Until now checkpatch had two divergent code paths: the local meson
'check' target ran 'checkpatch.pl --no-tree -f' against every tracked
source file, while the CI workflow used the webispy/checkpatch-action
action, which runs checkpatch in patch mode against each commit in the
PR. The two modes report different defects -- in particular, file mode
flags style issues in long-untouched code and skips commit-log checks,
while patch mode validates the commit message (Signed-off-by, subject
length, ...) and only inspects added/changed lines. Contributors could
end up with a green local 'check' but a red CI run, and vice versa.
Introduce a 'check-range' mode in scripts/checkpatch_wrapper.sh that
mirrors what the GitHub Action does: iterate over every commit in
CHECKPATCH_BASE..CHECKPATCH_HEAD (defaulting to origin/master..HEAD),
feed each commit through 'git format-patch -1 --stdout' and pipe the
result into checkpatch.pl. All commits are processed even on failure
so the user sees every offending commit in one go.
Expose the new mode as a meson run_target ('meson compile check-range
-C build') and switch the CI workflow to invoke the wrapper directly
with the PR base/head SHAs, so local and CI invocations exercise the
exact same code path. Document the new target in README under the
Contributing section.
Signed-off-by: Igor Opaniuk <igor.opaniuk@oss.qualcomm.com>
Replace the existing Makefile-based build system with Meson to improve
build performance, cross-platform support, and maintainability.
Key improvements:
* Build performance: Shared source files (sahara.c, util.c, oscompat.c,
ux.c, sim.c, io.c) are now compiled once and linked into multiple
targets instead of being compiled separately for each executable.
This reduces total compilation units from ~30 to ~20 and speeds up
build.
Full build benchmark results below
Before (Make): $ time make
...
real 0m1.668s
user 0m1.424s
sys 0m0.242s
After (Meson): $ time bash -c '
meson setup build
meson compile -C build
'
...
real 0m0.759s
user 0m0.877s
sys 0m0.237s
* Flexible build directory: Unlike Make which builds in-tree, Meson
supports out-of-tree builds with custom build directories.
Example workflows:
meson setup builddir # Default debug build
meson setup build-release --buildtype=release
meson setup build-asan -Db_sanitize=address
meson setup build-arm64 --cross-file=aarch64-linux.txt
This enables:
- Multiple build configurations simultaneously
- Clean source tree (no .o files polluting git status)
- Easy comparison between debug/release builds
- Separate builds for different architectures
* Cross-compilation: Native support for cross-compilation via Meson
cross-files enables building for multiple architectures without
requiring separate build runners for each target platform.
Before (Make): Requires native ARM64 runner in GitHub Actions
runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-arm # Dedicated ARM64 hardware
run: make
After (Meson): Cross-compile from x64 host
runs-on: ubuntu-24.04 # x64 host
run: |
meson setup build-arm64 --cross-file=ci/aarch64-linux.txt
meson compile -C build-arm64
* Automatic dependency tracking: Meson automatically tracks header
dependencies, eliminating the need for manual dependency declarations
and preventing missed recompilation on header changes.
Before (Make): Manual dependency tracking
util.o: version.h # Must be manually maintained
After (Meson): Automatic header scanning
# No manual declarations needed
# Changing qdl.h automatically rebuilds all files that include it
Result: Prevents subtle bugs where changing a header doesn't trigger
necessary recompilation.
* Platform handling: Windows-specific linking (ws2_32) and platform
detection are now handled declaratively without shell conditionals.
* Testing integration: Test suite is now integrated into the build
system with proper dependency tracking and timeout handling.
Before (Make):
make tests # Shells out to bash script
After (Meson):
meson test -C builddir
meson test -C builddir --verbose
meson test -C builddir --wrapper='valgrind --leak-check=full'
Result: Better test output formatting, timeout handling, and ability
to run tests under valgrind or sanitizers.
* Installation: Standard installation paths and packaging support
through Meson's built-in install infrastructure.
Before (Make):
make install prefix=/usr/local DESTDIR=/tmp/package
After (Meson):
meson setup builddir --prefix=/usr/local
DESTDIR=/tmp/package meson install -C builddir
# Correctly installs to:
# - /usr/local/bin/{qdl,qdl-ramdump,ks}
# - /usr/local/share/man/man1/{qdl.1,qdl-ramdump.1,ks.1}
Result: Better integration with distribution packaging (Debian .deb,
RPM) and standard FHS paths.
Migration maintains full feature parity with the existing build system:
- All three executables (qdl, qdl-ramdump, ks) build correctly
- Version string generation from git tags
- Optional man page generation
- Support for Linux, macOS, and Windows (MSYS2/MinGW)
- Recreated tests integration via Meson’s test() function,
including support for script arguments (e.g. --builddir)
Usage:
$ meson setup build
$ meson compile -C build
$ meson test -C build
$ meson compile check -C build
Signed-off-by: Igor Opaniuk <igor.opaniuk@oss.qualcomm.com>
Igor Opaniuk