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-rw-r--r--Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.rst15
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diff --git a/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.rst b/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.rst
index 3f1697ce1cd4..d36768cf1250 100644
--- a/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.rst
+++ b/Documentation/kbuild/makefiles.rst
@@ -319,6 +319,21 @@ more details, with real examples.
that directory specifies obj-y, those objects will be left orphan.
It is very likely a bug of the Makefile or of dependencies in Kconfig.
+ Kbuild also supports dedicated syntax, subdir-y and subdir-m, for
+ descending into subdirectories. It is a good fit when you know they
+ do not contain kernel-space objects at all. A typical usage is to let
+ Kbuild descend into subdirectories to build tools.
+
+ Examples::
+
+ # scripts/Makefile
+ subdir-$(CONFIG_GCC_PLUGINS) += gcc-plugins
+ subdir-$(CONFIG_MODVERSIONS) += genksyms
+ subdir-$(CONFIG_SECURITY_SELINUX) += selinux
+
+ Unlike obj-y/m, subdir-y/m does not need the trailing slash since this
+ syntax is always used for directories.
+
It is good practice to use a `CONFIG_` variable when assigning directory
names. This allows kbuild to totally skip the directory if the
corresponding `CONFIG_` option is neither 'y' nor 'm'.