Re: [PATCH 1/9] kernel/api: introduce kernel API specification framework

Sasha Levin
2026-03-18T14:32:33Z

On Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 11:49:27AM -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
>So the reason for two completely separate mechanisms is not entirely
>clear to me. The kerneldoc variant is essentially documentation, while
>the macro stuff is to be built into the executable? What if you want
>both?
>
>It would be nice to only have one way if at all possible; I'm sure that
>crossed your mind at some point :) If there have to be two, having both
>examples describe the same function would make the parallels more clear.

Woops, I forgot to finish writing my reply to this :)

Under the hood, kerneldoc specs are translated into those macros so they could
be part of the build process and embedded into the resulting binary (both for
documentation as well as the runtime validation).

I don't think anyone would use the macro format directly, but as it's there
anyway I figured I'd offer it as an option. Would it make sense to just hide it
behind the scenes?

--
Thanks,
Sasha