Create printk@lists.linux.dev

Create printk@lists.linux.dev

[Petr Mladek]

Address    : printk@lists.linux.dev
Description: Linux printk and kernel string formatting development
Owners     : pmladek@suse.com, john.ogness@linutronix.de, andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com, rostedt@goodmis.org
Allow HTML : N
Archives   : Y

Reasons for the list and additional info:

Honestly, the main motivation is to allow sending Sashiko review
for changes in PRINTK and VSPRINTF subsystems as a reply to
the mailing list.

I have discussed this with John at Plumbers conference. We both
agree that Sashiko review is useful and often has to be addressed.
It is much easier to reply a mail than searching for the review
via the WebUI, copy/paste it to a mail, and comment on it.

In addition, there are several people interested into printk and
string formatting code. The mailing list would make it easier to get
all interested people notified about new patches and problems
in this area.

That said, printk and string formatting are related only to some
degree. The printk() code is more about tricks how to store
the messages and show them in various context. While the string
formatting is about tricky buffer manipulation and helpers for
generating a human readable output of various data structures.

There is only partial overlap of people interested into these
two areas. Each group might deserve its own mailing list. But
I would start simple with a common mailing list. We could always
add another one when needed.

Best Regards,
Petr

Re: Create printk@lists.linux.dev

[David Laight]

On Fri, 9 Oct 2026 15:27:07 +0200
Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> wrote:

> Address    : printk@lists.linux.dev
> Description: Linux printk and kernel string formatting development
> Owners     : pmladek@suse.com, john.ogness@linutronix.de, andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com, rostedt@goodmis.org
> Allow HTML : N
> Archives   : Y
> 
> Reasons for the list and additional info:
> 
> Honestly, the main motivation is to allow sending Sashiko review
> for changes in PRINTK and VSPRINTF subsystems as a reply to
> the mailing list.

There is also the smaller/faster printf code in 'nolibc'.
Might be worth mentioning that as well.

David

> 
> I have discussed this with John at Plumbers conference. We both
> agree that Sashiko review is useful and often has to be addressed.
> It is much easier to reply a mail than searching for the review
> via the WebUI, copy/paste it to a mail, and comment on it.
> 
> In addition, there are several people interested into printk and
> string formatting code. The mailing list would make it easier to get
> all interested people notified about new patches and problems
> in this area.
> 
> That said, printk and string formatting are related only to some
> degree. The printk() code is more about tricks how to store
> the messages and show them in various context. While the string
> formatting is about tricky buffer manipulation and helpers for
> generating a human readable output of various data structures.
> 
> There is only partial overlap of people interested into these
> two areas. Each group might deserve its own mailing list. But
> I would start simple with a common mailing list. We could always
> add another one when needed.
> 
> Best Regards,
> Petr

Re: Create printk@lists.linux.dev

[Willy Tarreau]

On Fri, Oct 09, 2026 at 03:26:27PM +0100, David Laight wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Oct 2026 15:27:07 +0200
> Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> wrote:
> 
> > Address    : printk@lists.linux.dev
> > Description: Linux printk and kernel string formatting development
> > Owners     : pmladek@suse.com, john.ogness@linutronix.de, andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com, rostedt@goodmis.org
> > Allow HTML : N
> > Archives   : Y
> > 
> > Reasons for the list and additional info:
> > 
> > Honestly, the main motivation is to allow sending Sashiko review
> > for changes in PRINTK and VSPRINTF subsystems as a reply to
> > the mailing list.
> 
> There is also the smaller/faster printf code in 'nolibc'.
> Might be worth mentioning that as well.

Better not mix the two, nolibc is purely user land code and doesn't
have the same constraints.

Willy

Re: Create printk@lists.linux.dev

[David Laight]

On Fri, 9 Oct 2026 17:00:53 +0200
Willy Tarreau <w@1wt.eu> wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 09, 2026 at 03:26:27PM +0100, David Laight wrote:
> > On Fri, 9 Oct 2026 15:27:07 +0200
> > Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > Address    : printk@lists.linux.dev
> > > Description: Linux printk and kernel string formatting development
> > > Owners     : pmladek@suse.com, john.ogness@linutronix.de, andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com, rostedt@goodmis.org
> > > Allow HTML : N
> > > Archives   : Y
> > > 
> > > Reasons for the list and additional info:
> > > 
> > > Honestly, the main motivation is to allow sending Sashiko review
> > > for changes in PRINTK and VSPRINTF subsystems as a reply to
> > > the mailing list.  
> > 
> > There is also the smaller/faster printf code in 'nolibc'.
> > Might be worth mentioning that as well.  
> 
> Better not mix the two, nolibc is purely user land code and doesn't
> have the same constraints.

The kernel version is actually horrid, rewriting based (loosely) on the nolibc
version might be an improvement.
But I'm not sure how I could do it without it mostly being 'one big patch'.
The nolibc version is much more of an embedded system version and a usual libc one.
Things like not calling a function to add every character to the output help!

David

> 
> Willy

Re: Create printk@lists.linux.dev

[Willy Tarreau]

On Fri, Oct 09, 2026 at 06:34:27PM +0100, David Laight wrote:
> On Fri, 9 Oct 2026 17:00:53 +0200
> Willy Tarreau <w@1wt.eu> wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Oct 09, 2026 at 03:26:27PM +0100, David Laight wrote:
> > > On Fri, 9 Oct 2026 15:27:07 +0200
> > > Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> wrote:
> > >   
> > > > Address    : printk@lists.linux.dev
> > > > Description: Linux printk and kernel string formatting development
> > > > Owners     : pmladek@suse.com, john.ogness@linutronix.de, andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com, rostedt@goodmis.org
> > > > Allow HTML : N
> > > > Archives   : Y
> > > > 
> > > > Reasons for the list and additional info:
> > > > 
> > > > Honestly, the main motivation is to allow sending Sashiko review
> > > > for changes in PRINTK and VSPRINTF subsystems as a reply to
> > > > the mailing list.  
> > > 
> > > There is also the smaller/faster printf code in 'nolibc'.
> > > Might be worth mentioning that as well.  
> > 
> > Better not mix the two, nolibc is purely user land code and doesn't
> > have the same constraints.
> 
> The kernel version is actually horrid, rewriting based (loosely) on the nolibc
> version might be an improvement.
> But I'm not sure how I could do it without it mostly being 'one big patch'.
> The nolibc version is much more of an embedded system version and a usual libc one.
> Things like not calling a function to add every character to the output help!

There's obviously nothing wrong with taking inspiration or code there, but
I meant we should not pollute printk() discussions with nolibc's constraints
and use cases.

Willy