Kernel CI for Linux (GitHub Actions)

This CI workflow builds the Linux kernel for the specified branch or commit, supporting GCC and Clang on ARM64 or x86 runners.

Overview

The pipeline performs the following:

1. Builds selected configs (defconfig, cix.config, allyesconfig, etc.)
2. Enforces strict warnings (CONFIG_WERROR=y, CONFIG_SECTION_MISMATCH_WARN_ONLY=n)
3. Supports optional caching and clean builds
4. Supports optional checkpatch validation
5. Optionally uploads build artifacts

Configuration

You can trigger this workflow manually under the Actions tab or automatically on commits to tracked branches.

Input	Description	Default
clean	Clean cached builds before running	false
arch	Target architecture (arm64 or x86_64)	arm64
compiler	Compiler to use (gcc or clang)	gcc
configs	Comma-separated list of configs	defconfig,cix,allyesconfig,allmodconfig
additional_make_vars	Extra vars (e.g. KCFLAGS=-O3)	empty
enable_checkpatch	Run checkpatch validation	false
enable_artifacts	Upload build artifacts	false
concurrency_limit	Max parallel jobs	2

Helper Scripts

• .github/scripts/merge-overlay.sh: merges a base and overlay config
• .github/scripts/set-kconfig-option.sh: forces config values

Example

To build the kernel using Clang and KCFLAGS=-O3:

gh workflow run Kernel-CI --ref v6.6-mybranch -f compiler=clang -f additional_make_vars="KCFLAGS=-O3"

Extending

You can pin toolchains or use Docker containers by extending the setup stage.

• Pin toolchains: Download specific GCC/Clang versions at setup.
• Custom containers: Set container: in the job definition.
• Reproducible toolchains: Use known tarballs (e.g. from kernel.org toolchains).