Bug#847765: linux: Please enable X86_CHECK_BIOS_CORRUPTION
package: src:linux
version: 3.16.36-1+deb8u2
Dear Debian folks,
It’d be great if you selecting the option
`CONFIG_X86_CHECK_BIOS_CORRUPTION` [1].
```
$ grep X86_CHECK /boot/config-3.16.0-4-686-pae
# CONFIG_X86_CHECK_BIOS_CORRUPTION is not set
```
> Periodically check for memory corruption in low memory, which is
> suspected to be caused by BIOS. Even when enabled in the
> configuration, it is disabled at runtime. Enable it by setting
> "memory_corruption_check=1" on the kernel command line. By default it
> scans the low 64k of memory every 60 seconds; see the
> memory_corruption_check_size and memory_corruption_check_period
> parameters in Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt to adjust this.
>
> When enabled with the default parameters, this option has almost no
> overhead, as it reserves a relatively small amount of memory and scans
> it infrequently. It both detects corruption and prevents it from
> affecting the running system.
>
> It is, however, intended as a diagnostic tool; if repeatable
> BIOS-originated corruption always affects the same memory, you can use
> memmap= to prevent the kernel from using that memory.
As the feature is disabled by default, and can only be enabled by
setting the option on the Linux command line, it is safe to enable.
It’s useful to detect firmware errors that way.
Kind regards,
Paul
[1] https://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/X86_CHECK_BIOS_CORRUPTION.html
Reply to: