A kernel janitorial task could be to remove blocks of code like: #ifdef CONFIG_<FOO> ... #endif where the config <FOO> symbol is not used in any Kconfig file. Here is a trivial script to find these apparently unused Kconfig entries that are in #ifdef CONFIG_<FOO> blocks and its current output of -next. An example removal is: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/997c0cdbd57752252d87129185a973c7d42e491f.camel@xxxxxxxxxxx/T/#u Be aware that some of the entries below are false positives. For instance 1: CONFIG_X86_X32_ABI which is defined and exported in arch/x86/Makefile:export CONFIG_X86_X32_ABI And it's possible other entries are typos of actual Kconfig symbols. For instance 2: CONFIG_CPU_HAS_FP is likely a typo of CONFIG_CPU_HAS_FPU arch/csky/kernel/traps.c:#ifdef CONFIG_CPU_HAS_FPU arch/csky/kernel/traps.c:#ifdef CONFIG_CPU_HAS_FPU arch/csky/kernel/traps.c:#ifdef CONFIG_CPU_HAS_FP arch/csky/kernel/traps.c:#ifdef CONFIG_CPU_HAS_FP But some of the referenced #ifdef blocks in the kernel source tree could be completely removed. Some of these entries are leftovers from code that once was enabled, others are just entries that were never possible to enable. $ git grep -P '^\s*#\s*if(?:def\s+|\s+defined\s*\(?\s*)CONFIG_[A-Z0-9_]+' | \ grep -oh -P '\bCONFIG_[A-Z0-9_]+\b' | \ sort | sed -e 's/^CONFIG_//' -e 's/_MODULE$//' | uniq | \ while read config ; do \ echo CONFIG_$config; \ git grep -w $config -- '*/Kconfig*' | \ wc -l; \ done | \ grep -B1 '^0' CONFIG_ACORNSCSI_CONSTANTS 0 -- CONFIG_AS_CFI_VAL_OFFSET 0 -- CONFIG_ASYNC_TX_CHANNEL_SWITCH 0 -- CONFIG_B43_PCMCIA 0 -- CONFIG_BAND_CBAND 0 CONFIG_BAND_LBAND 0 CONFIG_BAND_SBAND 0 CONFIG_BAND_UHF 0 CONFIG_BAND_VHF 0 -- CONFIG_CAAM_QI 0 -- CONFIG_COMET_EARLY_UART_DEBUG 0 -- CONFIG_CPU_H300H 0 -- CONFIG_CPU_HAS_FP 0 -- CONFIG_CPU_SUBTYPE_ST40 0 -- CONFIG_DBX500_PRCMU_QOS_POWER 0 -- CONFIG_DEBUG_LL_SER3 0 -- CONFIG_DEBUG_SHIRQ_FIXME 0 -- CONFIG_DEBUG_ZTE_ZX 0 -- CONFIG_DIO_CONSTANTS 0 -- CONFIG_DRM_AMD_DC_DMUB 0 -- CONFIG_EXTRA_DEBUG_CHECKS 0 -- CONFIG_FSCACHE_OBJECT_LIST 0 -- CONFIG_FSL_DPA_PIRQ_FAST 0 CONFIG_FSL_DPA_PIRQ_SLOW 0 -- CONFIG_FUSION_MAX_FC_SGE 0 -- CONFIG_HP_HOOK_WORKAROUND 0 -- CONFIG_IEEE80211_DEBUG 0 -- CONFIG_IMX_GPT_ICAP 0 -- CONFIG_IPX_INTERN 0 CONFIG_IRDA 0 -- CONFIG_LMC_IGNORE_HARDWARE_HANDSHAKE 0 -- CONFIG_MY_KUNIT_TEST 0 -- CONFIG_NCR53C8XX_PREFETCH 0 -- CONFIG_NET_FUNKINESS 0 -- CONFIG_NILFS_POSIX_ACL 0 CONFIG_NILFS_XATTR 0 -- CONFIG_NOUVEAU_I2C_INTERNAL 0 -- CONFIG_OLPC_XO1_5_SCI 0 -- CONFIG_OPEN_FPU_DZE 0 CONFIG_OPEN_FPU_IDE 0 CONFIG_OPEN_FPU_IOE 0 CONFIG_OPEN_FPU_IXE 0 CONFIG_OPEN_FPU_OFE 0 CONFIG_OPEN_FPU_UFE 0 -- CONFIG_PAGE_SIZE_1MB 0 -- CONFIG_PINCTRL_DB8540 0 -- CONFIG_PM_SUSPEND 0 -- CONFIG_PPC_EARLY_DEBUG_MICROWATT 0 -- CONFIG_PXA_FICP 0 -- CONFIG_SA1100_CT6001 0 -- CONFIG_SBMAC_COALESCE 0 -- CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_DISABLE_MPARITY_CHECK 0 CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_DISABLE_PARITY_CHECK 0 CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_FORCE_SYNC_NEGO 0 CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_IARB 0 CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_INTEGRITY_CHECK 0 -- CONFIG_SCSI_NCR53C8XX_NO_WORD_TRANSFERS 0 -- CONFIG_SGI_IP35 0 -- CONFIG_SOC_SAMA7 0 -- CONFIG_SOMETHING 0 -- CONFIG_SSB_DEBUG 0 -- CONFIG_STANDARD_DAB 0 CONFIG_STANDARD_DVBT 0 -- CONFIG_SYS_ISDBT 0 -- CONFIG_TASKS_RCU_TRACE 0 -- CONFIG_TUNER_DIB0090_P1B_SUPPORT 0 -- CONFIG_UM 0 -- CONFIG_WD33C93_PIO 0 -- CONFIG_X86_X32_ABI 0
