linux.git/Documentation/process/changes.rst, branch v6.18.21

Merge tag 'docs-6.18' of git://git.lwn.net/linux

2025-10-04T00:16:13+00:00

Pull documentation updates from Jonathan Corbet:
 "It has been a relatively busy cycle in docsland, with changes all
  over:

   - Bring the kernel memory-model docs into the Sphinx build in the
     "literal include" mode.

   - Lots of build-infrastructure work, further cleaning up long-term
     kernel-doc technical debt. The sphinx-pre-install tool has been
     converted to Python and updated for current systems.

   - A new tool to detect when documents have been moved and generate
     HTML redirects; this can be used on kernel.org (or any other site
     hosting the rendered docs) to avoid breaking links.

   - Automated processing of the YAML files describing the netlink
     protocol.

   - A significant update of the maintainer's PGP guide.

  ... and a seemingly endless series of typo fixes, build-problem fixes,
  etc"

* tag 'docs-6.18' of git://git.lwn.net/linux: (193 commits)
  Documentation/features: Update feature lists for 6.17-rc7
  docs: remove cdomain.py
  Documentation/process: submitting-patches: fix typo in "were do"
  docs: dev-tools/lkmm: Fix typo of missing file extension
  Documentation: trace: histogram: Convert ftrace docs cross-reference
  Documentation: trace: histogram-design: Wrap introductory note in note:: directive
  Documentation: trace: historgram-design: Separate sched_waking histogram section heading and the following diagram
  Documentation: trace: histogram-design: Trim trailing vertices in diagram explanation text
  Documentation: trace: histogram: Fix histogram trigger subsection number order
  docs: driver-api: fix spelling of "buses".
  Documentation: fbcon: Use admonition directives
  Documentation: fbcon: Reindent 8th step of attach/detach/unload
  Documentation: fbcon: Add boot options and attach/detach/unload section headings
  docs: filesystems: sysfs: add remaining top level sysfs directory descriptions
  docs: filesystems: sysfs: clarify symlink destinations in dev and bus/devices descriptions
  docs: filesystems: sysfs: remove top level sysfs net directory
  docs: maintainer: Fix ambiguous subheading formatting
  docs: kdoc: a few more dump_typedef() tweaks
  docs: kdoc: remove redundant comment stripping in dump_typedef()
  docs: kdoc: remove some dead code in dump_typedef()
  ...

kbuild: Bump minimum version of LLVM for building the kernel to 15.0.0

2025-08-28T23:58:43+00:00

s390 and x86 have required LLVM 15 since

  30d17fac6aae ("scripts/min-tool-version.sh: raise minimum clang version to 15.0.0 for s390")
  7861640aac52 ("x86/build: Raise the minimum LLVM version to 15.0.0")

respectively but most other architectures allow LLVM 13.0.1 or newer. In
accordance with the recent minimum supported version of GCC bump that
happened in

  118c40b7b503 ("kbuild: require gcc-8 and binutils-2.30")

do the same for LLVM to 15.0.0.

Of the supported releases of Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, and OpenSUSE
surveyed in evaluating this bump, this only leaves behind Debian
Bookworm (14.0.6) and Ubuntu Jammy (14.0.0). Debian Trixie has 19.1.7
and Ubuntu Noble has 18.1.3 (so there are viable upgrade paths) or users
can use apt.llvm.org, which provides even newer packages for those
distributions.

Reviewed-by: Kees Cook 
Acked-by: Arnd Bergmann 
Acked-by: Nicolas Schier 
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250821-bump-min-llvm-ver-15-v2-1-635f3294e5f0@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Nathan Chancellor

docs: changes: better document Python needs

2025-08-11T16:54:29+00:00

Python is listed as an optional dependency, but this is not
true, as:

1) arm (multi_v7_defconfig and other defconfigs) and arm64 defconfig
   needs it due to DRM_MSM dependencies;

2) CONFIG_LTO_CLANG runs a python script at scripts/Makefile.vmlinux_o;

3) kernel-doc is called during compilation when some DRM options
   like CONFIG_DRM_I915_WERROR are enabled;

4) allyesconfig/allmodconfig will enable CONFIG_* dependencies
   that needs it;

5) besides DRM, other subsystems seem to have logic calling *.py
   scripts.

