[PATCH] MIPS: boot: compressed: fix the vmlinuz link with ld.lld

[PATCH] MIPS: boot: compressed: fix the vmlinuz link with ld.lld

[Rosen Penev]

ld.lld cannot link a 32-bit executable at a sign-extended address. With
a sign-extended ZBOOT_LOAD_ADDRESS, such as the BCM47XX default of
0xffffffff80400000, the vmlinuz link fails:

  ld.lld: error: section .text at 0xffffffff80400000 of size 0x35a4
  exceeds available address space

arch/mips/Makefile already avoids this for vmlinux by linking at
LINKER_LOAD_ADDRESS, which drops the upper 32 bits on 32-bit kernels.
Do the same for vmlinuz. The address computed by calc_vmlinuz_load_addr
is already derived from LINKER_LOAD_ADDRESS, which is why only an
explicit ZBOOT_LOAD_ADDRESS is affected.

Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Rosen Penev <rosenp@gmail.com>
---
 arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile | 10 +++++++++-
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile
index e0b8ec9a9516..ee554eaaa18f 100644
--- a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile
+++ b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile
@@ -96,12 +96,20 @@ VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS = $(shell $(obj)/calc_vmlinuz_load_addr \
 endif
 UIMAGE_LOADADDR = $(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS)
 
+# Like LINKER_LOAD_ADDRESS in arch/mips/Makefile: ld.lld cannot link a
+# 32-bit executable at a sign-extended address, so drop the upper 32 bits.
+ifdef CONFIG_64BIT
+VMLINUZ_LINK_ADDRESS = $(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS)
+else
+VMLINUZ_LINK_ADDRESS = $(subst 0xffffffff,0x,$(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS))
+endif
+
 vmlinuzobjs-y += $(obj)/piggy.o
 
 targets += ../../../../vmlinuz
 
 quiet_cmd_zld = LD      $@
-      cmd_zld = $(LD) $(KBUILD_LDFLAGS) -Ttext $(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS) -T $< $(vmlinuzobjs-y) -o $@
+      cmd_zld = $(LD) $(KBUILD_LDFLAGS) -Ttext $(VMLINUZ_LINK_ADDRESS) -T $< $(vmlinuzobjs-y) -o $@
 quiet_cmd_strip = STRIP   $@
       cmd_strip = $(STRIP) -s $@
 
-- 
2.56.0

Re: [PATCH] MIPS: boot: compressed: fix the vmlinuz link with ld.lld

[Thomas Bogendoerfer]

On Fri, Oct 09, 2026 at 04:29:23PM -0700, Rosen Penev wrote:
> ld.lld cannot link a 32-bit executable at a sign-extended address. With
> a sign-extended ZBOOT_LOAD_ADDRESS, such as the BCM47XX default of
> 0xffffffff80400000, the vmlinuz link fails:
> 
>   ld.lld: error: section .text at 0xffffffff80400000 of size 0x35a4
>   exceeds available address space
> 
> arch/mips/Makefile already avoids this for vmlinux by linking at
> LINKER_LOAD_ADDRESS, which drops the upper 32 bits on 32-bit kernels.
> Do the same for vmlinuz. The address computed by calc_vmlinuz_load_addr
> is already derived from LINKER_LOAD_ADDRESS, which is why only an
> explicit ZBOOT_LOAD_ADDRESS is affected.
> 
> Assisted-by: LLM
> Signed-off-by: Rosen Penev <rosenp@gmail.com>
> ---
>  arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile | 10 +++++++++-
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile
> index e0b8ec9a9516..ee554eaaa18f 100644
> --- a/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile
> +++ b/arch/mips/boot/compressed/Makefile
> @@ -96,12 +96,20 @@ VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS = $(shell $(obj)/calc_vmlinuz_load_addr \
>  endif
>  UIMAGE_LOADADDR = $(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS)
>  
> +# Like LINKER_LOAD_ADDRESS in arch/mips/Makefile: ld.lld cannot link a
> +# 32-bit executable at a sign-extended address, so drop the upper 32 bits.
> +ifdef CONFIG_64BIT
> +VMLINUZ_LINK_ADDRESS = $(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS)
> +else
> +VMLINUZ_LINK_ADDRESS = $(subst 0xffffffff,0x,$(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS))
> +endif
> +
>  vmlinuzobjs-y += $(obj)/piggy.o
>  
>  targets += ../../../../vmlinuz
>  
>  quiet_cmd_zld = LD      $@
> -      cmd_zld = $(LD) $(KBUILD_LDFLAGS) -Ttext $(VMLINUZ_LOAD_ADDRESS) -T $< $(vmlinuzobjs-y) -o $@
> +      cmd_zld = $(LD) $(KBUILD_LDFLAGS) -Ttext $(VMLINUZ_LINK_ADDRESS) -T $< $(vmlinuzobjs-y) -o $@
>  quiet_cmd_strip = STRIP   $@
>        cmd_strip = $(STRIP) -s $@
>  
> -- 
> 2.56.0

applied to mips-fixes

Thomas.

-- 
Crap can work. Given enough thrust pigs will fly, but it's not necessarily a
good idea.                                                [ RFC1925, 2.3 ]