kconfig: Add transitional symbol attribute for migration support

During kernel option migrations (e.g. CONFIG_CFI_CLANG to CONFIG_CFI),
existing .config files need to maintain backward compatibility while
preventing deprecated options from appearing in newly generated
configurations. This is challenging with existing Kconfig mechanisms
because:

1. Simply removing old options breaks existing .config files.
2. Manually listing an option as "deprecated" leaves it needlessly
   visible and still writes them to new .config files.
3. Using any method to remove visibility (.e.g no 'prompt', 'if n',
   etc) prevents the option from being processed at all.

Add a "transitional" attribute that creates symbols which are:
- Processed during configuration (can influence other symbols' defaults)
- Hidden from user menus (no prompts appear)
- Omitted from newly written .config files (gets migrated)
- Restricted to only having help sections (no defaults, selects, etc)
  making it truly just a "prior value pass-through" option.

The transitional syntax requires a type argument and prevents type
redefinition:

    config NEW_OPTION
        bool "New option"
        default OLD_OPTION

    config OLD_OPTION
        bool
        transitional
        help
          Transitional config for OLD_OPTION migration.

This allows seamless migration: olddefconfig processes existing
CONFIG_OLD_OPTION=y settings to enable CONFIG_NEW_OPTION=y, while
CONFIG_OLD_OPTION is omitted from newly generated .config files.

Added positive and negative testing via "testconfig" make target.

Co-developed-by: Vegard Nossum <vegard.nossum@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Vegard Nossum <vegard.nossum@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
Tested-by: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250923213422.1105654-2-kees@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>

1 files changed, 47 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/scripts/kconfig/parser.y b/scripts/kconfig/parser.y
index e9c3c664e925..49b79dde1725 100644
--- a/scripts/kconfig/parser.y
+++ b/scripts/kconfig/parser.y
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ struct menu *current_menu, *current_entry, *current_choice;
 %token T_SELECT
 %token T_SOURCE
 %token T_STRING
+%token T_TRANSITIONAL
 %token T_TRISTATE
 %token T_VISIBLE
 %token T_EOL
@@ -205,6 +206,12 @@ config_option: T_PROMPT T_WORD_QUOTE if_expr T_EOL
 	printd(DEBUG_PARSE, "%s:%d:prompt\n", cur_filename, cur_lineno);
 };
 
+config_option: T_TRANSITIONAL T_EOL
+{
+	current_entry->sym->flags |= SYMBOL_TRANS;
+	printd(DEBUG_PARSE, "%s:%d:transitional\n", cur_filename, cur_lineno);
+};
+
 config_option: default expr if_expr T_EOL
 {
 	menu_add_expr(P_DEFAULT, $2, $3);
@@ -483,6 +490,43 @@ assign_val:
 %%
 
 /**
+ * transitional_check_sanity - check transitional symbols have no other
+ *			       properties
+ *
+ * @menu: menu of the potentially transitional symbol
+ *
+ * Return: -1 if an error is found, 0 otherwise.
+ */
+static int transitional_check_sanity(const struct menu *menu)
+{
+	struct property *prop;
+
+	if (!menu->sym || !(menu->sym->flags & SYMBOL_TRANS))
+		return 0;
+
+	/* Check for depends and visible conditions. */
+	if ((menu->dep && !expr_is_yes(menu->dep)) ||
+	    (menu->visibility && !expr_is_yes(menu->visibility))) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: error: %s",
+			menu->filename, menu->lineno,
+			"transitional symbols can only have help sections\n");
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	/* Check for any property other than "help". */
+	for (prop = menu->sym->prop; prop; prop = prop->next) {
+		if (prop->type != P_COMMENT) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "%s:%d: error: %s",
+				prop->filename, prop->lineno,
+				"transitional symbols can only have help sections\n");
+			return -1;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/**
  * choice_check_sanity - check sanity of a choice member
  *
  * @menu: menu of the choice member
@@ -558,6 +602,9 @@ void conf_parse(const char *name)
 		if (menu->sym && sym_check_deps(menu->sym))
 			yynerrs++;
 
+		if (transitional_check_sanity(menu))
+			yynerrs++;
+
 		if (menu->sym && sym_is_choice(menu->sym)) {
 			menu_for_each_sub_entry(child, menu)
 				if (child->sym && choice_check_sanity(child))