Intro: Smatch is a C static checker with a lot of kernel specific checks. You can download it from: http://repo.or.cz/w/smatch.git. Or if you prefer a github mirror, then you can download it from https://github.com/error27/smatch The last time I made a release was in 2015. https://lwn.net/Articles/629250/ There have been over two thousand patches to Smatch in the past six years but it's hard to point to any one thing as standing out. One thing I'm happy about is that Smatch is now much better at tracking user controlled data. Another thing which I can mention that I re-wrote check_locking.c and wrote a blog entry about it: https://blogs.oracle.com/linux/writing-the-ultimate-locking-check The uninitialized variable warning that was mentioned in the relase notes six years ago is more important than ever now that we have disabled the GCC warning for uninitialized variables. I really suggest that people do add Smatch to their QC process. You don't have to have the full cross function database built. Just do: ~/path/to/smatch/smatch_scripts/kchecker drivers/file.c You could also just build a sub directory: ~/path/to/smatch/smatch_scripts/kchecker drivers/subdir/ If you don't use Smatch, that's fine as well because kbuild bot will catch it or someone else will. But probably it saves time for everyone if developers run it themselves. Building the cross function database is also really useful. The ~/path/to/smatch/smatch_data/db/smdb.py script is helpful to understand how function pointers are called or where struct members are set. Building the database takes a long time to run but it's simple to do: ~/path/to/smatch/smatch_scripts/build_kernel_data.sh And to test the whole kernel the command is: ~/path/to/smatch/smatch_scripts/test_kernel.sh This is kind of a weird release because it's been so long since the previous release. I'm hoping to do more regular releases with better release notes. Releases are good because hopefully more people will do a fresh pull and send me bug reports. :) regards, dan carpenter
