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-rw-r--r--Documentation/CodingStyle22
1 files changed, 15 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/CodingStyle b/Documentation/CodingStyle
index 7fe0546c504a..6b6bef31e956 100644
--- a/Documentation/CodingStyle
+++ b/Documentation/CodingStyle
@@ -660,15 +660,23 @@ There are a number of driver model diagnostic macros in <linux/device.h>
which you should use to make sure messages are matched to the right device
and driver, and are tagged with the right level: dev_err(), dev_warn(),
dev_info(), and so forth. For messages that aren't associated with a
-particular device, <linux/printk.h> defines pr_debug() and pr_info().
+particular device, <linux/printk.h> defines pr_notice(), pr_info(),
+pr_warn(), pr_err(), etc.
Coming up with good debugging messages can be quite a challenge; and once
-you have them, they can be a huge help for remote troubleshooting. Such
-messages should be compiled out when the DEBUG symbol is not defined (that
-is, by default they are not included). When you use dev_dbg() or pr_debug(),
-that's automatic. Many subsystems have Kconfig options to turn on -DDEBUG.
-A related convention uses VERBOSE_DEBUG to add dev_vdbg() messages to the
-ones already enabled by DEBUG.
+you have them, they can be a huge help for remote troubleshooting. However
+debug message printing is handled differently than printing other non-debug
+messages. While the other pr_XXX() functions print unconditionally,
+pr_debug() does not; it is compiled out by default, unless either DEBUG is
+defined or CONFIG_DYNAMIC_DEBUG is set. That is true for dev_dbg() also,
+and a related convention uses VERBOSE_DEBUG to add dev_vdbg() messages to
+the ones already enabled by DEBUG.
+
+Many subsystems have Kconfig debug options to turn on -DDEBUG in the
+corresponding Makefile; in other cases specific files #define DEBUG. And
+when a debug message should be unconditionally printed, such as if it is
+already inside a debug-related #ifdef secton, printk(KERN_DEBUG ...) can be
+used.
Chapter 14: Allocating memory