So, better document that and change the dependency from optional
to mandatory to reflect the current needs.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab 
Acked-by: Rob Herring (Arm) 
Acked-by: Akira Yokosawa 
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet 
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/b03b95b8d09358e81e4f27942839191f49b0ba80.1753806485.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org

docs: Remove reiserfsprogs from dependencies.

2025-06-09T20:53:16+00:00

The reiserfsprogs package is no longer needed since ReiserFS was removed
in Linux 6.13. Furthermore, the package is no longer maintained.

Signed-off-by: Collin Funk 
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet 
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/2d6b194b33e8aacd12999b6ddfe21b5753c1171c.1749352106.git.collin.funk1@gmail.com

Documentation: update binutils-2.30 version reference

2025-05-16T08:10:02+00:00

The change to binutils-2.30 missed one reference in the Documentation
that needs to be updated to match.

Reported-by: Eric Biggers 
Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann

kbuild: require gcc-8 and binutils-2.30

2025-04-30T19:53:35+00:00

Commit a3e8fe814ad1 ("x86/build: Raise the minimum GCC version to 8.1")
raised the minimum compiler version as enforced by Kbuild to gcc-8.1
and clang-15 for x86.

This is actually the same gcc version that has been discussed as the
minimum for all architectures several times in the past, with little
objection. A previous concern was the kernel for SLE15-SP7 needing to
be built with gcc-7. As this ended up still using linux-6.4 and there
is no plan for an SP8, this is no longer a problem.

Change it for all architectures and adjust the documentation accordingly.
A few version checks can be removed in the process.  The binutils
version 2.30 is the lowest version used in combination with gcc-8 on
common distros, so use that as the corresponding minimum.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20240925150059.3955569-32-ardb+git@google.com/
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/871q7yxrgv.wl-tiwai@suse.de/
Acked-by: Mark Rutland 
Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann

docs: changes: update Python minimal version

2025-02-13T18:33:32+00:00

The current minimal version doesn't match what we have currently
at the Kernel:

	$ vermin -v  $(git ls-files *.py)
	...
	Minimum required versions: 3.10
	Incompatible versions:     2

Those are the Python scripts requiring versions higher than current minimal (3.5):

        !2, 3.10     tools/net/sunrpc/xdrgen/generators/__init__.py
        !2, 3.10     tools/net/sunrpc/xdrgen/generators/program.py
        !2, 3.10     tools/net/sunrpc/xdrgen/subcmds/source.py
        !2, 3.10     tools/net/sunrpc/xdrgen/xdr_ast.py
        !2, 3.10     tools/power/cpupower/bindings/python/test_raw_pylibcpupower.py
        !2, 3.9      tools/testing/selftests/net/rds/test.py
        !2, 3.9      tools/net/ynl/ethtool.py
        !2, 3.9      tools/net/ynl/cli.py
        !2, 3.9      scripts/checktransupdate.py
        !2, 3.8      tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/plugin-lib/nsPlugin.py
        !2, 3.8      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/base.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/selftests/turbostat/smi_aperf_mperf.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/selftests/turbostat/defcolumns.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/selftests/turbostat/added_perf_counters.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/conftest.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/kunit/qemu_config.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/kunit/kunit_tool_test.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/kunit/kunit.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/kunit/kunit_parser.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/kunit/kunit_kernel.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/kunit/kunit_json.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/testing/kunit/kunit_config.py
        !2, 3.7      tools/perf/scripts/python/gecko.py
        !2, 3.7      scripts/rust_is_available_test.py
        !2, 3.7      scripts/bpf_doc.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/writeback/wb_monitor.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/workqueue/wq_monitor.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/workqueue/wq_dump.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/usb/p9_fwd.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/tracing/rtla/sample/timerlat_load.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/net/openvswitch/ovs-dpctl.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/net/nl_netdev.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/net/lib/py/ynl.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/net/lib/py/utils.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/net/lib/py/nsim.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/net/lib/py/netns.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/net/lib/py/ksft.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/kselftest/ksft.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/test_tablet.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/test_sony.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/test_multitouch.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/test_mouse.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/base_gamepad.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/hid/tests/base_device.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/stats.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/shaper.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/queues.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/ping.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/lib/py/remote_ssh.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/lib/py/load.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/lib/py/__init__.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/lib/py/env.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/rss_ctx.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/pp_alloc_fail.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/nic_performance.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/nic_link_layer.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/lib/py/linkconfig.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/lib/py/__init__.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/devmem.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/devlink_port_split.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/drivers/net/hw/csum.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/devices/probe/test_discoverable_devices.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/bpf/test_bpftool_synctypes.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/selftests/bpf/generate_udp_fragments.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/kunit/run_checks.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/testing/kunit/kunit_printer.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/sched_ext/scx_show_state.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/tests/shell/lib/perf_metric_validation.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/tests/shell/lib/perf_json_output_lint.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/scripts/python/parallel-perf.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/scripts/python/flamegraph.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/scripts/python/arm-cs-trace-disasm.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/pmu-events/models.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/pmu-events/metric_test.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/pmu-events/metric.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/perf/pmu-events/jevents.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/net/ynl/ynl-gen-rst.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/net/ynl/ynl-gen-c.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/net/ynl/lib/ynl.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/net/ynl/lib/nlspec.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/crypto/tcrypt/tcrypt_speed_compare.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/cgroup/iocost_monitor.py
        !2, 3.6      tools/cgroup/iocost_coef_gen.py
        !2, 3.6      scripts/make_fit.py
        !2, 3.6      scripts/macro_checker.py
        !2, 3.6      scripts/get_abi.py
        !2, 3.6      scripts/generate_rust_analyzer.py
        !2, 3.6      scripts/gdb/linux/timerlist.py
        !2, 3.6      scripts/gdb/linux/pgtable.py
        !2, 3.6      scripts/clang-tools/run-clang-tools.py
        !2, 3.6      Documentation/sphinx/automarkup.py

