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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700
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tree3962f95a34df034652ff93686cdd156c7197f2d9 /Documentation/rust/coding-guidelines.rst
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Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt: - Don't destroy user event fields when removal fails User event fields are destroyed before the event is removed from visibility. But that can fail leaving the still visible event with no fields. Move the destroying of the fields to after the event is successfully removed from visibility. - Initialize function graph state is fork before calling copy_exec_state() For non-CLONE_VM forks, copy_exec_state() allocates a new task_exec_state. If that allocation fails, ftrace_graph_exit_task() will free the tasks ret_stack pointer. Since that pointer is still using the parent's ret_stack, it mistakenly frees the parent's pointer too. Call ftrace_graph_init() on the task first which will NULL out the new tasks's ret_stack and if the copy fails, it will not free anything. - Remove FGRAPH_MAX_INDEX The macro FGRAPH_MAX_INDEX was added but never used. Remove it. - Save ent_size in function graph printing of nested functions The function graph tracer needs to look at the next event to see if the next event is the return of the current function entry. If it is, it prints a single line: ktime_get(); Otherwise it prints it like a nested function: tick_nohz_irq_exit() { ktime_get(); kcpustat_irq_exit(); } In order to look at the next event, it must save the current event so that it has the information to print from it. It saves the event in the iterator descriptor called "ent". What it doesn't save is the ent_size of the event which is now used to know if the function graph arguments are to be printed. The peek doesn't save the size so the size used happens to be that of the size of the last event that was seen. Save the entry event size in the iterator descriptor so that the correct size is used. - Fix several errors with freeing data in the histogram code The histogram code had a lot of leaked or or incorrect accounting when failures happen. Correct them. - Fix histogram regression of .percent and .graph modifiers Up until 6.3 histogram values could have "percent" or "graph" modifiers that changed how they were printed. But a change that added restricting histograms values from being strings, stack traces and other modifiers inadvertently prevented them from using the percent and graph modifiers, which were legal use cases for values. Put back the percent and graph modifiers. - Fix various typos in the comments - Set the trace_clock before initializing a histogram with clock argument The histogram API allows the user to specific which trace clock to use via a "clock=" string. The histogram is set up first before the clock is checked. If the passed in clock is not valid, it exits without fully fixing up the histogram leaving it on the list and a use-after-free can trigger. Update the clock argument first and if it fails then exit gracefully before the histogram trigger is placed on any lists. - Restore :mod: trailer after parsing in ftrace_set_clr_event The function ftrace_set_clr_event() modifies the parse string and needs to put it back to what was passed in. It searches for ":mod:" via a strsep() but fails to put back the first ':' in the string. Add back the ':' in the passed in string. - Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file The options files are dynamically created and some tracers add their own options. When a tracer adds their own list of options, the trace_array holding them has an array to hold the list of options for each tracer. This array increases in size via a krealloc(), and the new entry gets a newly allocated array to hold the options of the new tracer being added. The element in each entry of the tracer's option array holds a pointer back to the trace_array, a pointer to the tracer it is associated to, a pointer to the flags of the option. The issue is that these arrays are freed when the trace_array is freed when its instance it represents is removed from the instances directory. There's a race that an open of one of these options files can happen when the instance is being removed. Add a new helper function to be called by the open function of the options file to iterate all existing trace_arrays under a lock and find the one that has the given option element in one of it's tracer arrays. If found, then update the associated trace_array's reference counter to keep it from being freed. If not found, have the open call return -ENODEV. - Disable interrupts when acquiring the lock in rb_wake_up_waiters() The function rb_wake_up_waiters() assumes it will be called in interrupt context and does not disable irqs when taking cpu_buffer->reader_lock, which can be called in hard interrupt context. The issue is in PREEMPT_RT, this function is called in thread context leaving this lock open to a deadlock. Take the lock with interrupts disabled. - Use rcu_assign_pointer() for tmp_ops filter hash The tmp_ops used in update_ftrace_direct_mod() assigns its filter_hash field directly, but that field is annotated as __rcu and