1================ 2Kconfig Language 3================ 4 5Introduction 6------------ 7 8The configuration database is a collection of configuration options 9organized in a tree structure:: 10 11 +- Code maturity level options 12 | +- Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers 13 +- General setup 14 | +- Networking support 15 | +- System V IPC 16 | +- BSD Process Accounting 17 | +- Sysctl support 18 +- Loadable module support 19 | +- Enable loadable module support 20 | +- Set version information on all module symbols 21 | +- Kernel module loader 22 +- ... 23 24Every entry has its own dependencies. These dependencies are used 25to determine the visibility of an entry. Any child entry is only 26visible if its parent entry is also visible. 27 28Menu entries 29------------ 30 31Most entries define a config option; all other entries help to organize 32them. A single configuration option is defined like this:: 33 34 config MODVERSIONS 35 bool "Set version information on all module symbols" 36 depends on MODULES 37 help 38 Usually, modules have to be recompiled whenever you switch to a new 39 kernel. ... 40 41Every line starts with a key word and can be followed by multiple 42arguments. "config" starts a new config entry. The following lines 43define attributes for this config option. Attributes can be the type of 44the config option, input prompt, dependencies, help text and default 45values. A config option can be defined multiple times with the same 46name, but every definition can have only a single input prompt and the 47type must not conflict. 48 49Menu attributes 50--------------- 51 52A menu entry can have a number of attributes. Not all of them are 53applicable everywhere (see syntax). 54 55- type definition: "bool"/"tristate"/"string"/"hex"/"int" 56 57 Every config option must have a type. There are only two basic types: 58 tristate and string; the other types are based on these two. The type 59 definition optionally accepts an input prompt, so these two examples 60 are equivalent:: 61 62 bool "Networking support" 63 64 and:: 65 66 bool 67 prompt "Networking support" 68 69- input prompt: "prompt" <prompt> ["if" <expr>] 70 71 Every menu entry can have at most one prompt, which is used to display 72 to the user. Optionally dependencies only for this prompt can be added 73 with "if". If a prompt is not present, the config option is a non-visible 74 symbol, meaning its value cannot be directly changed by the user (such as 75 altering the value in ``.config``) and the option will not appear in any 76 config menus. Its value can only be set via "default" and "select" (see 77 below). 78 79- default value: "default" <expr> ["if" <expr>] 80 81 A config option can have any number of default values. If multiple 82 default values are visible, only the first defined one is active. 83 Default values are not limited to the menu entry where they are 84 defined. This means the default can be defined somewhere else or be 85 overridden by an earlier definition. 86 The default value is only assigned to the config symbol if no other 87 value was set by the user (via the input prompt above). If an input 88 prompt is visible the default value is presented to the user and can 89 be overridden by him. 90 Optionally, dependencies only for this default value can be added with 91 "if". 92 93 The default value deliberately defaults to 'n' in order to avoid bloating the 94 build. With few exceptions, new config options should not change this. The 95 intent is for "make oldconfig" to add as little as possible to the config from 96 release to release. 97 98 Note: 99 Things that merit "default y/m" include: 100 101 a) A new Kconfig option for something that used to always be built 102 should be "default y". 103 104 b) A new gatekeeping Kconfig option that hides/shows other Kconfig 105 options (but does not generate any code of its own), should be 106 "default y" so people will see those other options. 107 108 c) Sub-driver behavior or similar options for a driver that is 109 "default n". This allows you to provide sane defaults. 110 111 d) Hardware or infrastructure that everybody expects, such as CONFIG_NET 112 or CONFIG_BLOCK. These are rare exceptions. 