[PATCH v3 6/7] MIPS: Reword KBUILD_SYM32 documentation for clarity

From: Maciej W. Rozycki

Date: Sat Sep 19 2026 - 11:15:37 EST


It is currently hard to figure out what the inline documentation for the
KBUILD_SYM32 option means as it speaks in generic build/ELF format terms
which can mean just about anything, while the whole point of the option
is whether kernel symbols can or cannot fit in the 32-bit value range.

Adjust the description accordingly and also quote the more correct 'n'
rather than 'no' setting (even though all that matters is whether it's
'y' or not).

Signed-off-by: Maciej W. Rozycki <macro@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
New change in v3.
---
arch/mips/Makefile | 10 ++++++----
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

linux-mips-msym32-doc.diff
Index: linux-macro/arch/mips/Makefile
===================================================================
--- linux-macro.orig/arch/mips/Makefile
+++ linux-macro/arch/mips/Makefile
@@ -285,10 +285,12 @@ cflags-y += -I$(srctree)/arch/mips/inc
drivers-$(CONFIG_PCI) += arch/mips/pci/

#
-# Automatically detect the build format. By default we choose
-# the elf format according to the load address.
-# We can always force a build with a 64-bits symbol format by
-# passing 'KBUILD_SYM32=no' option to the make's command line.
+# Automatically detect whether to build a 64-bit kernel using symbols
+# limited to 32-bit values, which produces more compact code. This
+# relies on the kernel image being linked at a 32-bit load address,
+# which we use to infer whether to use this arrangement for symbols.
+# Use 'make KBUILD_SYM32=n' to override this default choice and force
+# 64-bit symbols to be used instead.
#
ifdef need-compiler
ifdef CONFIG_64BIT