sparse complains. Assign it with rcu_assign_pointer() - Fix use-after-free in enable_trigger_private_data_free() The trace_event_call is accessed through the event_trigger_data's trace_event_file pointer to put the trace_event_call on freeing. The issue is that the trace_event_file data may have been freed already causing a use-after-free. Add a field to the event_trigger_data that points directly to the trace_event_call so that it can decrement its reference directly without needing to go through the trace_event_file. - Fix accounting of buffer data remote headers trace_buffer_desc_size() and trace_remote_alloc_buffer() undercount the number of pages is needed for the asked for size as it doesn't take into account the meta data on each page. Add a helper function to do the calculation properly and use that in these functions. - Catch nr_page_va overflow in ring_buffer_desc sizing The number of pages per remote ring buffer is capped by ring_buffer_desc::nr_page_va (32 bits). A buffer_size large enough to overflow that field would silently allocate a descriptor smaller than what was asked for. - Do not resize the subbuf order if any per_cpu buffer is disabled The mmapping of ring buffers disables resizing the subbuffers, but it is done per-cpu whereas the subbuf size change is done for all the per_cpu buffers under the buffer->mutex. It could change the size of some while the mapping is happening on others. Have the resize of the subbuf order check all the per_cpu buffers under the lock to see if any of them is disabled before starting and causing an inconsistency between buffers that are being mapped. * tag 'trace-v7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: (25 commits) ring-buffer: Check resize_disabled before publishing the new subbuf order tracing/remotes: Catch nr_page_va overflow in ring_buffer_desc sizing tracing/remotes: Account for ring buffer page header in size calculation tracing: Don't dereference trace_event_file in deferred trigger free ftrace: Use rcu_assign_pointer() for tmp_ops filter hash ring-buffer: Acquire the lock with irqsave in rb_wake_up_waiters() tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file tracing: Fix ring_buffer_read_page_size() kernel-doc tracing: Restore :mod: trailer after parsing in ftrace_set_clr_event() tracing: Fix memory corruption from a "STACKTRACE" histogram key tracing: Fix memory corruption from the histogram stacktrace modifier tracing: Undo the registration when enabling the histogram trigger fails tracing: Take the reference before publishing the named histogram trigger tracing: Set the trace clock before registering the histogram trigger tracing: Fix typo "preceeded" in comment tracing: Fix typo "availabe" in comment tracing: Let histogram values keep the percent and graph modifiers tracing: Keep the entry count when the histogram stats allocation fails tracing: Free histogram the field rejected for a bad modifier tracing: Free histogram the var ref when its initialization fails ...
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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+Coding Guidelines
+=================
+
+This document describes how to write Rust code in the kernel.
+
+
+Style & formatting
+------------------
+
+The code should be formatted using ``rustfmt``. In this way, a person
+contributing from time to time to the kernel does not need to learn and
+remember one more style guide. More importantly, reviewers and maintainers
+do not need to spend time pointing out style issues anymore, and thus
+less patch roundtrips may be needed to land a change.
+
+.. note:: Conventions on comments and documentation are not checked by
+ ``rustfmt``. Thus those are still needed to be taken care of.
+
+The default settings of ``rustfmt`` are used. This means the idiomatic Rust
+style is followed. For instance, 4 spaces are used for indentation rather
+than tabs.
+
+It is convenient to instruct editors/IDEs to format while typing,
+when saving or at commit time. However, if for some reason reformatting
+the entire kernel Rust sources is needed at some point, the following can be
+run::
+
+ make LLVM=1 rustfmt
+
+It is also possible to check if everything is formatted (printing a diff
+otherwise), for instance for a CI, with::
+
+ make LLVM=1 rustfmtcheck
+
+Like ``clang-format`` for the rest of the kernel, ``rustfmt`` works on
+individual files, and does not require a kernel configuration. Sometimes it may
+even work with broken code.
+
+Imports
+~~~~~~~
+
+``rustfmt``, by default, formats imports in a way that is prone to conflicts
+while merging and rebasing, since in some cases it condenses several items into
+the same line. For instance:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ // Do not use this style.
+ use crate::{
+ example1,
+ example2::{example3, example4, example5},
+ example6, example7,
+ example8::example9,
+ };
+
+Instead, the kernel uses a vertical layout that looks like this:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ use crate::{
+ example1,
+ example2::{
+ example3,
+ example4,
+ example5, //
+ },
+ example6,
+ example7,
+ example8::example9, //
+ };
+
+That is, each item goes into its own line, and braces are used as soon as there
+is more than one item in a list.
