FAILED: patch "[PATCH] kbuild: Leave objtool binary around with 'make clean'" failed to apply to 6.12-stable tree

The patch below does not apply to the 6.12-stable tree.
If someone wants it applied there, or to any other stable or longterm tree, then please email the backport, including the original git commit id to <[email protected]>.

To reproduce the conflict and resubmit, you may use the following commands:

git fetch https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/ linux-6.12.y
git checkout FETCH_HEAD
git cherry-pick -x fdb12c8a24a453bdd6759979b6ef1e04ebd4beb4
# <resolve conflicts, build, test, etc.>
git commit -s
git send-email --to '<[email protected]>' --in-reply-to '2026030940-mule-parched-b1ff@gregkh' --subject-prefix 'PATCH 6.12.y' HEAD^..

Possible dependencies:

thanks,

greg k-h

------------------ original commit in Linus's tree ------------------

From fdb12c8a24a453bdd6759979b6ef1e04ebd4beb4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nathan Chancellor <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:40:48 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] kbuild: Leave objtool binary around with 'make clean'

The difference between 'make clean' and 'make mrproper' is documented in 'make help' as:

clean - Remove most generated files but keep the config and
enough build support to build external modules
mrproper - Remove all generated files + config + various backup files

After commit 68b4fe32d737 ("kbuild: Add objtool to top-level clean target"), running 'make clean' then attempting to build an external module with the resulting build directory fails with

  $ make ARCH=x86_64 O=build clean

  $ make -C build M=... MO=...
  ...
  /bin/sh: line 1: .../build/tools/objtool/objtool: No such file or directory

as 'make clean' removes the objtool binary.

Split the objtool clean target into mrproper and clean like Kbuild does and remove all generated artifacts with 'make clean' except for the objtool binary, which is removed with 'make mrproper'. To avoid a small race when running the objtool clean target through both objtool_mrproper and objtool_clean when running 'make mrproper', modify objtool's clean up find command to avoid using find's '-delete' command by piping the files into 'xargs rm -f' like the rest of Kbuild does.

index e944c6e71e81..d76d706a5580 100644
@@ -1497,13 +1497,13 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard $(resolve_btfids_O)),)
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) -sC $(srctree)/tools/bpf/resolve_btfids O=$(resolve_btfids_O) clean
 endif
 
-PHONY += objtool_clean
+PHONY += objtool_clean objtool_mrproper
 
 objtool_O = $(abspath $(objtree))/tools/objtool
 
-objtool_clean:
+objtool_clean objtool_mrproper:
 ifneq ($(wildcard $(objtool_O)),)
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) -sC $(abs_srctree)/tools/objtool O=$(objtool_O) srctree=$(abs_srctree) clean
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) -sC $(abs_srctree)/tools/objtool O=$(objtool_O) srctree=$(abs_srctree) $(patsubst objtool_%,%,$@)
 endif
 
 tools/: FORCE

@@ -1686,7 +1686,7 @@ PHONY += $(mrproper-dirs) mrproper
 $(mrproper-dirs):
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(clean)=$(patsubst _mrproper_%,%,$@)
 
-mrproper: clean $(mrproper-dirs)
+mrproper: clean objtool_mrproper $(mrproper-dirs)
 	$(call cmd,rmfiles)
 	@find . $(RCS_FIND_IGNORE) \
 		\( -name '*.rmeta' \) \

index 6964175abdfd..76bcd4e85de3 100644
@@ -142,13 +142,15 @@ $(LIBSUBCMD)-clean:
 	$(Q)$(RM) -r -- $(LIBSUBCMD_OUTPUT)
 
 clean: $(LIBSUBCMD)-clean
-	$(call QUIET_CLEAN, objtool) $(RM) $(OBJTOOL)
-	$(Q)find $(OUTPUT) -name '*.o' -delete -o -name '\.*.cmd' -delete -o -name '\.*.d' -delete
+	$(Q)find $(OUTPUT) \( -name '*.o' -o -name '\.*.cmd' -o -name '\.*.d' \) -type f -print | xargs $(RM)
 	$(Q)$(RM) $(OUTPUT)arch/x86/lib/cpu-feature-names.c $(OUTPUT)fixdep
 	$(Q)$(RM) $(OUTPUT)arch/x86/lib/inat-tables.c $(OUTPUT)fixdep
 	$(Q)$(RM) -- $(OUTPUT)FEATURE-DUMP.objtool
 	$(Q)$(RM) -r -- $(OUTPUT)feature
 
+mrproper: clean
+	$(call QUIET_CLEAN, objtool) $(RM) $(OBJTOOL)
+
 FORCE:
 
-.PHONY: clean FORCE
+.PHONY: clean mrproper FORCE

From: Nathan Chancellor <[email protected]>

[ Upstream commit fdb12c8a24a453bdd6759979b6ef1e04ebd4beb4 ]

The difference between 'make clean' and 'make mrproper' is documented in 'make help' as:

clean - Remove most generated files but keep the config and
enough build support to build external modules
mrproper - Remove all generated files + config + various backup files

After commit 68b4fe32d737 ("kbuild: Add objtool to top-level clean target"), running 'make clean' then attempting to build an external module with the resulting build directory fails with

  $ make ARCH=x86_64 O=build clean

  $ make -C build M=... MO=...
  ...
  /bin/sh: line 1: .../build/tools/objtool/objtool: No such file or directory

as 'make clean' removes the objtool binary.

Split the objtool clean target into mrproper and clean like Kbuild does and remove all generated artifacts with 'make clean' except for the objtool binary, which is removed with 'make mrproper'. To avoid a small race when running the objtool clean target through both objtool_mrproper and objtool_clean when running 'make mrproper', modify objtool's clean up find command to avoid using find's '-delete' command by piping the files into 'xargs rm -f' like the rest of Kbuild does.

---
 Makefile               | 8 ++++----
 tools/objtool/Makefile | 8 +++++---
 2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

index ae059d1885110..616909ef5acef 100644
@@ -1370,13 +1370,13 @@ ifneq ($(wildcard $(resolve_btfids_O)),)
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) -sC $(srctree)/tools/bpf/resolve_btfids O=$(resolve_btfids_O) clean
 endif
 
-PHONY += objtool_clean
+PHONY += objtool_clean objtool_mrproper
 
 objtool_O = $(abspath $(objtree))/tools/objtool
 
-objtool_clean:
+objtool_clean objtool_mrproper:
 ifneq ($(wildcard $(objtool_O)),)
-	$(Q)$(MAKE) -sC $(abs_srctree)/tools/objtool O=$(objtool_O) srctree=$(abs_srctree) clean
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) -sC $(abs_srctree)/tools/objtool O=$(objtool_O) srctree=$(abs_srctree) $(patsubst objtool_%,%,$@)
 endif
 
 tools/: FORCE

@@ -1547,7 +1547,7 @@ PHONY += $(mrproper-dirs) mrproper
 $(mrproper-dirs):
 	$(Q)$(MAKE) $(clean)=$(patsubst _mrproper_%,%,$@)
 
-mrproper: clean $(mrproper-dirs)
+mrproper: clean objtool_mrproper $(mrproper-dirs)
 	$(call cmd,rmfiles)
 	@find . $(RCS_FIND_IGNORE) \
 		\( -name '*.rmeta' \) \

index 02d1fccd495f4..4f6f3121d8ecd 100644
@@ -91,10 +91,12 @@ $(LIBSUBCMD)-clean:
 	$(Q)$(RM) -r -- $(LIBSUBCMD_OUTPUT)
 
 clean: $(LIBSUBCMD)-clean
-	$(call QUIET_CLEAN, objtool) $(RM) $(OBJTOOL)
-	$(Q)find $(OUTPUT) -name '*.o' -delete -o -name '\.*.cmd' -delete -o -name '\.*.d' -delete
+	$(Q)find $(OUTPUT) \( -name '*.o' -o -name '\.*.cmd' -o -name '\.*.d' \) -type f -print | xargs $(RM)
 	$(Q)$(RM) $(OUTPUT)arch/x86/lib/inat-tables.c $(OUTPUT)fixdep
 
+mrproper: clean
+	$(call QUIET_CLEAN, objtool) $(RM) $(OBJTOOL)
+
 FORCE:
 
-.PHONY: clean FORCE
+.PHONY: clean mrproper FORCE

2.51.0