[PATCH] docs: automarkup.py: Skip common English words as C identifiers

From: Yulong Han

Date: Sun Jan 25 2026 - 07:45:12 EST


From: wheatfox <wheatfox17@xxxxxxxxxx>

The automarkup extension incorrectly recognizes common English words
as C identifiers when they follow struct/union/enum/typedef keywords,
causing normal text like "... (a simple) struct that" (in `workqueue.rst`)
to be rendered as code blocks.

This patch adds Skipidentifiers list to filter out these words.

Signed-off-by: Yulong Han <wheatfox17@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/sphinx/automarkup.py | 10 ++++++++++
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/sphinx/automarkup.py b/Documentation/sphinx/automarkup.py
index 1d9dada40a74..c2227ab0a891 100644
--- a/Documentation/sphinx/automarkup.py
+++ b/Documentation/sphinx/automarkup.py
@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@ RE_namespace = re.compile(r'^\s*..\s*c:namespace::\s*(\S+)\s*$')
#
Skipnames = [ 'for', 'if', 'register', 'sizeof', 'struct', 'unsigned' ]

+#
+# Common English words that should not be recognized as C identifiers
+# when following struct/union/enum/typedef keywords.
+# Example: "a simple struct that" in workqueue.rst should not be marked as code.
+#
+Skipidentifiers = [ 'that', 'which', 'where', 'whose' ]

#
# Many places in the docs refer to common system calls. It is
@@ -163,6 +169,10 @@ def markup_c_ref(docname, app, match):
if c_namespace:
possible_targets.insert(0, c_namespace + "." + base_target)

+ # Skip common English words that match identifier pattern but are not C code.
+ if base_target in Skipidentifiers:
+ return target_text
+
if base_target not in Skipnames:
for target in possible_targets:
if not (match.re == RE_function and target in Skipfuncs):
--
2.47.3