[PATCH 2/2] docs: changes: better document Python needs

From: Mauro Carvalho Chehab
Date: Mon Jul 28 2025 - 10:55:01 EST


Python is listed as an optional dependency, but this is not
true, as:

1) CONFIG_LTO_CLANG runs a python script at scripts/Makefile.vmlinux_o;

2) kernel-doc is called during compilation when some DRM options
like CONFIG_DRM_I915_WERROR are enabled;

3) allyesconfig/allmodconfig will enable both.

So, better document that.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/process/changes.rst | 13 ++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/process/changes.rst b/Documentation/process/changes.rst
index bccfa19b45df..f6abecf6da86 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/changes.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/changes.rst
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ Sphinx\ [#f1]_ 3.4.3 sphinx-build --version
GNU tar 1.28 tar --version
gtags (optional) 6.6.5 gtags --version
mkimage (optional) 2017.01 mkimage --version
-Python (optional) 3.9.x python3 --version
+Python 3.9.x python3 --version
GNU AWK (optional) 5.1.0 gawk --version
====================== =============== ========================================

@@ -154,6 +154,17 @@ Perl
You will need perl 5 and the following modules: ``Getopt::Long``,
``Getopt::Std``, ``File::Basename``, and ``File::Find`` to build the kernel.

+Python
+------
+
+CONFIG_LTO_CLANG requires python 2.7 or 3.0+; some DRM config options like
+CONFIG_DRM_I915_WERROR require at least Python 2.7 or 3.4+.
+
+The kernel-doc tool and docs build require at least 3.6, but they depend on
+dict changes that happened on 3.7 to produce valid results.
+
+Other tools within the Kernel tree require newer versions.
+
BC
--

--
2.49.0