linux-kernel - [PATCH v5 10/15] Compiler Attributes: add Doc/process/programming-language.rst

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Message-Id: <20180920172301.21868-11-miguel.ojeda.sandonis@gmail.com>
Date:   Thu, 20 Sep 2018 19:22:56 +0200
From:   Miguel Ojeda <miguel.ojeda.sandonis@...il.com>
To:     Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
Cc:     linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Miguel Ojeda <miguel.ojeda.sandonis@...il.com>,
        Andreas Dilger <adilger.kernel@...ger.ca>,
        Masahiro Yamada <yamada.masahiro@...ionext.com>,
        Michal Marek <michal.lkml@...kovi.net>,
        Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>,
        Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+samsung@...nel.org>,
        Olof Johansson <olof@...m.net>,
        Konstantin Ryabitsev <konstantin@...uxfoundation.org>,
        "David S . Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>,
        Andrey Ryabinin <aryabinin@...tuozzo.com>,
        Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>,
        Paul Lawrence <paullawrence@...gle.com>,
        Sandipan Das <sandipan@...ux.vnet.ibm.com>,
        Andrey Konovalov <andreyknvl@...gle.com>,
        David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>,
        Will Deacon <will.deacon@....com>,
        Philippe Ombredanne <pombredanne@...b.com>,
        Paul Burton <paul.burton@...s.com>,
        David Rientjes <rientjes@...gle.com>, Willy Tarreau <w@....eu>,
        Martin Sebor <msebor@...il.com>,
        Christopher Li <sparse@...isli.org>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>,
        Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu>,
        Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@...ux-m68k.org>,
        Rasmus Villemoes <linux@...musvillemoes.dk>,
        Joe Perches <joe@...ches.com>, Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>,
        Dominique Martinet <asmadeus@...ewreck.org>,
        Stefan Agner <stefan@...er.ch>,
        Luc Van Oostenryck <luc.vanoostenryck@...il.com>,
        Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@...gle.com>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
        linux-doc@...r.kernel.org, linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-sparse@...r.kernel.org, linux-kbuild@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v5 10/15] Compiler Attributes: add Doc/process/programming-language.rst

Reviewed-by: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@...gle.com>
Reviewed-by: Luc Van Oostenryck <luc.vanoostenryck@...il.com>
Signed-off-by: Miguel Ojeda <miguel.ojeda.sandonis@...il.com>
---
 Documentation/process/index.rst               |  1 +
 .../process/programming-language.rst          | 45 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 46 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/process/programming-language.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/process/index.rst b/Documentation/process/index.rst
index 9ae3e317bddf..00558b6d2649 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/index.rst
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ Below are the essential guides that every developer should read.
    code-of-conduct
    development-process
    submitting-patches
+   programming-language
    coding-style
    maintainer-pgp-guide
    email-clients
diff --git a/Documentation/process/programming-language.rst b/Documentation/process/programming-language.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e5f5f065dc24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/process/programming-language.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+.. _programming_language:
+
+Programming Language
+====================
+
+The kernel is written in the C programming language [c-language]_.
+More precisely, the kernel is typically compiled with ``gcc`` [gcc]_
+under ``-std=gnu89`` [gcc-c-dialect-options]_: the GNU dialect of ISO C90
+(including some C99 features).
+
+This dialect contains many extensions to the language [gnu-extensions]_,
+and many of them are used within the kernel as a matter of course.
+
+There is some support for compiling the kernel with ``clang`` [clang]_
+and ``icc`` [icc]_ for several of the architectures, although at the time
+of writing it is not completed, requiring third-party patches.
+
+Attributes
+----------
+
+One of the common extensions used throughout the kernel are attributes
+[gcc-attribute-syntax]_. Attributes allow to introduce
+implementation-defined semantics to language entities (like variables,
+functions or types) without having to make significant syntactic changes
+to the language (e.g. adding a new keyword) [n2049]_.
+
+In some cases, attributes are optional (i.e. a compiler not supporting them
+should still produce proper code, even if it is slower or does not perform
+as many compile-time checks/diagnostics).
+
+The kernel defines pseudo-keywords (e.g. ``__pure``) instead of using
+directly the GNU attribute syntax (e.g. ``__attribute__((__pure__))``)
+in order to feature detect which ones can be used and/or to shorten the code.
+
+Please refer to ``include/linux/compiler_attributes.h`` for more information.
+
+.. [c-language] http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/standards
+.. [gcc] https://gcc.gnu.org
+.. [clang] https://clang.llvm.org
+.. [icc] https://software.intel.com/en-us/c-compilers
+.. [gcc-c-dialect-options] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C-Dialect-Options.html
+.. [gnu-extensions] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C-Extensions.html
+.. [gcc-attribute-syntax] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Attribute-Syntax.html
+.. [n2049] http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n2049.pdf
+
-- 
2.17.1