Re: [PATCH v3 3/6] docs: sphinx-pre-install: check GNU Make version

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

On Thu, 13 Aug 2026 02:23:20 +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. Use the common kdoc detector so the dependency checker and
> build wrapper apply the same selection logic. Document the requirement and
> the macOS gmake invocation.

LGTM.

Reviewed-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org> # For sphinx-pre-install

> 
> Signed-off-by: Chen Miao <chenmiao.ku@gmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst |  4 +++-
>  tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install      | 10 +++++++++-
>  2 files changed, 12 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 1956f1369..7625ac5a4 100755
> --- a/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
> +++ b/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
> @@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ import os.path
>  src_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
>  sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(src_dir, '../lib/python'))
>  from kdoc.python_version import PythonVersion
> +from kdoc.gmake_detect import find_gmake
>  
>  RECOMMENDED_VERSION = PythonVersion("3.4.3").version
>  MIN_PYTHON_VERSION = PythonVersion("3.7").version
> @@ -308,6 +309,13 @@ class MissingCheckers(AncillaryMethods):
>  
>          return None
>  
> +    def check_make(self):
> +        """Check for GNU Make 4.0 or newer."""
> +        if find_gmake(os.environ.get("MAKE")):
> +            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 +1567,7 @@ 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