Documentation/kbuild: Document platform dependency practises

Document best practises for using architecture and platform dependencies.

Signed-off-by: Geert Uytterhoeven <geert+renesas@glider.be>
Signed-off-by: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>

1 files changed, 24 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst
index 1b4875f04e13..226ae072da7d 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.rst
@@ -564,6 +564,30 @@ common system, and detect bugs that way.
 Note that compile-tested code should avoid crashing when run on a system where
 the dependency is not met.
 
+Architecture and platform dependencies
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Due to the presence of stubs, most drivers can now be compiled on most
+architectures. However, this does not mean it makes sense to have all drivers
+available everywhere, as the actual hardware may only exist on specific
+architectures and platforms. This is especially true for on-SoC IP cores,
+which may be limited to a specific vendor or SoC family.
+
+To prevent asking the user about drivers that cannot be used on the system(s)
+the user is compiling a kernel for, and if it makes sense, config symbols
+controlling the compilation of a driver should contain proper dependencies,
+limiting the visibility of the symbol to (a superset of) the platform(s) the
+driver can be used on. The dependency can be an architecture (e.g. ARM) or
+platform (e.g. ARCH_OMAP4) dependency. This makes life simpler not only for
+distro config owners, but also for every single developer or user who
+configures a kernel.
+
+Such a dependency can be relaxed by combining it with the compile-testing rule
+above, leading to:
+
+  config FOO
+	bool "Support for foo hardware"
+	depends on ARCH_FOO_VENDOR || COMPILE_TEST
+
 Kconfig recursive dependency limitations
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~