113 114- type definition + default value:: 115 116 "def_bool"/"def_tristate" <expr> ["if" <expr>] 117 118 This is a shorthand notation for a type definition plus a value. 119 Optionally dependencies for this default value can be added with "if". 120 121- dependencies: "depends on" <expr> 122 123 This defines a dependency for this menu entry. If multiple 124 dependencies are defined, they are connected with '&&'. Dependencies 125 are applied to all other options within this menu entry (which also 126 accept an "if" expression), so these two examples are equivalent:: 127 128 bool "foo" if BAR 129 default y if BAR 130 131 and:: 132 133 depends on BAR 134 bool "foo" 135 default y 136 137- reverse dependencies: "select" <symbol> ["if" <expr>] 138 139 While normal dependencies reduce the upper limit of a symbol (see 140 below), reverse dependencies can be used to force a lower limit of 141 another symbol. The value of the current menu symbol is used as the 142 minimal value <symbol> can be set to. If <symbol> is selected multiple 143 times, the limit is set to the largest selection. 144 Reverse dependencies can only be used with boolean or tristate 145 symbols. 146 147 Note: 148 select should be used with care. select will force 149 a symbol to a value without visiting the dependencies. 150 By abusing select you are able to select a symbol FOO even 151 if FOO depends on BAR that is not set. 152 In general use select only for non-visible symbols 153 (no prompts anywhere) and for symbols with no dependencies. 154 That will limit the usefulness but on the other hand avoid 155 the illegal configurations all over. 156 157 If "select" <symbol> is followed by "if" <expr>, <symbol> will be 158 selected by the logical AND of the value of the current menu symbol 159 and <expr>. This means, the lower limit can be downgraded due to the 160 presence of "if" <expr>. This behavior may seem weird, but we rely on 161 it. (The future of this behavior is undecided.) 162 163- weak reverse dependencies: "imply" <symbol> ["if" <expr>] 164 165 This is similar to "select" as it enforces a lower limit on another 166 symbol except that the "implied" symbol's value may still be set to n 167 from a direct dependency or with a visible prompt. 168 169 Given the following example:: 170 171 config FOO 172 tristate "foo" 173 imply BAZ 174 175 config BAZ 176 tristate "baz" 177 depends on BAR 178 179 The following values are possible: 180 181 === === ============= ============== 182 FOO BAR BAZ's default choice for BAZ 183 === === ============= ============== 184 n y n N/m/y 185 m y m M/y/n 186 y y y Y/m/n 187 n m n N/m 188 m m m M/n 189 y m m M/n 190 y n * N 191 === === ============= ============== 192 193 This is useful e.g. with multiple drivers that want to indicate their 194 ability to hook into a secondary subsystem while allowing the user to 195 configure that subsystem out without also having to unset these drivers. 196 197 Note: If the feature provided by BAZ is highly desirable for FOO, 198 FOO should imply not only BAZ, but also its dependency BAR:: 199 200 config FOO 201 tristate "foo" 202 imply BAR 203 imply BAZ 204 205 Note: If "imply" <symbol> is followed by "if" <expr>, the default of <symbol> 206 will be the logical AND of the value of the current menu symbol and <expr>. 207 (The future of this behavior is undecided.) 208 209- limiting menu display: "visible if" <expr> 210 211 This attribute is only applicable to menu blocks, if the condition is 212 false, the menu block is not displayed to the user (the symbols 213 contained there can still be selected by other symbols, though). It is 214 similar to a conditional "prompt" attribute for individual menu 215 entries. Default value of "visible" is true. 216 217- numerical ranges: "range" <symbol> <symbol> ["if" <expr>] 218 219 This allows to limit the range of possible input values for int 220 and hex symbols. The user can only input a value which is larger than 221 or equal to the first symbol and smaller than or equal to the second 222 symbol. 223 224- help text: "help" 225 226 This defines a help text. The end of the help text is determined by 227 the indentation level, this means it ends at the first line which has 228 a smaller indentation than the first line of the help text. 229 230- module attribute: "modules" 231 This declares the symbol to be used as the MODULES symbol, which 232 enables the third modular state for all config symbols. 