docs: kbuild: add references on Kconfig semantics

Add references to 1) a research paper which provides a definition of
Kconfig semantics, 2) the kismet tool, which checks for unmet direct
dependency bugs in Kconfig specifications.

Signed-off-by: Paul Gazzillo <paul@pgazz.com>
Signed-off-by: Necip Fazil Yildiran <fazilyildiran@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>
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Necip Fazil Yildiran 2022-04-05 00:33:51 -04:00 committed by Masahiro Yamada
parent d5ea4fece4
commit cab802b7b8
1 changed files with 6 additions and 0 deletions

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@ -693,6 +693,8 @@ in documenting basic Kconfig syntax a more precise definition of Kconfig
semantics is welcomed. One project deduced Kconfig semantics through
the use of the xconfig configurator [1]_. Work should be done to confirm if
the deduced semantics matches our intended Kconfig design goals.
Another project formalized a denotational semantics of a core subset of
the Kconfig language [10]_.
Having well defined semantics can be useful for tools for practical
evaluation of dependencies, for instance one such case was work to
@ -700,6 +702,8 @@ express in boolean abstraction of the inferred semantics of Kconfig to
translate Kconfig logic into boolean formulas and run a SAT solver on this to
find dead code / features (always inactive), 114 dead features were found in
Linux using this methodology [1]_ (Section 8: Threats to validity).
The kismet tool, based on the semantics in [10]_, finds abuses of reverse
dependencies and has led to dozens of committed fixes to Linux Kconfig files [11]_.
Confirming this could prove useful as Kconfig stands as one of the leading
industrial variability modeling languages [1]_ [2]_. Its study would help
@ -738,3 +742,5 @@ https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelProjects/kconfig-sat
.. [7] https://vamos.cs.fau.de
.. [8] https://undertaker.cs.fau.de
.. [9] https://www4.cs.fau.de/Publications/2011/tartler_11_eurosys.pdf
.. [10] https://paulgazzillo.com/papers/esecfse21.pdf
.. [11] https://github.com/paulgazz/kmax