[PATCH v2 9/9] docs: core-api: Document the seq_buf API
From: Kees Cook
Date: Fri Sep 18 2026 - 20:29:48 EST
The kernel-doc in include/linux/seq_buf.h and lib/seq_buf.c documents
the seq_buf interface, but no .rst file pulls either of them in, so none
of it reaches the generated documentation.
Add the missing kernel-doc for seq_buf_clear() and seq_buf_init(), and a
Sequence Buffers section to the kernel API documentation. The static
internal helper seq_buf_can_fit() is left out. Additionally fix
seq_buf_hex_dump() indentation to avoid the reported Sphinx error:
ERROR: Unexpected indentation.
WARNING: Block quote ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent.
Verified with "make SPHINXDIRS=core-api htmldocs", which rendered
happily into core-api/kernel-api.html.
Assisted-by: LLM
Co-developed-by: Bill Wendling <morbo@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Bill Wendling <morbo@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <kees@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@xxxxxxx>
Cc: <linux-doc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Matthew Wilcox (Oracle)" <willy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Andy Shevchenko <andriy.shevchenko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Petr Mladek <pmladek@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Shuah Khan <skhan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/core-api/kernel-api.rst | 9 +++++++++
include/linux/seq_buf.h | 12 ++++++++++++
lib/seq_buf.c | 13 +++++++------
3 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/kernel-api.rst b/Documentation/core-api/kernel-api.rst
index 4c4a57c1c094..f5a0aedbbb48 100644
--- a/Documentation/core-api/kernel-api.rst
+++ b/Documentation/core-api/kernel-api.rst
@@ -96,6 +96,15 @@ Error Pointers
.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/err.h
:internal:
+Sequence Buffers
+----------------
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/seq_buf.h
+ :internal:
+
+.. kernel-doc:: lib/seq_buf.c
+ :no-identifiers: seq_buf_can_fit
+
Sorting
-------
diff --git a/include/linux/seq_buf.h b/include/linux/seq_buf.h
index 89d847d40626..416a8b67b9ad 100644
--- a/include/linux/seq_buf.h
+++ b/include/linux/seq_buf.h
@@ -31,6 +31,10 @@ struct seq_buf {
.size = SIZE, \
}
+/**
+ * seq_buf_clear - reset the seq_buf to be read / appended from the beginning
+ * @s: the seq_buf handle
+ */
static inline void seq_buf_clear(struct seq_buf *s)
{
s->len = 0;
@@ -38,6 +42,14 @@ static inline void seq_buf_clear(struct seq_buf *s)
s->buffer[0] = '\0';
}
+/**
+ * seq_buf_init - initialize a seq_buf
+ * @s: the seq_buf handle
+ * @buf: pointer to the buffer
+ * @size: total size of @buf
+ *
+ * The contents of the buffer are ignored.
+ */
static inline void
seq_buf_init(struct seq_buf *s, char *buf, unsigned int size)
{
diff --git a/lib/seq_buf.c b/lib/seq_buf.c
index 7e3bf837da01..1c86eae9e188 100644
--- a/lib/seq_buf.c
+++ b/lib/seq_buf.c
@@ -407,12 +407,13 @@ int seq_buf_to_user(struct seq_buf *s, char __user *ubuf, size_t start, int cnt)
*
* Function is an analogue of print_hex_dump() and thus has similar interface.
*
- * linebuf size is maximal length for one line.
- * 32 * 3 - maximum bytes per line, each printed into 2 chars + 1 for
- * separating space
- * 2 - spaces separating hex dump and ASCII representation
- * 32 - ASCII representation
- * 1 - terminating '\0'
+ * linebuf size is maximal length for one line::
+ *
+ * 32 * 3 - maximum bytes per line, each printed into 2 chars + 1 for
+ * separating space
+ * 2 - spaces separating hex dump and ASCII representation
+ * 32 - ASCII representation
+ * 1 - terminating '\0'
*
* Returns: zero on success, -1 on overflow.
*/
--
2.34.1