From 9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Paul E. McKenney" Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:43:51 -0700 Subject: Merge branches 'expcb.2026.07.24a', 'misc.2026.07.30a', 'rcu-tasks.2026.07.30a', 'srcu.2026.08.11a' and 'torture.2026.08.14a' into HEAD Changes: Make expedited grace periods expedite normal RCU callbacks Miscellaneous fixes: * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Move from kmalloc() to kmalloc_obj(). * Documentation updates. * Improve handling of RCU deferred quiescent states. * Clean up unused function arguments and structure fields. * Reduce show_rcu_gp_kthreads() stack space. Tasks RCU updates: * Clean up after SRCU re-implementation of Tasks Trace RCU. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Add ->lazy_timer status to diagnostic output. * Remove an unnecessary memory barrier. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Documentation updates. * Convert cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs() from macro to static inline function. SRCU updates: * Add Rust helpers for SRCU. * Avoid losing queued work at cleanup_srcu_struct() time. Torture-test updates: * Preparation work for immediate RCU priority deboosting. * Test RCU readers from real interrupt handlers (as opposed to softirq). * Simplify code through use of cpumask_next_wrap(). * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Add rcutorture.nwriters parameter to allow lightweight stall testing, and rcutorture.stall_only to make doing so easier. * Test an RCU Tasks Trace grace period implying an RCU grace period. * Make RCU Tasks Trace torturing track reader batches. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Plug a shuffle_tmp_mask memory leak on kthread spawn failure. --- Documentation/dev-tools/sparse.rst | 85 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 85 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/dev-tools/sparse.rst (limited to 'Documentation/dev-tools/sparse.rst') diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/sparse.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/sparse.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..37b201708 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/sparse.rst @@ -0,0 +1,85 @@ +.. Copyright 2004 Linus Torvalds +.. Copyright 2004 Pavel Machek +.. Copyright 2006 Bob Copeland + +Sparse +====== + +Sparse is a semantic checker for C programs; it can be used to find a +number of potential problems with kernel code. See +https://lwn.net/Articles/689907/ for an overview of sparse; this document +contains some kernel-specific sparse information. +More information on sparse, mainly about its internals, can be found in +its official pages at https://sparse.docs.kernel.org. + + +Using sparse for typechecking +----------------------------- + +"__bitwise" is a type attribute, so you have to do something like this:: + + typedef int __bitwise pm_request_t; + + enum pm_request { + PM_SUSPEND = (__force pm_request_t) 1, + PM_RESUME = (__force pm_request_t) 2 + }; + +which makes PM_SUSPEND and PM_RESUME "bitwise" integers (the "__force" is +there because sparse will complain about casting to/from a bitwise type, +but in this case we really _do_ want to force the conversion). And because +the enum values are all the same type, now "enum pm_request" will be that +type too. + +And with gcc, all the "__bitwise"/"__force stuff" goes away, and it all +ends up looking just like integers to gcc. + +Quite frankly, you don't need the enum there. The above all really just +boils down to one special "int __bitwise" type. + +So the simpler way is to just do:: + + typedef int __bitwise pm_request_t; + + #define PM_SUSPEND ((__force pm_request_t) 1) + #define PM_RESUME ((__force pm_request_t) 2) + +and you now have all the infrastructure needed for strict typechecking. + +One small note: the constant integer "0" is special. You can use a +constant zero as a bitwise integer type without sparse ever complaining. +This is because "bitwise" (as the name implies) was designed for making +sure that bitwise types don't get mixed up (little-endian vs big-endian +vs cpu-endian vs whatever), and there the constant "0" really _is_ +special. + +Getting sparse +-------------- + +You can get tarballs of the latest released versions from: +https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/sparse/dist/ + +Alternatively, you can get snapshots of the latest development version +of sparse using git to clone:: + + git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/devel/sparse/sparse.git + +Once you have it, just do:: + + make + make install + +as a regular user, and it will install sparse in your ~/bin directory. + +Using sparse +------------ + +Do a kernel make with "make C=1" to run sparse on all the C files that get +recompiled, or use "make C=2" to run sparse on the files whether they need to +be recompiled or not. The latter is a fast way to check the whole tree if you +have already built it. + +The optional make variable CF can be used to pass arguments to sparse. The +build system passes -Wbitwise to sparse automatically. + +Note that sparse defines the __CHECKER__ preprocessor symbol. -- cgit v1.3.1