233 At most one symbol may have the "modules" option set. 234 235Menu dependencies 236----------------- 237 238Dependencies define the visibility of a menu entry and can also reduce 239the input range of tristate symbols. The tristate logic used in the 240expressions uses one more state than normal boolean logic to express the 241module state. Dependency expressions have the following syntax:: 242 243 <expr> ::= <symbol> (1) 244 <symbol> '=' <symbol> (2) 245 <symbol> '!=' <symbol> (3) 246 <symbol1> '<' <symbol2> (4) 247 <symbol1> '>' <symbol2> (4) 248 <symbol1> '<=' <symbol2> (4) 249 <symbol1> '>=' <symbol2> (4) 250 '(' <expr> ')' (5) 251 '!' <expr> (6) 252 <expr> '&&' <expr> (7) 253 <expr> '||' <expr> (8) 254 255Expressions are listed in decreasing order of precedence. 256 257(1) Convert the symbol into an expression. Boolean and tristate symbols 258 are simply converted into the respective expression values. All 259 other symbol types result in 'n'. 260(2) If the values of both symbols are equal, it returns 'y', 261 otherwise 'n'. 262(3) If the values of both symbols are equal, it returns 'n', 263 otherwise 'y'. 264(4) If value of <symbol1> is respectively lower, greater, lower-or-equal, 265 or greater-or-equal than value of <symbol2>, it returns 'y', 266 otherwise 'n'. 267(5) Returns the value of the expression. Used to override precedence. 268(6) Returns the result of (2-/expr/). 269(7) Returns the result of min(/expr/, /expr/). 270(8) Returns the result of max(/expr/, /expr/). 271 272An expression can have a value of 'n', 'm' or 'y' (or 0, 1, 2 273respectively for calculations). A menu entry becomes visible when its 274expression evaluates to 'm' or 'y'. 275 276There are two types of symbols: constant and non-constant symbols. 277Non-constant symbols are the most common ones and are defined with the 278'config' statement. Non-constant symbols consist entirely of alphanumeric 279characters or underscores. 280Constant symbols are only part of expressions. Constant symbols are 281always surrounded by single or double quotes. Within the quote, any 282other character is allowed and the quotes can be escaped using '\'. 283 284Menu structure 285-------------- 286 287The position of a menu entry in the tree is determined in two ways. First 288it can be specified explicitly:: 289 290 menu "Network device support" 291 depends on NET 292 293 config NETDEVICES 294 ... 295 296 endmenu 297 298All entries within the "menu" ... "endmenu" block become a submenu of 299"Network device support". All subentries inherit the dependencies from 300the menu entry, e.g. this means the dependency "NET" is added to the 301dependency list of the config option NETDEVICES. 302 303The other way to generate the menu structure is done by analyzing the 304dependencies. If a menu entry somehow depends on the previous entry, it 305can be made a submenu of it. First, the previous (parent) symbol must 306be part of the dependency list and then one of these two conditions 307must be true: 308 309- the child entry must become invisible, if the parent is set to 'n' 310- the child entry must only be visible, if the parent is visible:: 311 312 config MODULES 313 bool "Enable loadable module support" 314 315 config MODVERSIONS 316 bool "Set version information on all module symbols" 317 depends on MODULES 318 319 comment "module support disabled" 320 depends on !MODULES 321 322MODVERSIONS directly depends on MODULES, this means it's only visible if 323MODULES is different from 'n'. The comment on the other hand is only 324visible when MODULES is set to 'n'. 325 326 327Kconfig syntax 328-------------- 329 330The configuration file describes a series of menu entries, where every 331line starts with a keyword (except help texts). The following keywords 332end a menu entry: 333 334- config 335- menuconfig 336- choice/endchoice 337- comment 338- menu/endmenu 339- if/endif 340- source 341 342The first five also start the definition of a menu entry. 343 344config:: 345 346 "config" <symbol> 347 <config options> 348 349This defines a config symbol <symbol> and accepts any of above 350attributes as options. 