summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/process/programming-language.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorFuad Tabba <fuad.tabba@linux.dev>2026-09-22 19:14:30 +0100
committerWill Deacon <will@kernel.org>2026-09-23 12:34:30 +0000
commit2bc6b218717b9d08f466f88209251d54bc09b207 (patch)
treecb91c941eccb15f94cbec4e96aa3a9c8736b5d66 /Documentation/process/programming-language.rst
downloadlinux-stable-2bc6b218717b9d08f466f88209251d54bc09b207.tar.gz
linux-stable-2bc6b218717b9d08f466f88209251d54bc09b207.zip
arm64/boot: Disable trapping of PMZR_EL0 writes to EL2grafted
__init_el2_fgt2() writes one mask to both HDFGRTR2_EL2 and HDFGWTR2_EL2. PMZR_EL0 is write-only, so its trap bit, nPMZR_EL0, exists only in HDFGWTR2_EL2 and is therefore never set: a PMZR_EL0 write from the host traps to EL2, where the nVHE hypervisor has no handler and BUG()s. The kernel never writes PMZR_EL0, but kernel.perf_user_access=1 has the PMU driver set PMUSERENR_EL0.UEN for a task with a user-read event, so a write from EL0 reaches the trap and takes the host down without a panic message. Accumulate the HDFGWTR2_EL2 bits separately, as __init_el2_fgt() already does for HDFGWTR_EL2, and set nPMZR_EL0 with the other FEAT_PMUv3p9 bits. Fixes: 858c7bfcb35e1 ("arm64/boot: Enable EL2 requirements for FEAT_PMUv3p9") Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Fuad Tabba <fuad.tabba@linux.dev> Reviewed-by: Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual@arm.com> Reviewed-by: Oliver Upton <oupton@kernel.org> Signed-off-by: Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process/programming-language.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/programming-language.rst58
1 files changed, 58 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/programming-language.rst b/Documentation/process/programming-language.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c18e307cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/process/programming-language.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+.. _programming_language:
+
+Programming Language
+====================
+
+The Linux kernel is written in the C programming language [c-language]_.
+More precisely, it is typically compiled with ``gcc`` [gcc]_
+under ``-std=gnu11`` [gcc-c-dialect-options]_: the GNU dialect of ISO C11.
+``clang`` [clang]_ is also supported; see documentation on
+:ref:`Building Linux with Clang/LLVM <kbuild_llvm>`.
+
+This dialect contains many extensions to the language [gnu-extensions]_,
+and many of them are used within the kernel as a matter of course.
+
+Attributes
+----------
+
+One of the common extensions used throughout the kernel are attributes
+[gcc-attribute-syntax]_. Attributes allow to introduce
+implementation-defined semantics to language entities (like variables,
+functions or types) without having to make significant syntactic changes
+to the language (e.g. adding a new keyword) [n2049]_.
+
+In some cases, attributes are optional (i.e. a compiler not supporting them
+should still produce proper code, even if it is slower or does not perform
+as many compile-time checks/diagnostics).
+
+The kernel defines pseudo-keywords (e.g. ``__pure``) instead of using
+directly the GNU attribute syntax (e.g. ``__attribute__((__pure__))``)
+in order to feature detect which ones can be used and/or to shorten the code.
+
+Please refer to ``include/linux/compiler_attributes.h`` for more information.
+
+Rust
+----
+
+The kernel has support for the Rust programming language
+[rust-language]_ under ``CONFIG_RUST``. It is compiled with ``rustc`` [rustc]_
+under ``--edition=2021`` [rust-editions]_. Editions are a way to introduce
+small changes to the language that are not backwards compatible.
+
+On top of that, some unstable features [rust-unstable-features]_ are used in
+the kernel. Unstable features may change in the future, thus it is an important
+goal to reach a point where only stable features are used.
+
+Please refer to Documentation/rust/index.rst for more information.
+
+.. [c-language] http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/standards
+.. [gcc] https://gcc.gnu.org
+.. [clang] https://clang.llvm.org
+.. [gcc-c-dialect-options] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C-Dialect-Options.html
+.. [gnu-extensions] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C-Extensions.html
+.. [gcc-attribute-syntax] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Attribute-Syntax.html
+.. [n2049] http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n2049.pdf
+.. [rust-language] https://www.rust-lang.org
+.. [rustc] https://doc.rust-lang.org/rustc/
+.. [rust-editions] https://doc.rust-lang.org/edition-guide/editions/
+.. [rust-unstable-features] https://github.com/Rust-for-Linux/linux/issues/2