Even if we exclude tools/net/sunrpc/xdrgen/, the minimal version is
Python 3.9.

Update process/changes to reflect the current minimal version required to
run Python scripts outside tools.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab 
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook 
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet 
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/34dda7a5a75f30380d95d8e85a8813be98dc72fe.1739254187.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org

docs: changes: update Sphinx minimal version to 3.4.3

2025-02-13T18:33:32+00:00

Doing that allows us to get rid of all backward-compatible code.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab 
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook 
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet 
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/d79e357468c20d86913e9e343d785398f728aabb.1739254187.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org

kheaders: use 'tar' instead of 'cpio' for copying files

2025-01-10T14:01:22+00:00

The 'cpio' command is used solely for copying header files to the
temporary directory. However, there is no strong reason to use 'cpio'
for this purpose. For example, scripts/package/install-extmod-build
uses the 'tar' command to copy files.

This commit replaces the use of 'cpio' with 'tar' because 'tar' is
already used in this script to generate kheaders_data.tar.xz anyway.

Performance-wide, there is no significant difference between 'cpio'
and 'tar'.

[Before]

  $ rm -fr kheaders; mkdir kheaders
  $ time sh -c '
  for f in include arch/x86/include
  do
          find "$f" -name "*.h"
  done | cpio --quiet -pd kheaders
  '
  real    0m0.148s
  user    0m0.021s
  sys     0m0.140s

[After]

  $ rm -fr kheaders; mkdir kheaders
  $ time sh -c '
  for f in include arch/x86/include
  do
          find "$f" -name "*.h"
  done | tar -c -f - -T - | tar -xf - -C kheaders
  '
  real    0m0.098s
  user    0m0.024s
  sys     0m0.131s

Revert commit 69ef0920bdd3 ("Docs: Add cpio requirement to changes.rst")
because 'cpio' is not used anywhere else during the kernel build.
Please note that the built-in initramfs is created by the in-tree tool,
usr/gen_init_cpio, so it does not rely on the external 'cpio' command
at all.

Remove 'cpio' from the package build dependencies as well.

Signed-off-by: Masahiro Yamada

docs:process:changes: fix version command for btrfs-progs

2024-10-14T19:19:33+00:00

The command given in the changes.rst document to check the version of
btrfs-progs is:
-> btrfsck
which does not output the version, and according to manual page of the
btrfs-progs the command to check the version of btrfs-progs is:
-> btrfs --version

Add a fix changing the command to check the version of btrfs-progs.

Signed-off-by: Nihar Chaithanya 
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet 
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20241012141425.11852-1-niharchaithanya@gmail.com