+
+The trailing empty comment allows to preserve this formatting. Not only that,
+``rustfmt`` will actually reformat imports vertically when the empty comment is
+added. That is, it is possible to easily reformat the original example into the
+expected style by running ``rustfmt`` on an input like:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ // Do not use this style.
+ use crate::{
+ example1,
+ example2::{example3, example4, example5, //
+ },
+ example6, example7,
+ example8::example9, //
+ };
+
+The trailing empty comment works for nested imports, as shown above, as well as
+for single item imports -- this can be useful to minimize diffs within patch
+series:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ use crate::{
+ example1, //
+ };
+
+The trailing empty comment works in any of the lines within the braces, but it
+is preferred to keep it in the last item, since it is reminiscent of the
+trailing comma in other formatters. Sometimes it may be simpler to avoid moving
+the comment several times within a patch series due to changes in the list.
+
+There may be cases where exceptions may need to be made, i.e. none of this is
+a hard rule. There is also code that is not migrated to this style yet, but
+please do not introduce code in other styles.
+
+Eventually, the goal is to get ``rustfmt`` to support this formatting style (or
+a similar one) automatically in a stable release without requiring the trailing
+empty comment. Thus, at some point, the goal is to remove those comments.
+
+
+Comments
+--------
+
+"Normal" comments (i.e. ``//``, rather than code documentation which starts
+with ``///`` or ``//!``) are written in Markdown the same way as documentation
+comments are, even though they will not be rendered. This improves consistency,
+simplifies the rules and allows to move content between the two kinds of
+comments more easily. For instance:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ // `object` is ready to be handled now.
+ f(object);
+
+Furthermore, just like documentation, comments are capitalized at the beginning
+of a sentence and ended with a period (even if it is a single sentence). This
+includes ``// SAFETY:``, ``// TODO:`` and other "tagged" comments, e.g.:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ // FIXME: The error should be handled properly.
+
+Comments should not be used for documentation purposes: comments are intended
+for implementation details, not users. This distinction is useful even if the
+reader of the source file is both an implementor and a user of an API. In fact,
+sometimes it is useful to use both comments and documentation at the same time.
+For instance, for a ``TODO`` list or to comment on the documentation itself.
+For the latter case, comments can be inserted in the middle; that is, closer to
+the line of documentation to be commented. For any other case, comments are
+written after the documentation, e.g.:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ /// Returns a new [`Foo`].
+ ///
+ /// # Examples
+ ///
+ // TODO: Find a better example.
+ /// ```
+ /// let foo = f(42);
+ /// ```
+ // FIXME: Use fallible approach.
+ pub fn f(x: i32) -> Foo {
+ // ...
+ }
+
+This applies to both public and private items. This increases consistency with
+public items, allows changes to visibility with less changes involved and will
+allow us to potentially generate the documentation for private items as well.
+In other words, if documentation is written for a private item, then ``///``
+should still be used. For instance:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ /// My private function.
+ // TODO: ...
+ fn f() {}
+
+One special kind of comments are the ``// SAFETY:`` comments. These must appear
+before every ``unsafe`` block, and they explain why the code inside the block is
+correct/sound, i.e. why it cannot trigger undefined behavior in any case, e.g.:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ // SAFETY: `p` is valid by the safety requirements.
+ unsafe { *p = 0; }
+
+``// SAFETY:`` comments are not to be confused with the ``# Safety`` sections
+in code documentation. ``# Safety`` sections specify the contract that callers
+(for functions) or implementors (for traits) need to abide by. ``// SAFETY:``
+comments show why a call (for functions) or implementation (for traits) actually
+respects the preconditions stated in a ``# Safety`` section or the language
+reference.
+
+
+Code documentation
+------------------
+
+Rust kernel code is not documented like C kernel code (i.e. via kernel-doc).
+Instead, the usual system for documenting Rust code is used: the ``rustdoc``
+tool, which uses Markdown (a lightweight markup language).
+
+To learn Markdown, there are many guides available out there. For instance,
+the one at:
+
+ https://commonmark.org/help/
+
+This is how a well-documented Rust function may look like:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ /// Returns the contained [`Some`] value, consuming the `self` value,
+ /// without checking that the value is not [`None`].
