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Shuicheng Lin 46d9c16115 scripts/kernel-doc: Detect mismatched inline member documentation tags
Add validation in check_sections() to verify that inline member
documentation tags (/** @member: description */) match actual struct/union
member names. Previously, kernel-doc only validated section headers against
the parameter list, but inline doc tags stored in parameterdescs were never
cross-checked, allowing stale or mistyped member names to go undetected.

The new check iterates over parameterdescs keys and warns about any that
don't appear in the parameter list, catching issues like renamed struct
members where the documentation tag was not updated to match.

This catches real issues such as:
  - xe_bo_types.h: @atomic_access (missing struct prefix, should be
    @attr.atomic_access)
  - xe_device_types.h: @usm.asid (member is actually asid_to_vm)

While at it, fix two long-standing issues with named variadic parameters
(macros like ``#define foo(fmt, args...)``) that the new check exposed:

  1. A description provided via the ``@args...:`` doc form was stored
     in parameterdescs under the unstripped key ``args...``, while
     push_parameter() stripped the trailing ``...`` and only added
     ``args`` to parameterlist.  As a result the user-supplied
     description was orphaned, parameterdescs[``args``] was auto-
     populated with the generic "variable arguments" text, and the
     user's actual description was silently discarded by the output
     stage.  Migrate the description from the unstripped to the
     stripped key inside push_parameter() so the user's text reaches
     the output and the new check does not flag the orphaned key.

  2. push_parameter() always auto-populated parameterdescs[param] with
     "variable arguments" for variadic parameters, which bypassed the
     existing "parameter not described" warning at line 549.  As a
     consequence, a named variadic with no matching ``@<name>:`` doc
     tag (or a mistyped one such as ``@args:`` for a parameter named
     ``arg``) went undetected.  Emit the standard "not described"
     warning for named variadics before applying the auto-fill, so
     missing or mistyped variadic docs are reported just like missing
     docs for any other parameter.  The bare ``@...:`` form is
     unaffected because it has no natural name for the user to
     document.

This second hunk surfaces one real pre-existing documentation gap in
include/linux/hashtable.h: hash_for_each_possible_rcu()'s ``cond...``
parameter has no matching ``@cond:`` doc entry.  No false positives were
observed across include/linux, kernel/, or drivers/gpu/drm.

v2: Skip variadic parameters whose documented key ends with ``...`` and
    whose stripped name is in parameterlist, to avoid false-positive
    "Excess function parameter 'args...'" warnings on macros like
    ``#define foo(fmt, args...)`` documented with ``@args...:``.

v3: The v2 special case in check_sections() only suppressed the warning
    while still letting the user's description be silently dropped from
    the generated output.  Replace it with a fix in push_parameter() that
    migrates the description from ``args...`` to ``args`` when the name
    is stripped, so the user's text is preserved end-to-end and the
    new excess-parameter check naturally finds nothing to flag.

v4: Also emit the standard "parameter not described" warning for named
    variadics that have no matching ``@<name>:`` doc tag.  Previously
    push_parameter()'s unconditional auto-fill bypassed that warning,
    so a missing or mistyped variadic doc went undetected. (Randy)

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4.6
Signed-off-by: Shuicheng Lin <shuicheng.lin@intel.com>
Tested-by: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>
Acked-by: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Message-ID: <20260507023232.4108680-1-shuicheng.lin@intel.com>
2026-05-15 08:34:13 -06:00
arch ARM development for 7.1-rc1 2026-04-25 07:44:26 -07:00
block block: only restrict bio allocation gfp mask asked to block 2026-04-21 11:42:12 -06:00
certs Clang build fixes for 7.1 2026-04-24 09:29:51 -07:00
crypto This push contains the following changes: 2026-04-21 08:06:43 -07:00
Documentation docs: Update nosmt support for arm64 2026-05-15 08:26:31 -06:00
drivers One more fix for the merge window to avoid a boot hang on 2026-04-26 14:03:20 -07:00
fs cramfs: drop obsolete Future Development notes and update tools URL 2026-05-03 09:12:23 -06:00
include Here are the accumulated fixes for 7.1-rc1 and a single structural worth of 2026-04-25 16:20:52 -07:00
init memblock: updates for 7.0-rc1 2026-04-18 11:29:14 -07:00
io_uring io_uring: take page references for NOMMU pbuf_ring mmaps 2026-04-21 20:14:39 -06:00
ipc Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
kernel ring-buffer fix for 7.1: 2026-04-24 15:17:23 -07:00
lib RISC-V updates for v7.1 2026-04-24 10:00:37 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm slab fix for 7.1 2026-04-24 09:39:03 -07:00
net NFS client updates for Linux 7.1 2026-04-24 14:20:03 -07:00
rust Char/Misc/IIO/and others driver updates for 7.1-rc1 2026-04-24 13:23:50 -07:00
samples soc: drivers for 7.1 2026-04-16 20:34:34 -07:00
scripts First round of Kbuild fixes for 7.1 2026-04-25 17:04:15 -07:00
security + Cleanups 2026-04-24 09:22:21 -07:00
sound sound fixes for 7.1-rc1 2026-04-24 11:49:20 -07:00
tools scripts/kernel-doc: Detect mismatched inline member documentation tags 2026-05-15 08:34:13 -06:00
usr kbuild: uapi: also test UAPI headers against C++ compilers 2026-03-25 13:24:42 +01:00
virt Arm: 2026-04-17 07:18:03 -07:00
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: bump Clippy's MSRV and clean incompatible_msrv allows 2026-04-07 09:51:39 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add myself 2026-04-02 16:48:25 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore kbuild: rust: provide an option to inline C helpers into Rust 2026-03-30 02:03:52 +02:00
.mailmap Char/Misc/IIO/and others driver updates for 7.1-rc1 2026-04-24 13:23:50 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml
COPYING
CREDITS Delete some obsolete networking code 2026-04-24 09:41:58 -07:00
Kbuild checksyscalls: move instance functionality into generic code 2026-04-05 09:21:32 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS MAINTAINERS: use a URL for pin-init maintainer's profile entry 2026-05-15 08:01:48 -06:00
Makefile Linux 7.1-rc1 2026-04-26 14:19:00 -07:00
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -07:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst