Hi, Configuring a kernel requires a forward enabling approach where one enables each option one needs at a time. If one enables an option that selects other options, these options are no longer de-selectable by design. Likewise, if one has enabled an option which creates a conflict with a secondary option one wishes to enable, one cannot easily enable that secondary option, unless one is willing to spend time analyzing the dependencies that led to this conflict. Sometimes, these conflicts are not easy to understand [0,1]. This patch series (for linux-next) provides support to enable users to express their desired target configuration and display possible resolutions to their conflicts. This support is provided within xconfig. Conflict resolution is provided by translating kconfig's configuration option tree to a propositional formula, and then allowing our resolution algorithm, which uses a SAT solver (picosat, implemented in C) calculate the possible fixes for an expressed target kernel configuration. New UI extensions are made to xconfig with panes and buttons to allow users to express new desired target options, calculate fixes, and apply any of found solutions. We created a separate test infrastructure that we used to validate the correctness of the suggestions made. It shows that our resolution algorithm resolves around 95% of the conflicts. We plan to incorporate this with a later patch series. We envision that our translation of the kconfig option tree into a propositional formula could potentially also later be repurposed to address other problems. An example is checking the consistency between the use of ifdefs and logic expressed in kconfig files. We suspect that this could, for example, help avoid invalid kconfig configurations and help with ifdef maintenance. You can see a YouTube video demonstrating this work [2]. This effort is part of the kernelnewbies Kconfig-SAT project [3], the approach and effort is also explained in detail in our paper [4]. The results from the evaluation have significantly improved since then: Around 80 % of the conflicts could be resolved, and 99.9 % of the generated fixes resolved the conflict. It is also our attempt at contributing back to the kernel community, whose configurator researchers studied a lot. Patches applicable to next-20241025. [0] https://gsd.uwaterloo.ca/sites/default/files/vamos12-survey.pdf [1] https://www.linux-magazine.com/Issues/2021/244/Kconfig-Deep-Dive [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn2JgK_PTbc [3] https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelProjects/kconfig-sat [4] http://www.cse.chalmers.se/~bergert/paper/2021-icseseip-configfix.pdf Thanks from the team! (and thanks to Luis Chamberlain for guiding us here) Co-developed-by: Patrick Franz <deltaone@xxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Patrick Franz <deltaone@xxxxxxxxxx> Co-developed-by: Ibrahim Fayaz <phayax@xxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Ibrahim Fayaz <phayax@xxxxxxxxx> Reviewed-by: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@xxxxxxxxxx> Tested-by: Evgeny Groshev <eugene.groshev@xxxxxxxxx> Suggested-by: Sarah Nadi <nadi@xxxxxxxxxxx> Suggested-by: Thorsten Berger <thorsten.berger@xxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Thorsten Berger <thorsten.berger@xxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Ole Schuerks <ole0811sch@xxxxxxxxx> Changelog v6: * remove script for manually installing PicoSAT * adapt documentation and help text in the GUI accordingly * convert Qt signal/slot connects to new style Changelog v5: * use lists from scripts/include/list.h * use PicoSAT as a dynamically loaded library * Fix GUI bug that made the displayed tables editable * Allow cycling through the desired values of a symbol in the conflict view in the GUI by clicking on the cell * Fix usage of "NO" instead of "N" etc. in some places in the GUI * Improve function naming * Add documentation * Simlify xcalloc to xmalloc in some places * Fix allocation bug in fexpr_add_to_satmap() and init_data() * Remove functions pexpr_eliminate_dups() and print_expr() Ole Schuerks (11): kconfig: Add PicoSAT interface kbuild: Add list_size, list_at_index, list_for_each_from kconfig: Add definitions kconfig: Add files for building constraints kconfig: Add files for handling expressions kconfig: Add files for RangeFix kconfig: Add files with utility functions kconfig: Add tools kconfig: Add xconfig-modifications kconfig: Add loader.gif kconfig: Add documentation for the conflict resolver Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst | 56 + scripts/include/list.h | 49 + scripts/kconfig/.gitignore | 1 + scripts/kconfig/Makefile | 11 +- scripts/kconfig/cf_constraints.c | 1779 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ scripts/kconfig/cf_constraints.h | 24 + scripts/kconfig/cf_defs.h | 391 ++++++ scripts/kconfig/cf_expr.c | 2003 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ scripts/kconfig/cf_expr.h | 181 +++ scripts/kconfig/cf_rangefix.c | 1136 +++++++++++++++ scripts/kconfig/cf_rangefix.h | 21 + scripts/kconfig/cf_utils.c | 980 +++++++++++++ scripts/kconfig/cf_utils.h | 112 ++ scripts/kconfig/cfoutconfig.c | 149 ++ scripts/kconfig/configfix.c | 351 +++++ scripts/kconfig/configfix.h | 31 + scripts/kconfig/expr.h | 17 + scripts/kconfig/loader.gif | Bin 0 -> 4177 bytes scripts/kconfig/picosat_functions.c | 74 + scripts/kconfig/picosat_functions.h | 35 + scripts/kconfig/qconf.cc | 676 ++++++++- scripts/kconfig/qconf.h | 111 ++ 22 files changed, 8184 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_constraints.c create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_constraints.h create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_defs.h create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_expr.c create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_expr.h create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_rangefix.c create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_rangefix.h create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_utils.c create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cf_utils.h create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/cfoutconfig.c create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/configfix.c create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/configfix.h create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/loader.gif create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/picosat_functions.c create mode 100644 scripts/kconfig/picosat_functions.h -- 2.39.5
