From: Alexey Dobriyan <adobriyan@gmail.com>
To: corbet@lwn.net
Cc: workflows@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Alexey Dobriyan <adobriyan@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH 6/9] CodingStyle: recommend static_assert/_Static_assert
Date: Fri, 9 May 2025 23:34:27 +0300 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20250509203430.3448-6-adobriyan@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20250509203430.3448-1-adobriyan@gmail.com>
Linux's BUG_ON is done backwards (condition is inverted).
But it is a long story.
However C11/C23 allow to partially transition to what all normal
programmers are used to, namely assert().
Deprecate BUILD_BUG_ON, recommend static_assert/_Static_assert.
And then some day BUG_ON will be flipped as well.
Signed-off-by: Alexey Dobriyan <adobriyan@gmail.com>
---
Documentation/process/coding-style.rst | 23 +++++++++++++++++++----
1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst b/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
index 63c41125e713..f8d5151eb0d2 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
@@ -1302,11 +1302,26 @@ asked the kernel to crash if a WARN*() fires, and such users must be
prepared to deal with the consequences of a system that is somewhat more
likely to crash.
-Use BUILD_BUG_ON() for compile-time assertions
-**********************************************
+Use ``_Static_assert``/``static_assert`` to test things at compile time
+***********************************************************************
-The use of BUILD_BUG_ON() is acceptable and encouraged, because it is a
-compile-time assertion that has no effect at runtime.
+C99 has standardized ``_Static_assert`` keyword and C23 added ``static_assert``
+later making Linux specific ``BUILD_BUG_ON`` macro obsolete.
+
+Note that both forms of static assertions are classified as declaration and
+thus can be used (almost) anywhere in the code including top-level.
+Don't introduce fake functions to test things at compile time:
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ _Static_assert(sizeof(u32) == 4);
+ static_assert(sizeof(struct S) == 8);
+
+Also note that the second argument to ``static_assert`` can be omitted as an
+extension. Sometimes filename and line number of a compile error is all you
+need.
+
+See https://en.cppreference.com/w/c/language/_Static_assert for more information.
References
----------
--
2.49.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-05-09 20:34 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 41+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-05-09 20:34 [PATCH 1/9] CodingStyle: make Documentation/CodingStyle into symlink Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-09 20:34 ` [PATCH 2/9] CodingStyle: delete explicit numbering Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-12 9:06 ` Jani Nikula
2025-05-09 20:34 ` [PATCH 3/9] CodingStyle: advise on using "sysctl" in sysctl variables Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-09 20:34 ` [PATCH 4/9] CodingStyle: mention "typedef struct S {} S;" if typedef is used Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-10 6:18 ` Greg KH
2025-05-13 18:34 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-10 10:47 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-05-10 10:47 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-05-13 18:37 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-09 20:34 ` [PATCH 5/9] CodingStyle: institute better inline assembly formatting Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-13 19:41 ` David Laight
2025-05-09 20:34 ` Alexey Dobriyan [this message]
2025-05-10 6:21 ` [PATCH 6/9] CodingStyle: recommend static_assert/_Static_assert Greg KH
2025-05-13 18:41 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-13 19:40 ` David Laight
2025-05-09 20:34 ` [PATCH 7/9] CodingStyle: new variable declaration placement rule Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-09 20:34 ` [PATCH 8/9] CodingStyle: tell people how to split long "for" loops Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-10 18:56 ` David Laight
2025-05-12 16:20 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-12 16:59 ` Greg KH
2025-05-12 19:09 ` David Laight
2025-05-09 20:34 ` [PATCH 9/9] CodingStyle: flip the rule about curlies Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-09 21:44 ` Randy Dunlap
2025-05-10 6:18 ` Greg KH
2025-05-12 16:43 ` Jeff Johnson
2025-05-12 16:56 ` Greg KH
2025-05-13 19:06 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-15 16:33 ` Jeff Johnson
2025-05-09 20:40 ` [PATCH 1/9] CodingStyle: make Documentation/CodingStyle into symlink Ozgur Kara
2025-05-10 10:05 ` Jonathan Corbet
2025-05-12 16:08 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-12 16:57 ` Greg KH
2025-05-13 18:32 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-14 18:55 ` Jonathan Corbet
2025-05-13 4:12 ` Al Viro
2025-05-13 18:33 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-13 19:04 ` Al Viro
2025-05-13 19:26 ` Alexey Dobriyan
2025-05-13 19:50 ` Al Viro
2025-05-19 16:21 ` Pavel Machek
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