ctags or similar tagging system for a kernel source tree

Question

ctags is a simple source code tagging system, also integrated in vi (and its flavours nvi, vim, etc.). AFAIK, it builds a plain text file where all the elements (functions, macros, ...) of the source code are indexed. But this file may become too large and unmanageable when the source code tree is extremely huge: this is the case of a kernel (Linux, *BSD, or similar).

• Is still ctags or exuberant-ctags suitable for a complex source tree like a kernel?
• If not, what tools (with the same integration in vi as ctags) can replace it? This may become subjective, so if possible provide a list of suggested tools: any comments, and references to a guide with the keyboard shortcuts in vi, are welcome.

Supported languages should be at least C, C++, assembly. The tool should be usable through CLI. I would principally like to jump to the definition of functions, macros, struct and similar objects (with ctags, pressing Ctrl+] with the cursor over the item name), to their manpages if possible, and back to the code.

The only alternative tool I know so far is GNU global, with a pretty complex vi integration, which seems to be possible only through Perl (and I can't find the equivalent of Ctrl+]).

Answer 1

The answer to your first point is a resounding yes. You can use ctags to generate a tags file for different subtrees, thus keeping the size of the generated file to a minimum. At this point, you need to have a mechanism in place for searching for these multiple tags files. Vim provides this, of course.

I have given some advice here, so you may want to check that out.

Of course, I use exuberant-ctags there, so keep that in mind.