Re: [RFC PATCH] pre-process: add __VA_OPT__ support

On Wed, Apr 01, 2026 at 09:18:34AM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> I suspect this part of the patch is more likely to actually be
> something that somebody may actually want some day:
> 
>   +// We ought to add __builtin_strcmp() support to constant expressions;
>   +// what's more, "foo"[0] should also be recognized as one...
>   +// Sloppy length check for now...
> 
> because yeah, we've actually depended on the compiler just figuring
> some of those kinds of build-time optimizations out before to remove
> dead code etc.

Something like delta below ought to take care of __builtin_strcmp(); figuring
out the things like "ab"[1] being equal to 'b' is something I'd rather
leave for later - at the very least after I resurrect and repost the
busy-wait in shrink_dcache_parent() patchset.  I've really spent way
too much of the last couple of months on digging in sparse ;-/

As for the whitespace handling in preprocessor, I suspect that it'll
end up with several bug reports for gcc and a DR for ISO C folks re
clarifying that part of 6.10; not until summer, probably...

diff --git a/builtin.c b/builtin.c
index a704c5e8..21b41045 100644
--- a/builtin.c
+++ b/builtin.c
@@ -631,6 +631,49 @@ static struct symbol_op strlen_op = {
 	.expand = expand_strlen,
 };
 
+static int evaluate_strcmp(struct expression *expr)
+{
+	struct expression *arg;
+	bool non_const = false;
+
+	FOR_EACH_PTR(expr->args, arg) {
+		if (arg && arg->type == EXPR_SYMBOL)
+			arg = arg->symbol->initializer;
+		if (!arg || arg->type != EXPR_STRING || !arg->string->length)
+			non_const = true;
+	} END_FOR_EACH_PTR(arg);
+	if (!non_const)
+		expr->flags |= CEF_ICE;
+	return 1;
+}
+
+static int expand_strcmp(struct expression *expr, int cost)
+{
+	struct expression *arg;
+	const char *v[2];
+	int n = 0;
+
+	FOR_EACH_PTR(expr->args, arg) {
+		if (!arg)
+			return UNSAFE;
+		if (arg->type == EXPR_SYMBOL)
+			arg = arg->symbol->initializer;
+		if (!arg || arg->type != EXPR_STRING || !arg->string->length)
+			return UNSAFE;
+		v[n++] = arg->string->data;
+	} END_FOR_EACH_PTR(arg);
+	expr->flags |= CEF_SET_ICE;
+	expr->type = EXPR_VALUE;
+	expr->value = strcmp(v[0], v[1]);
+	expr->taint = 0;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static struct symbol_op strcmp_op = {
+	.evaluate = evaluate_strcmp,
+	.expand = expand_strcmp,
+};
+
 /*
  * Builtin functions
  */
@@ -806,7 +849,7 @@ static const struct builtin_fn builtins_common[] = {
 	{ "__builtin_strcasestr", &string_ctype, 0, { &const_string_ctype, &const_string_ctype }},
 	{ "__builtin_strcat", &string_ctype, 0, { &string_ctype, &const_string_ctype }},
 	{ "__builtin_strchr", &string_ctype, 0, { &const_string_ctype, &int_ctype }},
-	{ "__builtin_strcmp", &int_ctype, 0, { &const_string_ctype, &const_string_ctype }},
+	{ "__builtin_strcmp", &int_ctype, 0, { &const_string_ctype, &const_string_ctype }, .op = &strcmp_op},
 	{ "__builtin_strcpy", &string_ctype, 0, { &string_ctype, &const_string_ctype }},
 	{ "__builtin_strcspn", size_t_ctype, 0, { &const_string_ctype, &const_string_ctype }},
 	{ "__builtin_strdup", &string_ctype, 0, { &const_string_ctype }},
diff --git a/validation/preprocessor/whitespace.c b/validation/preprocessor/whitespace.c
index 27bbea14..4396035b 100644
--- a/validation/preprocessor/whitespace.c
+++ b/validation/preprocessor/whitespace.c
@@ -1,23 +1,9 @@
 #define S(X) #X
 
-#if notyet
 #define EXPECT(X,Y) _Static_assert(__builtin_strcmp(S(X),Y) == 0, \
 				 #X " => " S(X) ", " Y "expected");
 #define Y(M) EXPECT(M(,]),"[ ]")
 #define N(M) EXPECT(M(,]),"[]")
-#else
-
-// We ought to add __builtin_strcmp() support to constant expressions;
-// what's more, "foo"[0] should also be recognized as one...
-// Sloppy length check for now...
-
-#define __Y(X) _Static_assert(__builtin_strlen(S(X)) == 3, \
-				#X " => " S(X) ", [ ] expected");
-#define Y(M) __Y(M(,]))
-#define __N(X) _Static_assert(__builtin_strlen(S(X)) == 2, \
-				#X " => " S(X) ", [] expected");
-#define N(M) __N(M(,]))
-#endif
 
 #define T1(X,R) []	// T
 #define A1(X,R) [R	// A