351 352menuconfig:: 353 354 "menuconfig" <symbol> 355 <config options> 356 357This is similar to the simple config entry above, but it also gives a 358hint to front ends, that all suboptions should be displayed as a 359separate list of options. To make sure all the suboptions will really 360show up under the menuconfig entry and not outside of it, every item 361from the <config options> list must depend on the menuconfig symbol. 362In practice, this is achieved by using one of the next two constructs:: 363 364 (1): 365 menuconfig M 366 if M 367 config C1 368 config C2 369 endif 370 371 (2): 372 menuconfig M 373 config C1 374 depends on M 375 config C2 376 depends on M 377 378In the following examples (3) and (4), C1 and C2 still have the M 379dependency, but will not appear under menuconfig M anymore, because 380of C0, which doesn't depend on M:: 381 382 (3): 383 menuconfig M 384 config C0 385 if M 386 config C1 387 config C2 388 endif 389 390 (4): 391 menuconfig M 392 config C0 393 config C1 394 depends on M 395 config C2 396 depends on M 397 398choices:: 399 400 "choice" 401 <choice options> 402 <choice block> 403 "endchoice" 404 405This defines a choice group and accepts "prompt", "default", "depends on", and 406"help" attributes as options. 407 408A choice only allows a single config entry to be selected. 409 410comment:: 411 412 "comment" <prompt> 413 <comment options> 414 415This defines a comment which is displayed to the user during the 416configuration process and is also echoed to the output files. The only 417possible options are dependencies. 418 419menu:: 420 421 "menu" <prompt> 422 <menu options> 423 <menu block> 424 "endmenu" 425 426This defines a menu block, see "Menu structure" above for more 427information. The only possible options are dependencies and "visible" 428attributes. 429 430if:: 431 432 "if" <expr> 433 <if block> 434 "endif" 435 436This defines an if block. The dependency expression <expr> is appended 437to all enclosed menu entries. 438 439source:: 440 441 "source" <prompt> 442 443This reads the specified configuration file. This file is always parsed. 444 445mainmenu:: 446 447 "mainmenu" <prompt> 448 449This sets the config program's title bar if the config program chooses 450to use it. It should be placed at the top of the configuration, before any 451other statement. 452 453'#' Kconfig source file comment: 454 455An unquoted '#' character anywhere in a source file line indicates 456the beginning of a source file comment. The remainder of that line 457is a comment. 458 459 460Kconfig hints 461------------- 462This is a collection of Kconfig tips, most of which aren't obvious at 463first glance and most of which have become idioms in several Kconfig 464files. 465 466Adding common features and make the usage configurable 467~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 468It is a common idiom to implement a feature/functionality that are 469relevant for some architectures but not all. 470The recommended way to do so is to use a config variable named HAVE_* 471that is defined in a common Kconfig file and selected by the relevant 472architectures. 473An example is the generic IOMAP functionality. 474 475We would in lib/Kconfig see:: 476 477 # Generic IOMAP is used to ... 478 config HAVE_GENERIC_IOMAP 479 480 config GENERIC_IOMAP 481 depends on HAVE_GENERIC_IOMAP && FOO 482 483And in lib/Makefile we would see:: 484 485 obj-$(CONFIG_GENERIC_IOMAP) += iomap.o 486 487For each architecture using the generic IOMAP functionality we would see:: 488 489 config X86 490 select ... 491 select HAVE_GENERIC_IOMAP 492 select ... 493 494Note: we use the existing config option and avoid creating a new 495config variable to select HAVE_GENERIC_IOMAP. 496 497Note: the use of the internal config variable HAVE_GENERIC_IOMAP, it is 498introduced to overcome the limitation of select which will force a 499config option to 'y' no matter the dependencies. 500The dependencies are moved to the symbol GENERIC_IOMAP and we avoid the 501situation where select forces a symbol equals to 'y'. 502 503Adding features that need compiler support 504~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 505 506There are several features that need compiler support. The recommended way 507to describe the dependency on the compiler feature is to use "depends on" 508followed by a test macro:: 509 510 config STACKPROTECTOR 511 bool "Stack Protector buffer overflow detection" 512 depends on $(cc-option,-fstack-protector) 513 ... 