diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst | 35 |
1 files changed, 35 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst index 1cf1aebdd6cd..226ae072da7d 100644 --- a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst +++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst @@ -553,6 +553,41 @@ with "depends on m". E.g.:: limits FOO to module (=m) or disabled (=n). +Compile-testing +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +If a config symbol has a dependency, but the code controlled by the config +symbol can still be compiled if the dependency is not met, it is encouraged to +increase build coverage by adding an "|| COMPILE_TEST" clause to the +dependency. This is especially useful for drivers for more exotic hardware, as +it allows continuous-integration systems to compile-test the code on a more +common system, and detect bugs that way. +Note that compile-tested code should avoid crashing when run on a system where +the dependency is not met. + +Architecture and platform dependencies +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ +Due to the presence of stubs, most drivers can now be compiled on most +architectures. However, this does not mean it makes sense to have all drivers +available everywhere, as the actual hardware may only exist on specific +architectures and platforms. This is especially true for on-SoC IP cores, +which may be limited to a specific vendor or SoC family. + +To prevent asking the user about drivers that cannot be used on the system(s) +the user is compiling a kernel for, and if it makes sense, config symbols +controlling the compilation of a driver should contain proper dependencies, +limiting the visibility of the symbol to (a superset of) the platform(s) the +driver can be used on. The dependency can be an architecture (e.g. ARM) or +platform (e.g. ARCH_OMAP4) dependency. This makes life simpler not only for +distro config owners, but also for every single developer or user who +configures a kernel. + +Such a dependency can be relaxed by combining it with the compile-testing rule +above, leading to: + + config FOO + bool "Support for foo hardware" + depends on ARCH_FOO_VENDOR || COMPILE_TEST + Kconfig recursive dependency limitations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |