Re: [PATCH v2 2/5] docs: sphinx-pre-install: check GNU Make version

[Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>]

On Mon, 10 Aug 2026 22:33:06 +0800
Chen Miao <chenmiao.ku@gmail.com> wrote:

> The kernel documentation build requires GNU Make 4.0 or newer, but the
> Sphinx dependency checker only verifies that a make executable exists.
> This lets incompatible make implementations pass the check and fail
> later during the build.
> 
> Check the GNU Make version on all supported systems. Prefer a compatible
> gmake command, which is how Homebrew provides GNU Make on macOS, and
> fall back to make. Document the requirement and the macOS gmake
> invocation.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Chen Miao <chenmiao.ku@gmail.com>

Reviewed-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>

> ---
>  Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst |  4 ++-
>  tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install      | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
>  2 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst b/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst
> index 1e105542a..4fb716e77 100644
> --- a/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst
> @@ -147,7 +147,9 @@ documentation. After installing MacTeX, restart the terminal or run
>  ``eval "$(/usr/libexec/path_helper)"`` so its command-line tools are visible.
>  The default virtualenv mode is recommended on macOS because PyYAML is
>  installed from ``Documentation/sphinx/requirements.txt`` rather than from a
> -Homebrew formula.
> +Homebrew formula. The script also checks for GNU Make 4.0 or newer; when
> +Homebrew provides it as ``gmake``, use ``gmake htmldocs`` instead of
> +``make htmldocs``.
>  
>  Installing Sphinx Minimal Version
>  ---------------------------------
> diff --git a/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install b/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
> index 1b9d77ec3..54f36c3b8 100755
> --- a/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
> +++ b/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
> @@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ from kdoc.python_version import PythonVersion
>  
>  RECOMMENDED_VERSION = PythonVersion("3.4.3").version
>  MIN_PYTHON_VERSION = PythonVersion("3.7").version
> +MIN_MAKE_VERSION = PythonVersion("4.0").version
>  
>  
>  class DepManager:
> @@ -308,6 +309,44 @@ class MissingCheckers(AncillaryMethods):
>  
>          return None
>  
> +    def get_make_version(self, cmd):
> +        """Get the GNU Make version, or None if cmd is not GNU Make."""
> +        if not cmd:
> +            return None
> +
> +        try:
> +            result = self.run(
> +                [cmd, "--version"],
> +                capture_output=True,
> +                text=True,
> +                check=True,
> +            )
> +        except (OSError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
> +            return None
> +
> +        match = re.search(
> +            r"^GNU Make\s+([0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)*)", result.stdout, re.MULTILINE
> +        )
> +        if not match:
> +            return None
> +
> +        return PythonVersion.parse_version(match.group(1))
> +
> +    def check_make(self):
> +        """Check for GNU Make 4.0 or newer."""
> +        candidates = (
> +            os.environ.get("MAKE"),
> +            self.which("gmake"),
> +            self.which("make"),
> +        )
> +
> +        for make in candidates:
> +            version = self.get_make_version(make)
> +            if version and version >= MIN_MAKE_VERSION:
> +                return
> +
> +        self.deps.add_package("make", DepManager.SYSTEM_MANDATORY)
> +
>      def check_perl_module(self, prog, dtype):
>          """
>          Does perl have a dependency? Is it available?
> @@ -1559,7 +1598,7 @@ class SphinxDependencyChecker(MissingCheckers):
>          # Check for needed programs/tools
>          self.check_perl_module("Pod::Usage", DepManager.SYSTEM_MANDATORY)
>  
> -        self.check_program("make", DepManager.SYSTEM_MANDATORY)
> +        self.check_make()
>          self.check_program("which", DepManager.SYSTEM_MANDATORY)
>  
>          self.check_program("dot", DepManager.SYSTEM_OPTIONAL)



Thanks,
Mauro