514 515If you need to expose a compiler capability to makefiles and/or C source files, 516`CC_HAS_` is the recommended prefix for the config option:: 517 518 config CC_HAS_FOO 519 def_bool $(success,$(srctree)/scripts/cc-check-foo.sh $(CC)) 520 521Build as module only 522~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 523To restrict a component build to module-only, qualify its config symbol 524with "depends on m". E.g.:: 525 526 config FOO 527 depends on BAR && m 528 529limits FOO to module (=m) or disabled (=n). 530 531Compile-testing 532~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 533If a config symbol has a dependency, but the code controlled by the config 534symbol can still be compiled if the dependency is not met, it is encouraged to 535increase build coverage by adding an "|| COMPILE_TEST" clause to the 536dependency. This is especially useful for drivers for more exotic hardware, as 537it allows continuous-integration systems to compile-test the code on a more 538common system, and detect bugs that way. 539Note that compile-tested code should avoid crashing when run on a system where 540the dependency is not met. 541 542Architecture and platform dependencies 543~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 544Due to the presence of stubs, most drivers can now be compiled on most 545architectures. However, this does not mean it makes sense to have all drivers 546available everywhere, as the actual hardware may only exist on specific 547architectures and platforms. This is especially true for on-SoC IP cores, 548which may be limited to a specific vendor or SoC family. 549 550To prevent asking the user about drivers that cannot be used on the system(s) 551the user is compiling a kernel for, and if it makes sense, config symbols 552controlling the compilation of a driver should contain proper dependencies, 553limiting the visibility of the symbol to (a superset of) the platform(s) the 554driver can be used on. The dependency can be an architecture (e.g. ARM) or 555platform (e.g. ARCH_OMAP4) dependency. This makes life simpler not only for 556distro config owners, but also for every single developer or user who 557configures a kernel. 558 559Such a dependency can be relaxed by combining it with the compile-testing rule 560above, leading to: 561 562 config FOO 563 bool "Support for foo hardware" 564 depends on ARCH_FOO_VENDOR || COMPILE_TEST 565 566Optional dependencies 567~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 568 569Some drivers are able to optionally use a feature from another module 570or build cleanly with that module disabled, but cause a link failure 571when trying to use that loadable module from a built-in driver. 572 573The most common way to express this optional dependency in Kconfig logic 574uses the slightly counterintuitive:: 575 576 config FOO 577 tristate "Support for foo hardware" 578 depends on BAR || !BAR 579 580This means that there is either a dependency on BAR that disallows 581the combination of FOO=y with BAR=m, or BAR is completely disabled. The BAR 582module must provide all the stubs for !BAR case. 583 584For a more formalized approach if there are multiple drivers that have 585the same dependency, a helper symbol can be used, like:: 586 587 config FOO 588 tristate "Support for foo hardware" 589 depends on BAR_OPTIONAL 590 591 config BAR_OPTIONAL 592 def_tristate BAR || !BAR 593 594Much less favorable way to express optional dependency is IS_REACHABLE() within 595the module code, useful for example when the module BAR does not provide 596!BAR stubs:: 597 598 foo_init() 599 { 600 if (IS_REACHABLE(CONFIG_BAR)) 601 bar_register(&foo); 602 ... 603 } 604 605IS_REACHABLE() is generally discouraged, because the code will be silently 606discarded, when CONFIG_BAR=m and this code is built-in. This is not what users 607usually expect when enabling BAR as module. 