From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-alma10-1.taild15c8.ts.net [100.103.45.18]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 8926937E5E9 for ; Tue, 15 Sep 2026 20:40:55 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=100.103.45.18 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1789504856; cv=none; b=pYvzos9ByxcNcza7gwhq0nKFEHZ/0kG2aWMYINF8Illd78lxbZKg+s1nKPDxdjQnl01DTPKeUfJ8Ee7NPuPdb+dNaf0QI4a90wI8rRs/qWzbrYsbLFxQr5+wm2Csc92ZUn1NmTsQr2OuTQH0q8sYwh9MscwXjNTx4be0mBlbAC0= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1789504856; c=relaxed/simple; bh=+wybdqqLXvLUniEYIS+Py0FBgqJ611dBo/0RRcZq5BQ=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To; b=rQY1wvWES5eoAx48VDjB0BXGLqdKkJlLfHrcaomskzndyeXdm4LVf6W0zU66jtOzITbHRK+ho6YKb352E7Zbs7KlVFugCxeQj/u654/91g/FeCAKyaKJ8kVWUeHrTJlaPb9lE7Sp9lgsWjAx3shK+BLQNO4M8iC0JOjkoNmHqFY= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=d50ZUdAV; arc=none smtp.client-ip=100.103.45.18 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="d50ZUdAV" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4A28F1F000FF; Tue, 15 Sep 2026 20:40:54 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=kernel.org; s=k20260515; t=1789504855; bh=9CTlqvE+DdbXDv3yW6glJDSfDk4JbHW6/3KH4Z14jgE=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:In-Reply-To; b=d50ZUdAVuQJt/pu/4S7z052+AWrcK7PWEeWTsqkFwxogfTfMijg+lD4PRgKJkJUA0 xIBg6XYoi7p71jtsGoW35YFGu1v4adxoYwTQhkAgDMCKN9r2NxYwFHxVHbbmwr226q W1C+yWitg7HTrQuHr9Q+UAu0POGs8oVOjK6VS7SQQhqUkyaF52Xjtk38+SIjmdhfrF K661LKRcBELZ4Y3tbI4BA/tT+xS4NBfNjb3ofwweTZb8V3Uip2EMcTByv+Z3mXHb5l uvsGUIur0tcMV1NmuFAbAWxZwKRB4nu6G7Xu+z4Jnun0Wu63uPdEEUr85aFIjTch+4 4H+k36K5EPfoA== Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2026 22:40:50 +0200 From: Alejandro Colomar To: "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes , linux-man@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH v1] share/mk/: Use suffix rules where possible Message-ID: References: <9a74fe43cf61f80f253e1401b547296b6f97c44a.1788101363.git.alx@kernel.org> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-man@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha512; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="rwushw37azuni4b5" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: --rwushw37azuni4b5 Content-Type: text/plain; protected-headers=v1; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From: Alejandro Colomar To: "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes , linux-man@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH v1] share/mk/: Use suffix rules where possible Message-ID: References: <9a74fe43cf61f80f253e1401b547296b6f97c44a.1788101363.git.alx@kernel.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Hi Lorenzo, > Date: 2026-09-15 17:47:59+0100 > From: "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" > [...] > > From what I've seen, the kernel seems to use regular 'pattern rules' > > extensively. I wonder if moving to 'static pattern rules' would bring > > a benefit similar to the one we experience in the Linux man-pages > > project. >=20 > Hmm intersting :) >=20 > I think the kernel is complicated by a lot of 'flexibility' in the build > process. >=20 > And probably simplifying it is difficult in some cases. Yup. > > Another important thing is that the build system of the Linux man-pages > > uses a single make(1) process to build (i.e., we don't use recursive > > make(1)). That makes it parallelize better. I'm not sure whether the > > kernel makefiles are recursive (for the main build) and how much that > > affects the kernel build. It might be something to check too, as I > > remember it was very impactful. Recursive make(1) is considered harmful > > by some (I agree, IME). >=20 > Yeah I don't think that's at all feasible for the kernel :) I think it should be possible. At least, it could be reduced significantly. > Ideally we'd use something other than GNU make honestly. I'd suggest to keep GNU make(1). Well written GNU makefiles can be quite fast. And being makefiles, they're relatively easy to read (like with C, it depends on how weird you want to go), at least to some degree. Something I love from the kernel (and which I've also done in the man-pages) is that it's a single-step build system. Multi-step (configure, etc.) build systems are consistently a nightmare, IME. > But it's a step at a time based on what's actually feasible I think, so > low-hanging fruit first! :-) Have a lovely day! Alex --=20 --rwushw37azuni4b5 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQIzBAABCgAdFiEES7Jt9u9GbmlWADAi64mZXMKQwqkFAmqprVIACgkQ64mZXMKQ wqmXFg//Rzc2D3goYsrYgqvzYbdm7tuAJf2RAcwrobp4Y3s/MiozZaPiuJNMr/+f UY1r2oJzpf0kg7zVMQnaeR7qSmcGHwIA5CXNA4W7JtToAwmFrBYdGsX/4g19xPtb 07HaYSct7dkOv0H3TdcsTZ+Clw1Pz/Ss+twfk4jOBkbmExdob1YlFGW1YKrXt737 NzznNw1xjaivSZ7MvaFerwmWu3sBBEQBNufjjc85UiUIFLJ9AytixXdEZbBJ/WCe 3Onn4AiacPwQl9dB894fzOAubigG1w1Tc7gTaxTwkoRyM2swm3rJVHJfZZ5s3H2v PObtLQ4h5UPI9BqK7d2tKNMBZRrwvclRHVVLSRD2/Iq9T/S+oGPKM/lTb6s2aH+A GKtjEHBz2Zpgx8Kh0uCmgzw5Hl0z9FjFQ/YZ9rlwqFetzzUbCNis4x/i3ErlFHi6 Xr4fi/xaGI06Ax0/d/z+0yXK38Ll3LkM98J+2FtqEYqYrjnJLT6o9IhN/2AhHHcm ZIrIC0duEeXfqNVkeNZPKvA6B7+YHHBlpkYv86xDOXK8U9qRf+a2cJf8TOvjGrJu dhdDbUunmTHqS8RLASx4eSALsKyka/rEDgZmWOnkWsHfVI+Q6KP+CiXjXALmSG/z sAf1K+/Hcl8ox/C1BXbi4HiUF4ujrZVxAb6AOANidQfD3HVwyaA= =oANO -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --rwushw37azuni4b5--