[RFC v4 2/4] add -Wformat

Ben Dooks <[email protected]> Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:05:30 +0100
Newsgroups org.kernel.vger.linux-sparse
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Add option to enable/disable format checking (and default it to off)

Signed-off-by: Ben Dooks <[email protected]>
---
 options.c | 2 ++
 options.h | 1 +
 sparse.1  | 8 ++++++++
 3 files changed, 11 insertions(+)

diff --git a/options.c b/options.c
index 6ee4d878..54ac00b4 100644
--- a/options.c
+++ b/options.c
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ int Wflexible_array_array = 1;
 int Wflexible_array_nested = 0;
 int Wflexible_array_sizeof = 0;
 int Wflexible_array_union = 0;
+int Wformat = 0;
 int Wimplicit_int = 1;
 int Winit_cstring = 0;
 int Wint_to_pointer_cast = 1;
@@ -865,6 +866,7 @@ static const struct flag warnings[] = {
 	{ "flexible-array-nested", &Wflexible_array_nested },
 	{ "flexible-array-sizeof", &Wflexible_array_sizeof },
 	{ "flexible-array-union", &Wflexible_array_union },
+	{ "format", &Wformat },
 	{ "implicit-int", &Wimplicit_int },
 	{ "init-cstring", &Winit_cstring },
 	{ "int-to-pointer-cast", &Wint_to_pointer_cast },
diff --git a/options.h b/options.h
index c2a9551a..105c45d0 100644
--- a/options.h
+++ b/options.h
@@ -106,6 +106,7 @@ extern int Wflexible_array_array;
 extern int Wflexible_array_nested;
 extern int Wflexible_array_sizeof;
 extern int Wflexible_array_union;
+extern int Wformat;
 extern int Wimplicit_int;
 extern int Winit_cstring;
 extern int Wint_to_pointer_cast;
diff --git a/sparse.1 b/sparse.1
index 2fba7e7a..64b0571e 100644
--- a/sparse.1
+++ b/sparse.1
@@ -285,6 +285,14 @@ To have any effect, at least one of \fB-Wflexible-array-array\fR,
 be enabled.
 
 Sparse does issue these warnings by default.
+.B \-Wformat
+Warn about parameter mismatch to any variadic function which specifies
+where the format string is specified with the 
+.BI __attribute__((format( type, message, va_start )))
+attribute.
+
+Sparse does not issue these warnings by default. To turn them on, use
+\fB\-W-format\fR.
 .
 .TP
 .B \-Winit\-cstring
-- 
2.37.2.352.g3c44437643