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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-macro-language.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-macro-language.txt b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-macro-language.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..07da2ea68dce --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-macro-language.txt @@ -0,0 +1,242 @@ +Concept +------- + +The basic idea was inspired by Make. When we look at Make, we notice sort of +two languages in one. One language describes dependency graphs consisting of +targets and prerequisites. The other is a macro language for performing textual +substitution. + +There is clear distinction between the two language stages. For example, you +can write a makefile like follows: + + APP := foo + SRC := foo.c + CC := gcc + + $(APP): $(SRC) + $(CC) -o $(APP) $(SRC) + +The macro language replaces the variable references with their expanded form, +and handles as if the source file were input like follows: + + foo: foo.c + gcc -o foo foo.c + +Then, Make analyzes the dependency graph and determines the targets to be +updated. + +The idea is quite similar in Kconfig - it is possible to describe a Kconfig +file like this: + + CC := gcc + + config CC_HAS_FOO + def_bool $(shell, $(srctree)/scripts/gcc-check-foo.sh $(CC)) + +The macro language in Kconfig processes the source file into the following +intermediate: + + config CC_HAS_FOO + def_bool y + +Then, Kconfig moves onto the evaluation stage to resolve inter-symbol +dependency as explained in kconfig-language.txt. + + +Variables +--------- + +Like in Make, a variable in Kconfig works as a macro variable. A macro +variable is expanded "in place" to yield a text string that may then be +expanded further. To get the value of a variable, enclose the variable name in +$( ). The parentheses are required even for single-letter variable names; $X is +a syntax error. The curly brace form as in ${CC} is not supported either. + +There are two types of variables: simply expanded variables and recursively +expanded variables. + +A simply expanded variable is defined using the := assignment operator. Its +righthand side is expanded immediately upon reading the line from the Kconfig +file. + +A recursively expanded variable is defined using the = assignment operator. +Its righthand side is simply stored as the value of the variable without +expanding it in any way. Instead, the expansion is performed when the variable +is used. + +There is another type of assignment operator; += is used to append text to a +variable. The righthand side of += is expanded immediately if the lefthand +side was originally defined as a simple variable. Otherwise, its evaluation is +deferred. + +The variable reference can take parameters, in the following form: + + $(name,arg1,arg2,arg3) + +You can consider the parameterized reference as a function. (more precisely, +"user-defined function" in contrast to "built-in function" listed below). + +Useful functions must be expanded when they are used since the same function is +expanded differently if different parameters are passed. Hence, a user-defined +function is defined using the = assignment operator. The parameters are +referenced within the body definition with $(1), $(2), etc. + +In fact, recursively expanded variables and user-defined functions are the same +internally. (In other words, "variable" is "function with zero argument".) +When we say "variable" in a broad sense, it includes "user-defined function". + + +Built-in functions +------------------ + +Like Make, Kconfig provides several built-in functions. Every function takes a +particular number of arguments. + +In Make, every built-in function takes at least one argument. Kconfig allows +zero argument for built-in functions, such as $(fileno), $(lineno). You could +consider those as "built-in variable", but it is just a matter of how we call +it after all. Let's say "built-in function" here to refer to natively supported +functionality. + +Kconfig currently supports the following built-in functions. + + - $(shell,command) + + The "shell" function accepts a single argument that is expanded and passed + to a subshell for execution. The standard output of the command is then read + and returned as the value of the function. Every newline in the output is + replaced with a space. Any trailing newlines are deleted. The standard error + is not returned, nor is any program exit status. + + - $(info,text) + + The "info" function takes a single argument and prints it to stdout. + It evaluates to an empty string. + + - $(warning-if,condition,text) + + The "warning-if" function takes two arguments. If the condition part is "y", + the text part is sent to stderr. The text is prefixed with the name of the + current Kconfig file and the current line number. + + - $(error-if,condition,text) + + The "error-if" function is similar to "warning-if", but it terminates the + parsing immediately if the condition part is "y". + + - $(filename) + + The 'filename' takes no argument, and $(filename) is expanded to the file + name being parsed. + + - $(lineno) + + The 'lineno' takes no argument, and $(lineno) is expanded to the line number + being parsed. + + +Make vs Kconfig +--------------- + +Kconfig adopts Make-like macro language, but the function call syntax is +slightly different. + +A function call in Make looks like this: + + $(func-name arg1,arg2,arg3) + +The function name and the first argument are separated by at least one +whitespace. Then, leading whitespaces are trimmed from the first argument, +while whitespaces in the other arguments are kept. You need to use a kind of +trick to start the first parameter with spaces. For example, if you want +to make "info" function print " hello", you can write like follows: + + empty := + space := $(empty) $(empty) + $(info $(space)$(space)hello) + +Kconfig uses only commas for delimiters, and keeps all whitespaces in the +function call. Some people prefer putting a space after each comma delimiter: + + $(func-name, arg1, arg2, arg3) + +In this case, "func-name" will receive " arg1", " arg2", " arg3". The presence +of leading spaces may matter depending on the function. The same applies to +Make - for example, $(subst .c, .o, $(sources)) is a typical mistake; it +replaces ".c" with " .o". + +In Make, a user-defined function is referenced by using a built-in function, +'call', like this: + + $(call my-func,arg1,arg2,arg3) + +Kconfig invokes user-defined functions and built-in functions in the same way. +The omission of 'call' makes the syntax shorter. + +In Make, some functions treat commas verbatim instead of argument separators. +For example, $(shell echo hello, world) runs the command "echo hello, world". +Likewise, $(info hello, world) prints "hello, world" to stdout. You could say +this is _useful_ inconsistency. + +In Kconfig, for simpler implementation and grammatical consistency, commas that +appear in the $( ) context are always delimiters. It means + + $(shell, echo hello, world) + +is an error because it is passing two parameters where the 'shell' function +accepts only one. To pass commas in arguments, you can use the following trick: + + comma := , + $(shell, echo hello$(comma) world) + + +Caveats +------- + +A variable (or function) cannot be expanded across tokens. So, you cannot use +a variable as a shorthand for an expression that consists of multiple tokens. +The following works: + + RANGE_MIN := 1 + RANGE_MAX := 3 + + config FOO + int "foo" + range $(RANGE_MIN) $(RANGE_MAX) + +But, the following does not work: + + RANGES := 1 3 + + config FOO + int "foo" + range $(RANGES) + +A variable cannot be expanded to any keyword in Kconfig. The following does +not work: + + MY_TYPE := tristate + + config FOO + $(MY_TYPE) "foo" + default y + +Obviously from the design, $(shell command) is expanded in the textual +substitution phase. You cannot pass symbols to the 'shell' function. +The following does not work as expected. + + config ENDIAN_FLAG + string + default "-mbig-endian" if CPU_BIG_ENDIAN + default "-mlittle-endian" if CPU_LITTLE_ENDIAN + + config CC_HAS_ENDIAN_FLAG + def_bool $(shell $(srctree)/scripts/gcc-check-flag ENDIAN_FLAG) + +Instead, you can do like follows so that any function call is statically +expanded. + + config CC_HAS_ENDIAN_FLAG + bool + default $(shell $(srctree)/scripts/gcc-check-flag -mbig-endian) if CPU_BIG_ENDIAN + default $(shell $(srctree)/scripts/gcc-check-flag -mlittle-endian) if CPU_LITTLE_ENDIAN |