608 609Kconfig recursive dependency limitations 610~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 611 612If you've hit the Kconfig error: "recursive dependency detected" you've run 613into a recursive dependency issue with Kconfig, a recursive dependency can be 614summarized as a circular dependency. The kconfig tools need to ensure that 615Kconfig files comply with specified configuration requirements. In order to do 616that kconfig must determine the values that are possible for all Kconfig 617symbols, this is currently not possible if there is a circular relation 618between two or more Kconfig symbols. For more details refer to the "Simple 619Kconfig recursive issue" subsection below. Kconfig does not do recursive 620dependency resolution; this has a few implications for Kconfig file writers. 621We'll first explain why this issues exists and then provide an example 622technical limitation which this brings upon Kconfig developers. Eager 623developers wishing to try to address this limitation should read the next 624subsections. 625 626Simple Kconfig recursive issue 627~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 628 629Read: Documentation/kbuild/Kconfig.recursion-issue-01 630 631Test with:: 632 633 make KBUILD_KCONFIG=Documentation/kbuild/Kconfig.recursion-issue-01 allnoconfig 634 635Cumulative Kconfig recursive issue 636~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 637 638Read: Documentation/kbuild/Kconfig.recursion-issue-02 639 640Test with:: 641 642 make KBUILD_KCONFIG=Documentation/kbuild/Kconfig.recursion-issue-02 allnoconfig 643 644Practical solutions to kconfig recursive issue 645~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 646 647Developers who run into the recursive Kconfig issue have two options 648at their disposal. We document them below and also provide a list of 649historical issues resolved through these different solutions. 650 651 a) Remove any superfluous "select FOO" or "depends on FOO" 652 b) Match dependency semantics: 653 654 b1) Swap all "select FOO" to "depends on FOO" or, 655 656 b2) Swap all "depends on FOO" to "select FOO" 657 658The resolution to a) can be tested with the sample Kconfig file 659Documentation/kbuild/Kconfig.recursion-issue-01 through the removal 660of the "select CORE" from CORE_BELL_A_ADVANCED as that is implicit already 661since CORE_BELL_A depends on CORE. At times it may not be possible to remove 662some dependency criteria, for such cases you can work with solution b). 663 664The two different resolutions for b) can be tested in the sample Kconfig file 665Documentation/kbuild/Kconfig.recursion-issue-02. 666 667Below is a list of examples of prior fixes for these types of recursive issues; 668all errors appear to involve one or more "select" statements and one or more 669"depends on". 670 671============ =================================== 672commit fix 673============ =================================== 67406b718c01208 select A -> depends on A 675c22eacfe82f9 depends on A -> depends on B 6766a91e854442c select A -> depends on A 677118c565a8f2e select A -> select B 678f004e5594705 select A -> depends on A 679c7861f37b4c6 depends on A -> (null) 68080c69915e5fb select A -> (null) (1) 681c2218e26c0d0 select A -> depends on A (1) 682d6ae99d04e1c select A -> depends on A 68395ca19cf8cbf select A -> depends on A 6848f057d7bca54 depends on A -> (null) 6858f057d7bca54 depends on A -> select A 686a0701f04846e select A -> depends on A 6870c8b92f7f259 depends on A -> (null) 688e4e9e0540928 select A -> depends on A (2) 6897453ea886e87 depends on A > (null) (1) 6907b1fff7e4fdf select A -> depends on A 69186c747d2a4f0 select A -> depends on A 692d9f9ab51e55e select A -> depends on A 6930c51a4d8abd6 depends on A -> select A (3) 694e98062ed6dc4 select A -> depends on A (3) 69591e5d284a7f1 select A -> (null) 696============ =================================== 697 698(1) Partial (or no) quote of error. 699(2) That seems to be the gist of that fix. 700(3) Same error. 701 702Future kconfig work 703~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 704 705Work on kconfig is welcomed on both areas of clarifying semantics and on 706evaluating the use of a full SAT solver for it. A full SAT solver can be 707desirable to enable more complex dependency mappings and / or queries, 708for instance one possible use case for a SAT solver could be that of handling 709the current known recursive dependency issues. It is not known if this would 710address such issues but such evaluation is desirable. If support for a full SAT 711solver proves too complex or that it cannot address recursive dependency issues 712Kconfig should have at least clear and well defined semantics which also 713addresses and documents limitations or requirements such as the ones dealing 714with recursive dependencies. 