
CONFIG_ISA=y
CONFIG_HOTPLUG=y
CONFIG_PCMCIA_PROBE=y
CONFIG_KCORE_ELF=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT=m
CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=m
CONFIG_PARPORT=y
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC=y
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_CML1=y
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_FIFO=y
CONFIG_PARPORT_PC_SUPERIO=y
CONFIG_PARPORT_1284=y
CONFIG_PNP=y
CONFIG_PNP_NAMES=y
CONFIG_ISAPNP=y
CONFIG_PNPBIOS=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NBD=m
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_SIZE=8192
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD=y
CONFIG_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_GENERIC=y
CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ADMA=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ALI15X3=y
CONFIG_IDEDMA_AUTO=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE_MODES=y
CONFIG_NET=y
CONFIG_PACKET=y
CONFIG_PACKET_MMAP=y
CONFIG_NETLINK_DEV=y
CONFIG_NETFILTER=y
CONFIG_UNIX=y
CONFIG_NET_KEY=y
CONFIG_INET=y
CONFIG_IP_MULTICAST=y
CONFIG_IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER=y
CONFIG_IP_MULTIPLE_TABLES=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_FWMARK=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_NAT=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_MULTIPATH=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_TOS=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_VERBOSE=y
CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_LARGE_TABLES=y
CONFIG_NET_IPIP=m
CONFIG_NET_IPGRE=m
CONFIG_NET_IPGRE_BROADCAST=y
CONFIG_IP_MROUTE=y
CONFIG_IP_PIMSM_V1=y
CONFIG_IP_PIMSM_V2=y
CONFIG_INET_ECN=y
CONFIG_SYN_COOKIES=y
CONFIG_INET_AH=y
CONFIG_INET_ESP=y
CONFIG_INET_IPCOMP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_CONNTRACK=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_FTP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_IRC=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TFTP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_AMANDA=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_QUEUE=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_IPTABLES=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_LIMIT=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MAC=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_PKTTYPE=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MARK=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_MULTIPORT=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TOS=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_ECN=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_DSCP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_AH_ESP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_LENGTH=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TTL=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_TCPMSS=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_HELPER=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_STATE=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_CONNTRACK=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_UNCLEAN=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MATCH_OWNER=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_FILTER=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REJECT=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MIRROR=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_NEEDED=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MASQUERADE=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_REDIRECT=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_LOCAL=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_SNMP_BASIC=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_IRC=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_FTP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_TFTP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_NAT_AMANDA=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_MANGLE=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_TOS=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_ECN=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_DSCP=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_MARK=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_LOG=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_ULOG=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_TARGET_TCPMSS=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_ARPTABLES=y
CONFIG_IP_NF_ARPFILTER=y
CONFIG_IPV6=y
CONFIG_IPV6_PRIVACY=y
CONFIG_INET6_AH=y
CONFIG_INET6_ESP=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_QUEUE=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_IPTABLES=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_LIMIT=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_MAC=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_RT=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_OPTS=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_FRAG=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_HL=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_MULTIPORT=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_OWNER=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_MARK=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_IPV6HEADER=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_AHESP=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_LENGTH=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MATCH_EUI64=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_FILTER=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_TARGET_LOG=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_MANGLE=y
CONFIG_IP6_NF_TARGET_MARK=y
CONFIG_XFRM_USER=y
CONFIG_IPV6_SCTP__=y
CONFIG_IP_SCTP=y
CONFIG_NET_DIVERT=y
CONFIG_NET_SCHED=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_CBQ=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_HTB=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_CSZ=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_PRIO=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_RED=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_SFQ=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_TEQL=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_TBF=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_GRED=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_DSMARK=y
CONFIG_NET_SCH_INGRESS=y
CONFIG_NET_QOS=y
