[PATCH] kconfig: fix submenu rendering of negative dependencies
From: Julian Braha
Date: Tue Jul 21 2026 - 15:40:25 EST
This fixes the "ironic visualization" issue reported here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-kbuild/cbe95c15d2760f6fce8eaf207c969ce8fd3703aa.camel@xxxxxxxxxxx/
where a config option FOO is nested in the submenu of the previous option
BAR, despite FOO actually depending on !BAR.
I've only tested locally on x86, but as far as I can tell, this only
changes how 2 options are rendered in the menu:
1. NTFS3_FS, no longer in the NTFS_FS submenu, and
2. MTD_BLOCK_RO, no longer in the MTD_BLOCK submenu.
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-4.8-opus
Signed-off-by: Julian Braha <julianbraha@xxxxxxxxx>
---
scripts/kconfig/expr.c | 33 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
scripts/kconfig/expr.h | 1 +
scripts/kconfig/menu.c | 10 ++++++++++
3 files changed, 44 insertions(+)
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/expr.c b/scripts/kconfig/expr.c
index 16f92c4a775a..2b91d16bf14f 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/expr.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/expr.c
@@ -738,6 +738,39 @@ bool expr_contains_symbol(struct expr *dep, struct symbol *sym)
return false;
}
+/*
+ * Check if the expression references 'sym' in a way that is satisfiable
+ * with 'sym' disabled, e.g.'sym!=y'.
+ *
+ * Expects that expr_transform() was already called on 'expr'.
+ */
+bool expr_contains_symbol_negated(struct expr *dep, struct symbol *sym)
+{
+ if (!dep)
+ return false;
+
+ switch (dep->type) {
+ case E_AND:
+ case E_OR:
+ return expr_contains_symbol_negated(dep->left.expr, sym) ||
+ expr_contains_symbol_negated(dep->right.expr, sym);
+ case E_NOT:
+ return dep->left.expr->type == E_SYMBOL &&
+ dep->left.expr->left.sym == sym;
+ case E_EQUAL:
+ /* sym=n */
+ return dep->left.sym == sym && dep->right.sym == &symbol_no;
+ case E_UNEQUAL:
+ /* sym!=y, sym!=m */
+ return dep->left.sym == sym &&
+ (dep->right.sym == &symbol_yes ||
+ dep->right.sym == &symbol_mod);
+ default:
+ break;
+ }
+ return false;
+}
+
bool expr_depends_symbol(struct expr *dep, struct symbol *sym)
{
if (!dep)
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/expr.h b/scripts/kconfig/expr.h
index fa3823a97d72..b580f9fa0f29 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/expr.h
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/expr.h
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ tristate expr_calc_value(struct expr *e);
struct expr *expr_eliminate_dups(struct expr *e);
struct expr *expr_transform(struct expr *e);
bool expr_contains_symbol(struct expr *dep, struct symbol *sym);
+bool expr_contains_symbol_negated(struct expr *dep, struct symbol *sym);
bool expr_depends_symbol(struct expr *dep, struct symbol *sym);
struct expr *expr_trans_compare(struct expr *e, enum expr_type type, struct symbol *sym);
diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/menu.c b/scripts/kconfig/menu.c
index b2d8d4e11e07..9c079e92a9ed 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/menu.c
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/menu.c
@@ -428,9 +428,19 @@ static void _menu_finalize(struct menu *parent, bool inside_choice)
if (!expr_contains_symbol(dep, sym))
/* No dependency, quit */
break;
+ /*
+ * Note that it's actually possible to depend on both
+ * 'SYM!=y' and 'SYM=y', so we need to first check if
+ * it's a positive dependency before checking if it's
+ * a negative dependency. See example:
+ * 'SFC && MTD && !(SFC=y && MTD=m)'
+ */
if (expr_depends_symbol(dep, sym))
/* Absolute dependency, put in submenu */
goto next;
+ if (expr_contains_symbol_negated(dep, sym))
+ /* Negative dependency, quit */
+ break;
/*
* Also consider it a dependency on sym if our
--
2.54.0