+ ///
+ /// # Safety
+ ///
+ /// Calling this method on [`None`] is *[undefined behavior]*.
+ ///
+ /// [undefined behavior]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/behavior-considered-undefined.html
+ ///
+ /// # Examples
+ ///
+ /// ```
+ /// let x = Some("air");
+ /// assert_eq!(unsafe { x.unwrap_unchecked() }, "air");
+ /// ```
+ pub unsafe fn unwrap_unchecked(self) -> T {
+ match self {
+ Some(val) => val,
+
+ // SAFETY: The safety contract must be upheld by the caller.
+ None => unsafe { hint::unreachable_unchecked() },
+ }
+ }
+
+This example showcases a few ``rustdoc`` features and some conventions followed
+in the kernel:
+
+- The first paragraph must be a single sentence briefly describing what
+ the documented item does. Further explanations must go in extra paragraphs.
+
+- Unsafe functions must document their safety preconditions under
+ a ``# Safety`` section.
+
+- While not shown here, if a function may panic, the conditions under which
+ that happens must be described under a ``# Panics`` section.
+
+ Please note that panicking should be very rare and used only with a good
+ reason. In almost all cases, a fallible approach should be used, typically
+ returning a ``Result``.
+
+- If providing examples of usage would help readers, they must be written in
+ a section called ``# Examples``.
+
+- Rust items (functions, types, constants...) must be linked appropriately
+ (``rustdoc`` will create a link automatically).
+
+- Any ``unsafe`` block must be preceded by a ``// SAFETY:`` comment
+ describing why the code inside is sound.
+
+ While sometimes the reason might look trivial and therefore unneeded,
+ writing these comments is not just a good way of documenting what has been
+ taken into account, but most importantly, it provides a way to know that
+ there are no *extra* implicit constraints.
+
+To learn more about how to write documentation for Rust and extra features,
+please take a look at the ``rustdoc`` book at:
+
+ https://doc.rust-lang.org/rustdoc/how-to-write-documentation.html
+
+In addition, the kernel supports creating links relative to the source tree by
+prefixing the link destination with ``srctree/``. For instance:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ //! C header: [`include/linux/printk.h`](srctree/include/linux/printk.h)
+
+or:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ /// [`struct mutex`]: srctree/include/linux/mutex.h
+
+
+C FFI types
+-----------
+
+Rust kernel code refers to C types, such as ``int``, using type aliases such as
+``c_int``, which are readily available from the ``kernel`` prelude. Please do
+not use the aliases from ``core::ffi`` -- they may not map to the correct types.
+
+These aliases should generally be referred directly by their identifier, i.e.
+as a single segment path. For instance:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ fn f(p: *const c_char) -> c_int {
+ // ...
+ }
+
+
+Naming
+------
+
+Rust kernel code follows the usual Rust naming conventions:
+
+ https://rust-lang.github.io/api-guidelines/naming.html
+
+When existing C concepts (e.g. macros, functions, objects...) are wrapped into
+a Rust abstraction, a name as close as reasonably possible to the C side should
+be used in order to avoid confusion and to improve readability when switching
+back and forth between the C and Rust sides. For instance, macros such as
+``pr_info`` from C are named the same in the Rust side.
+
+Having said that, casing should be adjusted to follow the Rust naming
+conventions, and namespacing introduced by modules and types should not be
+repeated in the item names. For instance, when wrapping constants like:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ #define GPIO_LINE_DIRECTION_IN 0
+ #define GPIO_LINE_DIRECTION_OUT 1
+
+The equivalent in Rust may look like (ignoring documentation):
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ pub mod gpio {
+ pub enum LineDirection {
+ In = bindings::GPIO_LINE_DIRECTION_IN as _,
+ Out = bindings::GPIO_LINE_DIRECTION_OUT as _,
+ }
+ }
+
+That is, the equivalent of ``GPIO_LINE_DIRECTION_IN`` would be referred to as
+``gpio::LineDirection::In``. In particular, it should not be named
+``gpio::gpio_line_direction::GPIO_LINE_DIRECTION_IN``.
+
+
+Lints
+-----
+
+In Rust, it is possible to ``allow`` particular warnings (diagnostics, lints)
+locally, making the compiler ignore instances of a given warning within a given
+function, module, block, etc.
