On Thu, 2017-11-16 at 09:09 -0800, Joe Perches wrote: > (adding Andrew Morton) > > On Thu, 2017-11-16 at 18:01 +0100, Knut Omang wrote: > > This parameter is intended to be used in a subsequent commit to kbuild to > > allow > > a convenient way to run checkpatch from make. > > _why_ is this useful?
The cover letter and the following documentation patch hopefully makes it clearer. I realize the cc: list on the cover letter was a little too narrow, sorry about that! > > By accepting comments and multiple lines of commands, the idea is that the > > maintainer or someone else with good knowledge of the code can maintain a > > file > > per directory and group the different commands into commented sections that > > can > > serve both as documentation of the current checkpatch status, a way to > > define > > the line of tolerance (and gradually tighten it as fixes comes in) and as > > documentation of TODOs and dont's if there are well justified exceptions. > > checkpatch can be run any time over individual files > so I don't find this compelling. The problem with that in general is the noise level. What this patch set gives is in short: * a way to filter out the noise to focus on one type of error at the time * the means to automate prevention of reoccurrence of some types of checkpatch errors that have been removed from a file, even when that file has 100s of checkpatch issues of other types. > Does anyone else? I did subject the set to a couple of internal reviews with positive feedback. We have also had automated checkin regression testing going with a similar system for some time. I was just going to improve upon that system when I realized that we should really make it available for the broader community. I hope this helps, thanks, Knut
