[PATCH v8 23/24] tools/docs: sphinx-* break documentation bulds on openSUSE

Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-09-18T11:55:07Z

Before this patch, building htmldocs on opensuseLEAP works
fine:

# make htmldocs
Available Python versions:
/usr/bin/python3.11

Python 3.6.15 not supported. Changing to /usr/bin/python3.11
Python 3.6.15 not supported. Changing to /usr/bin/python3.11
Using alabaster theme
Using Python kernel-doc

...

As the logic detects that Python 3.6 is too old and recommends
intalling python311-Sphinx. If installed, documentation builds
work like a charm.

Yet, some develpers complained that running python3.11 instead
of python3 should not happen. So, let's break the build to make
them happier:

$ make htmldocs
Python 3.6.15 not supported. Bailing out
You could run, instead:
/usr/bin/python3.11 tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper htmldocs \
--sphinxdirs=. --conf=conf.py --builddir=Documentation/output --theme= --css= \
--paper=

Python 3.6.15 not supported. Bailing out
make[2]: *** [Documentation/Makefile:76: htmldocs] Error 1
make[1]: *** [Makefile:1806: htmldocs] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:248: __sub-make] Error 2

It should be noticed that:

1. after this change, sphinx-pre-install needs to be called
by hand:

$ /usr/bin/python3.11 tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
Detected OS: openSUSE Leap 15.6.
Sphinx version: 7.2.6

All optional dependencies are met.
Needed package dependencies are met.

2. sphinx-build-wrapper will auto-detect python3.11 and
suggest a way to build the docs using the parameters passed
via make variables. In this specific example:

/usr/bin/python3.11 tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper htmldocs --sphinxdirs=. --conf=conf.py --theme= --css= --paper=

3. As this needs to be executed outside docs Makefile, it won't run
the validation check scripts nor build Rust documentation if
enabled, as the extra scripts are part of the docs Makefile.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>
---
tools/docs/lib/python_version.py | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++----
tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper | 3 ++-
tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install | 3 ++-
3 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/docs/lib/python_version.py b/tools/docs/lib/python_version.py
index a9fda2470a26..4fde1b882164 100644
--- a/tools/docs/lib/python_version.py
+++ b/tools/docs/lib/python_version.py
@@ -20,9 +20,11 @@ Python version if present.
import os
import re
import subprocess
+import shlex
import sys

from glob import glob
+from textwrap import indent

class PythonVersion:
"""
@@ -44,6 +46,25 @@ class PythonVersion:
"""Returns a version tuple as major.minor.patch"""
return ".".join([str(x) for x in version])

+ @staticmethod
+ def cmd_print(cmd, max_len=80):
+ cmd_line = []
+
+ for w in cmd:
+ w = shlex.quote(w)
+
+ if cmd_line:
+ if not max_len or len(cmd_line[-1]) + len(w) < max_len:
+ cmd_line[-1] += " " + w
+ continue
+ else:
+ cmd_line[-1] += " \\"
+ cmd_line.append(w)
+ else:
+ cmd_line.append(w)
+
+ return "\n ".join(cmd_line)
+
def __str__(self):
"""Returns a version tuple as major.minor.patch from self.version"""
return self.ver_str(self.version)
@@ -130,14 +151,13 @@ class PythonVersion:
else:
new_python_cmd = None

- if show_alternatives:
+ if show_alternatives and available_versions:
print("You could run, instead:")
for _, cmd in available_versions:
args = [cmd, script_path] + sys.argv[1:]

- cmd_str = " ".join(args)
- print(f" {cmd_str}")
- print()
+ cmd_str = indent(PythonVersion.cmd_print(args), " ")
+ print(f"{cmd_str}\n")

if bail_out:
msg = f"Python {python_ver} not supported. Bailing out"
diff --git a/tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper b/tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper
index e24486dede76..103b0044bb0b 100755
--- a/tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper
+++ b/tools/docs/sphinx-build-wrapper
@@ -774,7 +774,8 @@ def main():

args = parser.parse_args()

- PythonVersion.check_python(MIN_PYTHON_VERSION)
+ PythonVersion.check_python(MIN_PYTHON_VERSION, show_alternatives=True,
+ bail_out=True)

builder = SphinxBuilder(builddir=args.builddir,
verbose=args.verbose, n_jobs=args.jobs,
diff --git a/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install b/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
index 663d4e2a3f57..698989584b6a 100755
--- a/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
+++ b/tools/docs/sphinx-pre-install
@@ -1531,7 +1531,8 @@ def main():

checker = SphinxDependencyChecker(args)

- PythonVersion.check_python(MIN_PYTHON_VERSION)
+ PythonVersion.check_python(MIN_PYTHON_VERSION,
+ bail_out=True, success_on_error=True)
checker.check_needs()

# Call main if not used as module
--
2.51.0