1 files changed, 25 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/sigcontext.h b/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/sigcontext.h
index d485232f1e9f..702c40468859 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/sigcontext.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/uapi/asm/sigcontext.h
@@ -341,6 +341,31 @@ struct sigcontext {
 	__u64				rip;
 	__u64				eflags;		/* RFLAGS */
 	__u16				cs;
+
+	/*
+	 * Prior to 2.5.64 ("[PATCH] x86-64 updates for 2.5.64-bk3"),
+	 * Linux saved and restored fs and gs in these slots.  This
+	 * was counterproductive, as fsbase and gsbase were never
+	 * saved, so arch_prctl was presumably unreliable.
+	 *
+	 * These slots should never be reused without extreme caution:
+	 *
+	 *  - Some DOSEMU versions stash fs and gs in these slots manually,
+	 *    thus overwriting anything the kernel expects to be preserved
+	 *    in these slots.
+	 *
+	 *  - If these slots are ever needed for any other purpose,
+	 *    there is some risk that very old 64-bit binaries could get
+	 *    confused.  I doubt that many such binaries still work,
+	 *    though, since the same patch in 2.5.64 also removed the
+	 *    64-bit set_thread_area syscall, so it appears that there
+	 *    is no TLS API beyond modify_ldt that works in both pre-
+	 *    and post-2.5.64 kernels.
+	 *
+	 * If the kernel ever adds explicit fs, gs, fsbase, and gsbase
+	 * save/restore, it will most likely need to be opt-in and use
+	 * different context slots.
+	 */
 	__u16				gs;
 	__u16				fs;
 	__u16				__pad0;