linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2] kconfig: Add transitional symbol attribute for migration support

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Message-ID: <202509050923.28C878FFA1@keescook>
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2025 09:24:42 -0700
From: Kees Cook <kees@...nel.org>
To: Vegard Nossum <vegard.nossum@...cle.com>
Cc: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@...nel.org>,
	Nicolas Schier <nicolas.schier@...ux.dev>,
	Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>,
	Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@...nel.org>,
	Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@...radead.org>, Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>,
	Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@...aro.org>,
	linux-kbuild@...r.kernel.org, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org,
	Miguel Ojeda <ojeda@...nel.org>,
	Stephen Brennan <stephen.s.brennan@...cle.com>,
	Marco Bonelli <marco@...eim.net>, Petr Vorel <pvorel@...e.cz>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-hardening@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] kconfig: Add transitional symbol attribute for
 migration support

On Fri, Sep 05, 2025 at 11:41:18AM +0200, Vegard Nossum wrote:
> 
> On 04/09/2025 19:10, Vegard Nossum wrote:
> > On 04/09/2025 19:03, Vegard Nossum wrote:
> > > @@ -214,6 +214,11 @@ static void sym_calc_visibility(struct symbol *sym)
> > >          struct property *prop;
> > >          tristate tri;
> > > 
> > > +       if (sym->flags & SYMBOL_HIDDEN) {
> > > +               sym->visible = yes;
> > 
> > ...I just saw the irony here after having already pressed "Send".
> > 
> > Let me explain:
> > 
> > SYMBOL_HIDDEN is your new flag that indicates that somebody used
> > "transitional" on the config entry.
> > 
> > sym->visible is tristate value that gives you the condition for whether
> > a symbol can take on a value -- y/m means the option is visible to the
> > user (hence the name) and thus eligible to have a value assigned to it.
> 
> Another small clarification: Replace "is visible to the user" by "can be
> set by .config".
> 
> Actual user visibility is controlled by menu_is_visible(), not
> sym->visible, so my patch still doesn't show transitional symbols to the
> user in menuconfig. AFAICT, menu_is_visible() is completely independent
> of sym->visible.

Yeah, and I think this is another very good reason to rename stuff.

> I tested menuconfig/mconf and oldconfig/conf --oldconfig with scripts/
> kconfig/tests/transitional/Kconfig and my patch and it looks correct
> (only the new options are displayed).

Great! Thank you for looking at this. :)

-- 
Kees Cook