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Masahiro Yamada 8cd07cc6c8 kbuild: allow to start building external modules in any directory
Unless an explicit O= option is provided, external module builds must
start from the kernel directory.

This can be achieved by using the -C option:

  $ make -C /path/to/kernel M=/path/to/external/module

This commit allows starting external module builds from any directory,
so you can also do the following:

  $ make -f /path/to/kernel/Makefile M=/path/to/external/module

The key difference is that the -C option changes the working directory
and parses the Makefile located there, while the -f option only
specifies the Makefile to use.

As shown in the examples in Documentation/kbuild/modules.rst, external
modules usually have a wrapper Makefile that allows you to build them
without specifying any make arguments. The Makefile typically contains
a rule as follows:

    KDIR ?= /path/to/kernel
    default:
            $(MAKE) -C $(KDIR) M=$(CURDIR) $(MAKECMDGOALS)

The log will appear as follows:

    $ make
    make -C /path/to/kernel M=/path/to/external/module
    make[1]: Entering directory '/path/to/kernel'
    make[2]: Entering directory '/path/to/external/module'
      CC [M]  helloworld.o
      MODPOST Module.symvers
      CC [M]  helloworld.mod.o
      CC [M]  .module-common.o
      LD [M]  helloworld.ko
    make[2]: Leaving directory '/path/to/external/module'
    make[1]: Leaving directory '/path/to/kernel'

This changes the working directory twice because the -C option first
switches to the kernel directory, and then Kbuild internally recurses
back to the external module directory.

With this commit, the wrapper Makefile can directly include the kernel
Makefile:

    KDIR ?= /path/to/kernel
    export KBUILD_EXTMOD := $(realpath $(dir $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST))))
    include $(KDIR)/Makefile

This avoids unnecessary sub-make invocations:

    $ make
      CC [M]  helloworld.o
      MODPOST Module.symvers
      CC [M]  helloworld.mod.o
      CC [M]  .module-common.o
      LD [M]  helloworld.ko

Signed-off-by: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Nicolas Schier <nicolas@fjasle.eu>
2024-11-28 08:11:55 +09:00
arch kbuild: add $(objtree)/ prefix to some in-kernel build artifacts 2024-11-27 09:38:27 +09:00
block block-6.12-20241101 2024-11-01 13:41:55 -10:00
certs sign-file,extract-cert: use pkcs11 provider for OPENSSL MAJOR >= 3 2024-09-20 19:52:48 +03:00
crypto This push fixes the following issues: 2024-10-16 08:42:54 -07:00
Documentation kbuild: allow to start building external modules in any directory 2024-11-28 08:11:55 +09:00
drivers usb: use "prompt" instead of "bool" for choice prompts 2024-11-04 17:53:09 +09:00
fs 17 hotfixes. 9 are cc:stable. 13 are MM and 4 are non-MM. 2024-11-03 10:25:05 -10:00
include Rename .data.once to .data..once to fix resetting WARN*_ONCE 2024-11-27 09:38:27 +09:00
init cfi: fix conditions for HAVE_CFI_ICALL_NORMALIZE_INTEGERS 2024-10-13 22:23:13 +02:00
io_uring io_uring/rw: fix missing NOWAIT check for O_DIRECT start write 2024-10-31 08:21:02 -06:00
ipc struct fd layout change (and conversion to accessor helpers) 2024-09-23 09:35:36 -07:00
kernel A single fix for posix CPU timers 2024-11-03 08:22:21 -10:00
lib arm64 fixes for -rc6 2024-11-01 07:54:11 -10:00
LICENSES LICENSES: add 0BSD license text 2024-09-01 20:43:24 -07:00
mm Rename .data.once to .data..once to fix resetting WARN*_ONCE 2024-11-27 09:38:27 +09:00
net nfsd-6.12 fixes: 2024-11-02 09:27:11 -10:00
rust kbuild: change working directory to external module directory with M= 2024-11-28 08:10:23 +09:00
samples [tree-wide] finally take no_llseek out 2024-09-27 08:18:43 -07:00
scripts kbuild: support building external modules in a separate build directory 2024-11-28 08:11:55 +09:00
security ipe: fallback to platform keyring also if key in trusted keyring is rejected 2024-10-18 12:14:53 -07:00
sound ALSA: hda/realtek: Fix headset mic on TUXEDO Stellaris 16 Gen6 mb1 2024-10-30 14:46:59 +01:00
tools kbuild: Add Propeller configuration for kernel build 2024-11-27 09:38:27 +09:00
usr initramfs: shorten cmd_initfs in usr/Makefile 2024-07-16 01:07:52 +09:00
virt ARM64: 2024-10-21 11:22:04 -07:00
.clang-format clang-format: Update with v6.11-rc1's for_each macro list 2024-08-02 13:20:31 +02:00
.cocciconfig scripts: add Linux .cocciconfig for coccinelle 2016-07-22 12:13:39 +02:00
.editorconfig .editorconfig: remove trim_trailing_whitespace option 2024-06-13 16:47:52 +02:00
.get_maintainer.ignore Add Jeff Kirsher to .get_maintainer.ignore 2024-03-08 11:36:54 +00:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore Kbuild updates for v6.12 2024-09-24 13:02:06 -07:00
.mailmap .mailmap: update e-mail address for Eugen Hristev 2024-10-31 20:27:04 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS CREDITS: sort alphabetically by name 2024-10-09 12:47:19 -07:00
Kbuild Kbuild updates for v6.1 2022-10-10 12:00:45 -07:00
Kconfig kbuild: ensure full rebuild when the compiler is updated 2020-05-12 13:28:33 +09:00
MAINTAINERS kbuild: Add Propeller configuration for kernel build 2024-11-27 09:38:27 +09:00
Makefile kbuild: allow to start building external modules in any directory 2024-11-28 08:11:55 +09:00
README README: Fix spelling 2024-03-18 03:36:32 -06:00

Linux kernel
============

There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.

In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``.  The formatted documentation can also be read online at:

    https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/

There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the reStructuredText markup notation.

Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.