crash fails with error: "invalid structure member offset"

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 Service Pack 1 (SLES 12 SP1)

Situation

crash fails to open a kernel dump, (vmcore).
During the initialization the following error message is seen:

.....
crash: invalid structure member offset:
module_init_text_size
.....

For example:


[/usr/bin/crash] error trace: 80077b06 => 800ebf28 => 8012d1f6 => 8012d15c

8012d15c: (undetermined)
8012d1f6: OFFSET_verify+62
800ebf28: module_init+1528
80077b06: main_loop+558

It fails with kernel versions >= 3.12.57-60.35

Resolution

The crash update, crash-7.1.5-7.1 released July 2016 includes the patch to resolve the problem.

Since this also affects systemtap, systemtap was updated to systemtap-2.5-8.3 to address the problem.
The systemtap update released July 2016 includes the patch to resolve the problem here.

A future crash and systemtap update for SLES12 LTSS (Long Term Service Pack Support) will include the patch as well.
Customers with a Long Term Support Contract can contact SUSE Technical Support to request a PTF (temporary fix).

Cause

Changes to the kernel module structure to fix a problem in the kernel introduced this problem.

Disclaimer

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