Clarify grammar and typos in syscall section and syscall-steal.c

[frank0988]

Fix grammatical errors and typos in the syscall description section and the syscall-steal.c example file to improve readability.

---

Summary by cubic

Fix grammar and wording in the syscall section and examples/syscall-steal.c to improve clarity and accuracy. Clarifies that sys_openat is a static function (not a variable), corrects “wreak havoc,” and rephrases the syscall table change to a switch for BHI mitigation in lkmpg.tex.

^{Written for commit 6932bb5. Summary will update on new commits.}

[cubic-dev-ai]

1 issue found across 2 files

Prompt for AI agents (unresolved issues)

Check if these issues are valid — if so, understand the root cause of each and fix them. If appropriate, use sub-agents to investigate and fix each issue separately.


<file name="lkmpg.tex">

<violation number="1" location="lkmpg.tex:1918">
P2: The revised sentence conflates the `sys_call_table[]` data structure with the syscall dispatch mechanism. Commit 1e3ad78 changed the x86 dispatch path to use switch-based functions rather than indirect table lookups on vulnerable CPUs, but `sys_call_table[]` still exists (it is kept for tracing purposes). Saying the table itself "changed to a switch statement" mixes a data structure with a control-flow construct, which can mislead readers about kernel internals.

Consider rephrasing to clarify the distinction, for example: "the system call dispatch mechanism changed from using an indirect function call table to a switch statement."</violation>
</file>

<sub>Reply with feedback, questions, or to request a fix.

Re-trigger cubic</sub>

[cubic-dev-ai]

P2: The revised sentence conflates the sys_call_table[] data structure with the syscall dispatch mechanism. Commit 1e3ad78 changed the x86 dispatch path to use switch-based functions rather than indirect table lookups on vulnerable CPUs, but sys_call_table[] still exists (it is kept for tracing purposes). Saying the table itself "changed to a switch statement" mixes a data structure with a control-flow construct, which can mislead readers about kernel internals.

Consider rephrasing to clarify the distinction, for example: "the system call dispatch mechanism changed from using an indirect function call table to a switch statement."

Prompt for AI agents

Check if this issue is valid — if so, understand the root cause and fix it. At lkmpg.tex, line 1918:

<comment>The revised sentence conflates the `sys_call_table[]` data structure with the syscall dispatch mechanism. Commit 1e3ad78 changed the x86 dispatch path to use switch-based functions rather than indirect table lookups on vulnerable CPUs, but `sys_call_table[]` still exists (it is kept for tracing purposes). Saying the table itself "changed to a switch statement" mixes a data structure with a control-flow construct, which can mislead readers about kernel internals.

Consider rephrasing to clarify the distinction, for example: "the system call dispatch mechanism changed from using an indirect function call table to a switch statement."</comment>

<file context>
@@ -1915,7 +1915,7 @@ \section{System Calls}
 
 Notice that this example has been unavailable since Linux v6.9.
-Specifically, after this \href{https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/1e3ad78334a69b36e107232e337f9d693dcc9df2#diff-4a16bf89a09b4f49669a30d54540f0b936ea0224dc6ee9edfa7700deb16c3e11R52}{commit}, due to the system call table changing the implementation from an indirect function call table to a switch statement for security issues, such as Branch History Injection (BHI) attack.
+Specifically, after this \href{https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/1e3ad78334a69b36e107232e337f9d693dcc9df2#diff-4a16bf89a09b4f49669a30d54540f0b936ea0224dc6ee9edfa7700deb16c3e11R52}{commit}, the system call table changed from an indirect function call table to a switch statement for security issues, such as mitigating Branch History Injection (BHI) attacks.
 See more information \href{https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/2060909}{here}.
 
</file context>

Suggested change

	Specifically, after this \href{https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/1e3ad78334a69b36e107232e337f9d693dcc9df2#diff-4a16bf89a09b4f49669a30d54540f0b936ea0224dc6ee9edfa7700deb16c3e11R52}{commit}, the system call table changed from an indirect function call table to a switch statement for security issues, such as mitigating Branch History Injection (BHI) attacks.
	+Specifically, after this \href{https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/1e3ad78334a69b36e107232e337f9d693dcc9df2#diff-4a16bf89a09b4f49669a30d54540f0b936ea0224dc6ee9edfa7700deb16c3e11R52}{commit}, the system call dispatch mechanism changed from using an indirect function call table to a switch statement for security issues, such as mitigating Branch History Injection (BHI) attacks.