Several drivers express optional Kconfig dependency with FOO || !FOO, but for many choices this is not suitable: lack of stubs for !FOO like in HWMON. Describe the second, less favorable way of optional dependency with IS_REACHABLE by moving the code from "imply" chapter to "Optional dependencies". Cc: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@xxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@xxxxxxxxxx> --- Changes in v3: 1. Significant rewrite to mark IS_REACHABLE as less favorable. Changes in v2: 1. Replace FOO->BAR 2. Instead of referencing earlier "imply", move the code here and add more text (Masahiro) --- Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst | 29 ++++++++++++++--------- 1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst index 2619fdf56e68..c8c20a34525e 100644 --- a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst +++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst @@ -194,16 +194,6 @@ applicable everywhere (see syntax). ability to hook into a secondary subsystem while allowing the user to configure that subsystem out without also having to unset these drivers. - Note: If the combination of FOO=y and BAZ=m causes a link error, - you can guard the function call with IS_REACHABLE():: - - foo_init() - { - if (IS_REACHABLE(CONFIG_BAZ)) - baz_register(&foo); - ... - } - Note: If the feature provided by BAZ is highly desirable for FOO, FOO should imply not only BAZ, but also its dependency BAR:: @@ -588,7 +578,9 @@ uses the slightly counterintuitive:: depends on BAR || !BAR This means that there is either a dependency on BAR that disallows -the combination of FOO=y with BAR=m, or BAR is completely disabled. +the combination of FOO=y with BAR=m, or BAR is completely disabled. The BAR +module must provide all the stubs for !BAR case. + For a more formalized approach if there are multiple drivers that have the same dependency, a helper symbol can be used, like:: @@ -599,6 +591,21 @@ the same dependency, a helper symbol can be used, like:: config BAR_OPTIONAL def_tristate BAR || !BAR +Much less favorable way to express optional dependency is IS_REACHABLE() within +the module code, useful for example when the module BAR does not provide +!BAR stubs:: + + foo_init() + { + if (IS_REACHABLE(CONFIG_BAR)) + bar_register(&foo); + ... + } + +IS_REACHABLE() is generally discouraged, because the code will be silently +discarded, when CONFIG_BAR=m and this code is built-in. This is not what users +usually expect when enabling BAR as module. + Kconfig recursive dependency limitations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- 2.43.0