kernel/scripts/kernel-doc.py, branch 0x221E-v0.0-v7.0

docs: kdoc: move kernel-doc to tools/docs

2026-01-20T22:31:06Z

kernel-doc is the last documentation-related tool still living outside of the tools/docs directory; the time has come to move it over. [mchehab: fixed kdoc lib location] Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Message-ID: <311d17e403524349940a8b12de6b5e91e554b1f4.1768823489.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>

docs: kdoc: some fixes to kernel-doc comments

2026-01-20T22:31:06Z

There are some typos and English errors in the comments of kernel‑doc.py. Locate them with the help of an LLM (gpt‑oss 14B), executed locally with this prompt: review English grammar and syntax at the comments on the code below: While LLM worked fine for the task of doing an English grammar review for strings, being able to distinguish them from the actual code, it was not is perfect: some things required manual work to fix. - While here, replace: "/**" with: ``/**`` As, if we ever rename this script to kernel_doc.py and add it to Sphinx ext autodoc, we want to avoid this warning: scripts/kernel_doc.py:docstring of kernel_doc:10: WARNING: Inline strong start-string without end-string. [docutils] Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Message-ID:

docs: kdoc: ensure that comments are using our coding style

2026-01-20T22:31:06Z

Along kernel-doc libs, we opted to have all comments starting/ending with a blank comment line. Use the same style here. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Message-ID: <50e430acd333a500719205e80ab3b2d297edcd7d.1768823489.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>

docs: kdoc: avoid error_count overflows

2026-01-20T22:31:05Z

The glibc library limits the return code to 8 bits. We need to stick to this limit when using sys.exit(error_count). Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Message-ID: <233d1674db99ed8feb405a2f781de350f0fba0ac.1768823489.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>

docs: bring some order to our Python module hierarchy

2025-11-18T16:22:40Z

Now that we have tools/lib/python for our Python modules, turn them into proper packages with a single namespace so that everything can just use tools/lib/python in sys.path. No functional change. Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Message-ID: <20251110220430.726665-3-corbet@lwn.net>

docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python

2025-11-18T16:22:40Z

"scripts/lib" was always a bit of an awkward place for Python modules. We already have tools/lib; create a tools/lib/python, move the libraries there, and update the users accordingly. While at it, move the contents of tools/docs/lib. Rather than make another directory, just put these documentation-oriented modules under "kdoc". Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Message-ID: <20251110220430.726665-2-corbet@lwn.net>

docs: kernel-doc: avoid script crash on ancient Python

2025-08-11T16:54:29Z

While we do need at least 3.6 for kernel-doc to work, and at least 3.7 for it to output functions and structs with parameters at the right order, let the python binary be compatible with legacy versions. The rationale is that the Kernel build nowadays calls kernel-doc with -none on some places. Better not to bail out when older versions are found. With that, potentially this will run with python 2.7 and 3.2+, according with vermin: $ vermin --no-tips -v ./scripts/kernel-doc Detecting python files.. Analyzing using 24 processes.. 2.7, 3.2 /new_devel/v4l/docs/scripts/kernel-doc Minimum required versions: 2.7, 3.2 3.2 minimal requirement is due to argparse. The minimal version I could check was version 3.4 (using anaconda). Anaconda doesn't support 3.2 or 3.3 anymore, and 3.2 doesn't even compile (I tested compiling Python 3.2 on Fedora 42 and on Fedora 32 - no show). With 3.4, the script didn't crash and emitted the right warning: $ conda create -n py34 python=3.4 $ conda activate py34 python --version Python 3.4.5 $ python ./scripts/kernel-doc --none include/media Error: Python 3.6 or later is required by kernel-doc $ conda deactivate $ python --version Python 3.13.5 $ python ./scripts/kernel-doc --none include/media (no warnings and script ran properly) Supporting 2.7 is out of scope, as it is EOL for 5 years, and changing shebang to point to "python" instead of "python3" would have a wider impact. I did some extra checks about the differences from 3.2 and 3.4, and didn't find anything that would cause troubles: grep -rE "yield from|asyncio|pathlib|async|await|enum" scripts/kernel-doc Also, it doesn't use "@" operator. So, I'm confident that it should run (producing the exit warning) since Python 3.2. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/87d55e76b0b1391cb7a83e3e965dbddb83fa9786.1753806485.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org

docs: kernel-doc: emit warnings for ancient versions of Python

2025-07-17T21:29:53Z

Kernel-doc requires at least version 3.6 to run, as it uses f-string. Yet, Kernel build currently calls kernel-doc with -none on some places. Better not to bail out when older versions are found. Versions of Python prior to 3.7 do not guarantee to remember the insertion order of dicts; since kernel-doc depends on that guarantee, running with such older versions could result in output with reordered sections. Check Python version when called via command line. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/7d7fa3a3aa1fafa0cc9ea29c889de4c7d377dca6.1752218291.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org

scripts/kernel_doc.py: better handle exported symbols

2025-04-09T18:10:34Z

Change the logic which detects internal/external symbols in a way that we can re-use it when calling via Sphinx extension. While here, remove an unused self.config var and let it clearer that self.config variables are read-only. This helps to allow handling multiple times in parallel if ever needed. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/6a69ba8d2b7ee6a6427abb53e60d09bd4d3565ee.1744106242.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org

scripts/kernel-doc.py: Properly handle Werror and exit codes

2025-04-09T18:10:34Z

The original kernel-doc script has a logic to return warnings as errors, and to report the number of warnings found, if in verbose mode. Implement it to be fully compatible with the original script. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/de33b0cebd9fdf82d8b221bcfe41db7269286222.1744106242.git.mchehab+huawei@kernel.org