Re: [PATCH v11 4/4] x86/cpu: Clear feature bits whose dependencies were cleared

[Borislav Petkov]

On Mon, Mar 23, 2026 at 11:57:45AM -0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> I do have to say that using awk for these things, especially being restricted
> to POSIX awk, is really awful as it really is pushing the limits of that tool.
> String processing in C is most definitely no fun either -- the single biggest
> shortcoming of what is otherwise one of my favorite languages -- but it
> *would* also be possible to refactor cpuid-deps.c so that it can be compiled
> in user space and linked with a C tool that would replace cpufeaturesmask.awk,
> mkcapflags.sh, and boot/mkcpustr.c.
> 
> This seemed to me to be a bit excessive in terms of churn and complexity, but
> perhaps this is what you are looking for?

I was actually suggesting we handle the dependent features in
apply_forced_caps() and keep that all in one place.

As to the whole glue handling deps, feature flags, names, yadda yadda, yap,
I agree, it ain't easy and I need to grep each time where the generated files
are and go stare at them.

So I really like the idea of replacing it all with a C tool which you can
massage in luserspace and replace all that other gunk and we won't depend on
the awk flavor or shell script or whatnot but keep everything in a single
C program and a header.

I don't know whether that would work and how ugly it would become - we need to
try it I guess - but the idea ure sounds enticing...

Maybe something for a future todo.

:-)

-- 
Regards/Gruss,
    Boris.

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