715 716Further work on both of these areas is welcomed on Kconfig. We elaborate 717on both of these in the next two subsections. 718 719Semantics of Kconfig 720~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 721 722The use of Kconfig is broad, Linux is now only one of Kconfig's users: 723one study has completed a broad analysis of Kconfig use in 12 projects [0]_. 724Despite its widespread use, and although this document does a reasonable job 725in documenting basic Kconfig syntax a more precise definition of Kconfig 726semantics is welcomed. One project deduced Kconfig semantics through 727the use of the xconfig configurator [1]_. Work should be done to confirm if 728the deduced semantics matches our intended Kconfig design goals. 729Another project formalized a denotational semantics of a core subset of 730the Kconfig language [10]_. 731 732Having well defined semantics can be useful for tools for practical 733evaluation of dependencies, for instance one such case was work to 734express in boolean abstraction of the inferred semantics of Kconfig to 735translate Kconfig logic into boolean formulas and run a SAT solver on this to 736find dead code / features (always inactive), 114 dead features were found in 737Linux using this methodology [1]_ (Section 8: Threats to validity). 738The kismet tool, based on the semantics in [10]_, finds abuses of reverse 739dependencies and has led to dozens of committed fixes to Linux Kconfig files [11]_. 740 741Confirming this could prove useful as Kconfig stands as one of the leading 742industrial variability modeling languages [1]_ [2]_. Its study would help 743evaluate practical uses of such languages, their use was only theoretical 744and real world requirements were not well understood. As it stands though 745only reverse engineering techniques have been used to deduce semantics from 746variability modeling languages such as Kconfig [3]_. 747 748.. [0] https://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~shshe/kconfig_semantics.pdf 749.. [1] https://gsd.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/vm-2013-berger.pdf 750.. [2] https://gsd.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/ase241-berger_0.pdf 751.. [3] https://gsd.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/icse2011.pdf 752 753Full SAT solver for Kconfig 754~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 755 756Although SAT solvers [4]_ haven't yet been used by Kconfig directly, as noted 757in the previous subsection, work has been done however to express in boolean 758abstraction the inferred semantics of Kconfig to translate Kconfig logic into 759boolean formulas and run a SAT solver on it [5]_. Another known related project 760is CADOS [6]_ (former VAMOS [7]_) and the tools, mainly undertaker [8]_, which 761has been introduced first with [9]_. The basic concept of undertaker is to 762extract variability models from Kconfig and put them together with a 763propositional formula extracted from CPP #ifdefs and build-rules into a SAT 764solver in order to find dead code, dead files, and dead symbols. If using a SAT 765solver is desirable on Kconfig one approach would be to evaluate repurposing 766such efforts somehow on Kconfig. There is enough interest from mentors of 767existing projects to not only help advise how to integrate this work upstream 768but also help maintain it long term. Interested developers should visit: 769 770https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelProjects/kconfig-sat 771 772.. [4] https://www.cs.cornell.edu/~sabhar/chapters/SATSolvers-KR-Handbook.pdf 773.. [5] https://gsd.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/vm-2013-berger.pdf 774.. [6] https://cados.cs.fau.de 775.. [7] https://vamos.cs.fau.de 776.. [8] https://undertaker.cs.fau.de 777.. [9] https://www4.cs.fau.de/Publications/2011/tartler_11_eurosys.pdf 778.. [10] https://paulgazzillo.com/papers/esecfse21.pdf 779.. [11] https://github.com/paulgazz/kmax 780