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Nathan Chancellor ce3267a39a
kbuild: Bump minimum version of LLVM for building the kernel to 17.0.1
The current minimum version of LLVM for building the kernel is 15.0.0.
However, there are two deficiencies compared to GCC that were fixed in
LLVM 17 that are starting to become more noticeable.

The first was a bug in LLVM's scope checker [1], where all labels in a
function were validated as potential targets of an asm goto statement,
even if they were not listed in the asm goto statement as targets. This
becomes particularly problematic when the cleanup attribute is used, as

  asm goto(... : label_a);
  ...
label_a:
  ...
  int var __free(foo);
  asm goto(... : label_b);
  ...
label_b:
  ...

will trigger an error since the scope checker will complain that the
cleanup variable would be skipped when jumping from the first asm goto
to label_b (which obviously cannot happen). This issue was the catalyst
for commit e2ffa15b9b ("kbuild: Disable CC_HAS_ASM_GOTO_OUTPUT on
clang < 17"). Unfortunately, this issue is reproducible with regular asm
goto in addition to asm goto with outputs, so that change was not
entirely sufficient to avoid the issue altogether. As asm goto has
effectively been required since commit a0a12c3ed0 ("asm goto:
eradicate CC_HAS_ASM_GOTO") and the usage of the cleanup attribute
continues to grow across the tree, raising the minimum to a version that
avoids this issue altogether is a better long term solution than
attempting to workaround it at every spot where it happens.

The second issue is an incompatibility with GCC 8.1+ around variables
marked with const being valid constant expressions for _Static_assert
and other macros [2]. With GCC 8.1 being the minimum supported version
since commit 118c40b7b5 ("kbuild: require gcc-8 and binutils-2.30"),
this incompatibility becomes more of a maintenance burden since only
clang-15 and clang-16 are affected by it.

Looking at the clang version of various major distributions through
Docker images, no one should be left behind as a result of this bump, as
the old ones cannot clear the current minimum of 15.0.0.

  archlinux:latest              clang version 22.1.3
  debian:oldoldstable-slim      Debian clang version 11.0.1-2
  debian:oldstable-slim         Debian clang version 14.0.6
  debian:stable-slim            Debian clang version 19.1.7 (3+b1)
  debian:testing-slim           Debian clang version 21.1.8 (3+b1)
  debian:unstable-slim          Debian clang version 21.1.8 (7+b1)
  fedora:42                     clang version 20.1.8 (Fedora 20.1.8-4.fc42)
  fedora:latest                 clang version 21.1.8 (Fedora 21.1.8-4.fc43)
  fedora:44                     clang version 22.1.1 (Fedora 22.1.1-2.fc44)
  fedora:rawhide                clang version 22.1.3 (Fedora 22.1.3-1.fc45)
  opensuse/leap:latest          clang version 17.0.6
  opensuse/tumbleweed:latest    clang version 21.1.8
  ubuntu:jammy                  Ubuntu clang version 14.0.0-1ubuntu1.1
  ubuntu:noble                  Ubuntu clang version 18.1.3 (1ubuntu1)
  ubuntu:questing               Ubuntu clang version 20.1.8 (0ubuntu4)
  ubuntu:resolute               Ubuntu clang version 21.1.8 (6ubuntu1)

17.0.1 is chosen as the minimum instead of 17.0.0 to ensure that the
particular version of LLVM 17 has the two aforementioned bugs fixed, as
the second was fixed during the 17.0.0 release candidate phase and it
was not until LLVM 18 that LLVM adopted the scheme of x.0.0 being a
prerelease version and x.1.0 is a release version [3] to help with
scenarios such as this.

Link: f023f5cdb2 [1]
Link: 0b2d5b967d [2]
Link: 4532617ae4 [3]
Acked-by: Nicolas Schier <nsc@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260517-bump-minimum-supported-llvm-version-to-17-v2-1-b3b8cda46bdd@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
2026-05-27 15:18:53 -07:00
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 kbuild: Bump minimum version of LLVM for building the kernel to 17.0.1 2026-05-27 15:18:53 -07:00
drivers One more fix for the merge window to avoid a boot hang on 2026-04-26 14:03:20 -07:00
fs ARM development for 7.1-rc1 2026-04-25 07:44:26 -07:00
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 kbuild: Bump minimum version of LLVM for building the kernel to 17.0.1 2026-05-27 15:18:53 -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 Power Utilities 2026.04.25 2026-04-25 16:58:34 -07:00
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 rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
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 Char/Misc/IIO/and others driver updates for 7.1-rc1 2026-04-24 13:23:50 -07:00
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