Re: Checkpatch ignores spelling error by using -f

From: Joe Perches
Date: Wed Dec 06 2017 - 09:52:44 EST


On Wed, 2017-12-06 at 15:13 +0100, Rolf Evers-Fischer wrote:
> Hello,
> I've just checked the file drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_omap.c, using
> checkpatch.pl, but I forgot the '-f' option (for file).
>
> Surprisingly the checkpatch script reported a misspelling:
>
> "WARNING: 'additionaly' may be misspelled - perhaps 'additionally'?
> #417:
> * We enable TRIG_GRANU for RX and TX and additionaly we set"
>
> Additionally it reported that the file does not appear to be a
> unified-diff (due to my mistake).
>
> Running checkpatch again with '-f', it didn't report any problems:
>
> "drivers/tty/serial/8250/8250_omap.c has no obvious style problems and is
> ready for submission."
>
> Is this a bug in checkpatch.pl? Or is it a feature?

feature. kinda.

checkpatch reports spelling errors in commit messages.

Without the -f, checkpatch is reading its input as a
commit message before expecting to find a diff/patch.