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-rw-r--r--Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst125
1 files changed, 95 insertions, 30 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst
index 858ed5d80def..abce88f15d7c 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst
@@ -70,7 +70,11 @@ applicable everywhere (see syntax).
Every menu entry can have at most one prompt, which is used to display
to the user. Optionally dependencies only for this prompt can be added
- with "if".
+ with "if". If a prompt is not present, the config option is a non-visible
+ symbol, meaning its value cannot be directly changed by the user (such as
+ altering the value in ``.config``) and the option will not appear in any
+ config menus. Its value can only be set via "default" and "select" (see
+ below).
- default value: "default" <expr> ["if" <expr>]
@@ -150,6 +154,12 @@ applicable everywhere (see syntax).
That will limit the usefulness but on the other hand avoid
the illegal configurations all over.
+ If "select" <symbol> is followed by "if" <expr>, <symbol> will be
+ selected by the logical AND of the value of the current menu symbol
+ and <expr>. This means, the lower limit can be downgraded due to the
+ presence of "if" <expr>. This behavior may seem weird, but we rely on
+ it. (The future of this behavior is undecided.)
+
- weak reverse dependencies: "imply" <symbol> ["if" <expr>]
This is similar to "select" as it enforces a lower limit on another
@@ -184,16 +194,6 @@ applicable everywhere (see syntax).
ability to hook into a secondary subsystem while allowing the user to
configure that subsystem out without also having to unset these drivers.
- Note: If the combination of FOO=y and BAR=m causes a link error,
- you can guard the function call with IS_REACHABLE()::
-
- foo_init()
- {
- if (IS_REACHABLE(CONFIG_BAZ))
- baz_register(&foo);
- ...
- }
-
Note: If the feature provided by BAZ is highly desirable for FOO,
FOO should imply not only BAZ, but also its dependency BAR::
@@ -202,6 +202,10 @@ applicable everywhere (see syntax).
imply BAR
imply BAZ
+ Note: If "imply" <symbol> is followed by "if" <expr>, the default of <symbol>
+ will be the logical AND of the value of the current menu symbol and <expr>.
+ (The future of this behavior is undecided.)
+
- limiting menu display: "visible if" <expr>
This attribute is only applicable to menu blocks, if the condition is
@@ -228,6 +232,38 @@ applicable everywhere (see syntax).
enables the third modular state for all config symbols.
At most one symbol may have the "modules" option set.
+- transitional attribute: "transitional"
+ This declares the symbol as transitional, meaning it should be processed
+ during configuration but omitted from newly written .config files.
+ Transitional symbols are useful for backward compatibility during config
+ option migrations - they allow olddefconfig to process existing .config
+ files while ensuring the old option doesn't appear in new configurations.
+
+ A transitional symbol:
+ - Has no prompt (is not visible to users in menus)
+ - Is processed normally during configuration (values are read and used)
+ - Can be referenced in default expressions of other symbols
+ - Is not written to new .config files
+ - Cannot have any other properties (it is a pass-through option)
+
+ Example migration from OLD_NAME to NEW_NAME::
+
+ config NEW_NAME
+ bool "New option name"
+ default OLD_NAME
+ help
+ This replaces the old CONFIG_OLD_NAME option.
+
+ config OLD_NAME
+ bool
+ transitional
+ help
+ Transitional config for OLD_NAME to NEW_NAME migration.
+
+ With this setup, existing .config files with "CONFIG_OLD_NAME=y" will
+ result in "CONFIG_NEW_NAME=y" being set, while CONFIG_OLD_NAME will be
+ omitted from newly written .config files.
+
Menu dependencies
-----------------
@@ -393,29 +429,15 @@ of C0, which doesn't depend on M::
choices::
- "choice" [symbol]
+ "choice"
<choice options>
<choice block>
"endchoice"
-This defines a choice group and accepts any of the above attributes as
-options. A choice can only be of type bool or tristate. If no type is
-specified for a choice, its type will be determined by the type of
-the first choice element in the group or remain unknown if none of the
-choice elements have a type specified, as well.
-
-While a boolean choice only allows a single config entry to be
-selected, a tristate choice also allows any number of config entries
-to be set to 'm'. This can be used if multiple drivers for a single
-hardware exists and only a single driver can be compiled/loaded into
-the kernel, but all drivers can be compiled as modules.
-
-A choice accepts another option "optional", which allows to set the
-choice to 'n' and no entry needs to be selected.
-If no [symbol] is associated with a choice, then you can not have multiple
-definitions of that choice. If a [symbol] is associated to the choice,
-then you may define the same choice (i.e. with the same entries) in another
-place.
+This defines a choice group and accepts "prompt", "default", "depends on", and
+"help" attributes as options.
+
+A choice only allows a single config entry to be selected.
comment::
@@ -573,6 +595,49 @@ above, leading to:
bool "Support for foo hardware"
depends on ARCH_FOO_VENDOR || COMPILE_TEST
+Optional dependencies
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Some drivers are able to optionally use a feature from another module
+or build cleanly with that module disabled, but cause a link failure
+when trying to use that loadable module from a built-in driver.
+
+The most common way to express this optional dependency in Kconfig logic
+uses the slightly counterintuitive::
+
+ config FOO
+ tristate "Support for foo hardware"
+ depends on BAR || !BAR
+
+This means that there is either a dependency on BAR that disallows
+the combination of FOO=y with BAR=m, or BAR is completely disabled. The BAR
+module must provide all the stubs for !BAR case.
+
+For a more formalized approach if there are multiple drivers that have
+the same dependency, a helper symbol can be used, like::
+
+ config FOO
+ tristate "Support for foo hardware"
+ depends on BAR_OPTIONAL
+
+ config BAR_OPTIONAL
+ def_tristate BAR || !BAR
+
+Much less favorable way to express optional dependency is IS_REACHABLE() within
+the module code, useful for example when the module BAR does not provide
+!BAR stubs::
+
+ foo_init()
+ {
+ if (IS_REACHABLE(CONFIG_BAR))
+ bar_register(&foo);
+ ...
+ }
+
+IS_REACHABLE() is generally discouraged, because the code will be silently
+discarded, when CONFIG_BAR=m and this code is built-in. This is not what users
+usually expect when enabling BAR as module.
+
Kconfig recursive dependency limitations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~