CONFIG_NET_ESTIMATOR=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_TCINDEX=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_ROUTE4=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_ROUTE=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_FW=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_U32=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_RSVP=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_RSVP6=y
CONFIG_NET_CLS_POLICE=y
CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y
CONFIG_DUMMY=m
CONFIG_TUN=y
CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET=y
CONFIG_MII=y
CONFIG_NET_PCI=y
CONFIG_NE2K_PCI=y
CONFIG_PPP=m
CONFIG_PPP_FILTER=y
CONFIG_PPP_ASYNC=m
CONFIG_PPP_DEFLATE=m
CONFIG_PPP_BSDCOMP=m
CONFIG_SHAPER=m
CONFIG_INPUT=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_PSAUX=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_X=1024
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_Y=768
CONFIG_INPUT_JOYDEV=y
CONFIG_INPUT_EVDEV=y
CONFIG_GAMEPORT=y
CONFIG_SOUND_GAMEPORT=y
CONFIG_GAMEPORT_NS558=y
CONFIG_SERIO=y
CONFIG_SERIO_I8042=y
CONFIG_SERIO_SERPORT=y
CONFIG_INPUT_KEYBOARD=y
CONFIG_KEYBOARD_ATKBD=y
CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSE=y
CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2=y
CONFIG_MOUSE_SERIAL=y
CONFIG_INPUT_JOYSTICK=y
CONFIG_JOYSTICK_ANALOG=m
CONFIG_INPUT_MISC=y
CONFIG_INPUT_PCSPKR=y
CONFIG_INPUT_UINPUT=y
CONFIG_VT=y
CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_HW_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_SERIAL_8250=y
CONFIG_SERIAL_CORE=y
CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y
CONFIG_UNIX98_PTY_COUNT=2048
CONFIG_PRINTER=y
CONFIG_PPDEV=y
CONFIG_I2C=y
CONFIG_I2C_CHARDEV=y
CONFIG_I2C_ALI15X3=y
CONFIG_SENSORS_LM75=y
CONFIG_SENSORS_W83781D=y
CONFIG_I2C_SENSOR=y
CONFIG_WATCHDOG=y
CONFIG_SOFT_WATCHDOG=y
CONFIG_NVRAM=y
CONFIG_RTC=y
CONFIG_AGP=y
CONFIG_AGP_ALI=y
CONFIG_DRM=y
CONFIG_HANGCHECK_TIMER=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_EXT2_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_JBD=y
CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_FS=y
CONFIG_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_QUOTA=y
CONFIG_QFMT_V2=y
CONFIG_QUOTACTL=y
CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y
CONFIG_JOLIET=y
CONFIG_ZISOFS=y
CONFIG_ZISOFS_FS=y
CONFIG_UDF_FS=y
CONFIG_FAT_FS=y
CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=y
CONFIG_VFAT_FS=y
CONFIG_PROC_FS=y
CONFIG_DEVFS_FS=y
CONFIG_DEVFS_MOUNT=y
CONFIG_DEVPTS_FS=y
CONFIG_TMPFS=y
CONFIG_HUGETLBFS=y
CONFIG_RAMFS=y
CONFIG_NFS_FS=y
CONFIG_NFS_V3=y
CONFIG_NFS_V4=y
CONFIG_NFSD=y
CONFIG_NFSD_V3=y
CONFIG_NFSD_V4=y
CONFIG_NFSD_TCP=y
CONFIG_LOCKD=y
CONFIG_LOCKD_V4=y
CONFIG_EXPORTFS=y
CONFIG_SUNRPC=y
CONFIG_SUNRPC_GSS=y
CONFIG_RPCSEC_GSS_KRB5=y
CONFIG_SMB_FS=m
CONFIG_CIFS=m
CONFIG_NCP_FS=m
CONFIG_NCPFS_PACKET_SIGNING=y
CONFIG_NCPFS_IOCTL_LOCKING=y
CONFIG_NCPFS_STRONG=y
CONFIG_NCPFS_NFS_NS=y
CONFIG_NCPFS_OS2_NS=y
CONFIG_NCPFS_SMALLDOS=y
CONFIG_NCPFS_NLS=y
CONFIG_NCPFS_EXTRAS=y
CONFIG_CODA_FS=m
CONFIG_INTERMEZZO_FS=m
CONFIG_AFS_FS=m
CONFIG_RXRPC=m
CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y
CONFIG_SMB_NLS=y
CONFIG_NLS=y
CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT="iso8859-1"
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_437=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_737=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_775=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_850=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_852=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_855=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_857=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_860=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_861=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_862=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_863=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_864=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_865=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_866=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_869=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_936=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_950=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_932=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_949=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_874=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_8=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_1250=m
CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_1251=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_2=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_3=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_4=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_5=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_6=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_7=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_9=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_13=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_14=m
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_15=m
CONFIG_NLS_KOI8_R=m
CONFIG_NLS_KOI8_U=m
CONFIG_NLS_UTF8=m
CONFIG_FB=y
CONFIG_FB_VESA=y
CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y
CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_FRAMEBUFFER_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_PCI_CONSOLE=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x8=y
CONFIG_FONT_8x16=y
CONFIG_LOGO=y
CONFIG_LOGO_LINUX_MONO=y
CONFIG_LOGO_LINUX_VGA16=y
CONFIG_LOGO_LINUX_CLUT224=y
CONFIG_SOUND=y
CONFIG_SND=y
CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER=y
CONFIG_SND_SEQ_DUMMY=m
CONFIG_SND_OSSEMUL=y
CONFIG_SND_MIXER_OSS=y
CONFIG_SND_PCM_OSS=y
CONFIG_SND_SEQUENCER_OSS=y
CONFIG_SND_RTCTIMER=y
CONFIG_SND_SERIAL_U16550=m
CONFIG_SND_SBAWE=y
CONFIG_SND_SB16_CSP=y
CONFIG_SND_CMI8330=y
CONFIG_SECURITY=y
CONFIG_SECURITY_NETWORK=y
CONFIG_SECURITY_CAPABILITIES=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_HMAC=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_NULL=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_MD4=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_MD5=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SHA1=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SHA256=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SHA512=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_DES=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_BLOWFISH=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_TWOFISH=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_SERPENT=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_AES=y
CONFIG_CRYPTO_DEFLATE=y
CONFIG_CRC32=m
CONFIG_ZLIB_INFLATE=y
CONFIG_ZLIB_DEFLATE=y
CONFIG_X86_BIOS_REBOOT=y

Cesar Eduardo Barros
[email protected]
[email protected]