+
+It is similar to ``#pragma GCC diagnostic push`` + ``ignored`` + ``pop`` in C
+[#]_:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ #pragma GCC diagnostic push
+ #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-function"
+ static void f(void) {}
+ #pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+
+.. [#] In this particular case, the kernel's ``__{always,maybe}_unused``
+ attributes (C23's ``[[maybe_unused]]``) may be used; however, the example
+ is meant to reflect the equivalent lint in Rust discussed afterwards.
+
+But way less verbose:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ #[allow(dead_code)]
+ fn f() {}
+
+By that virtue, it makes it possible to comfortably enable more diagnostics by
+default (i.e. outside ``W=`` levels). In particular, those that may have some
+false positives but that are otherwise quite useful to keep enabled to catch
+potential mistakes.
+
+On top of that, Rust provides the ``expect`` attribute which takes this further.
+It makes the compiler warn if the warning was not produced. For instance, the
+following will ensure that, when ``f()`` is called somewhere, we will have to
+remove the attribute:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ #[expect(dead_code)]
+ fn f() {}
+
+If we do not, we get a warning from the compiler::
+
+ warning: this lint expectation is unfulfilled
+ --> x.rs:3:10
+ |
+ 3 | #[expect(dead_code)]
+ | ^^^^^^^^^
+ |
+ = note: `#[warn(unfulfilled_lint_expectations)]` on by default
+
+This means that ``expect``\ s do not get forgotten when they are not needed, which
+may happen in several situations, e.g.:
+
+- Temporary attributes added while developing.
+
+- Improvements in lints in the compiler, Clippy or custom tools which may
+ remove a false positive.
+
+- When the lint is not needed anymore because it was expected that it would be
+ removed at some point, such as the ``dead_code`` example above.
+
+It also increases the visibility of the remaining ``allow``\ s and reduces the
+chance of misapplying one.
+
+Thus prefer ``expect`` over ``allow`` unless:
+
+- Conditional compilation triggers the warning in some cases but not others.
+
+ If there are only a few cases where the warning triggers (or does not
+ trigger) compared to the total number of cases, then one may consider using
+ a conditional ``expect`` (i.e. ``cfg_attr(..., expect(...))``). Otherwise,
+ it is likely simpler to just use ``allow``.
+
+- Inside macros, when the different invocations may create expanded code that
+ triggers the warning in some cases but not in others.
+
+- When code may trigger a warning for some architectures but not others, such
+ as an ``as`` cast to a C FFI type.
+
+As a more developed example, consider for instance this program:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ fn g() {}
+
+ fn main() {
+ #[cfg(CONFIG_X)]
+ g();
+ }
+
+Here, function ``g()`` is dead code if ``CONFIG_X`` is not set. Can we use
+``expect`` here?
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ #[expect(dead_code)]
+ fn g() {}
+
+ fn main() {
+ #[cfg(CONFIG_X)]
+ g();
+ }
+
+This would emit a lint if ``CONFIG_X`` is set, since it is not dead code in that
+configuration. Therefore, in cases like this, we cannot use ``expect`` as-is.
+
+A simple possibility is using ``allow``:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ #[allow(dead_code)]
+ fn g() {}
+
+ fn main() {
+ #[cfg(CONFIG_X)]
+ g();
+ }
+
+An alternative would be using a conditional ``expect``:
+
+.. code-block:: rust
+
+ #[cfg_attr(not(CONFIG_X), expect(dead_code))]
+ fn g() {}
+
+ fn main() {
+ #[cfg(CONFIG_X)]
+ g();
+ }
+
+This would ensure that, if someone introduces another call to ``g()`` somewhere
+(e.g. unconditionally), then it would be spotted that it is not dead code
+anymore. However, the ``cfg_attr`` is more complex than a simple ``allow``.
+
+Therefore, it is likely that it is not worth using conditional ``expect``\ s when
+more than one or two configurations are involved or when the lint may be
+triggered due to non-local changes (such as ``dead_code``).
+
+For more information about diagnostics in Rust, please see:
+
+ https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/reference/attributes/diagnostics.html
+
+Error handling
+--------------
+
+For some background and guidelines about Rust for Linux specific error handling,
+please see:
+
+ https://rust.docs.kernel.org/kernel/error/type.Result.html#error-codes-in-c-and-rust