@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ my $V = '0.32';
 use Getopt::Long qw(:config no_auto_abbrev);
 
 my $quiet = 0;
+my $verbose = 0;
+my %verbose_messages = ();
+my %verbose_emitted = ();
 my $tree = 1;
 my $chk_signoff = 1;
 my $chk_patch = 1;

@@ -61,6 +64,7 @@ my $spelling_file = "$D/spelling.txt";
 my $codespell = 0;
 my $codespellfile = "/usr/share/codespell/dictionary.txt";
 my $conststructsfile = "$D/const_structs.checkpatch";
+my $docsfile = "$D/../Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst";
 my $typedefsfile;
 my $color = "auto";
 my $allow_c99_comments = 1; # Can be overridden by --ignore C99_COMMENT_TOLERANCE

@@ -78,6 +82,7 @@ Version: $V
 
 Options:
   -q, --quiet                quiet
+  -v, --verbose              verbose mode
   --no-tree                  run without a kernel tree
   --no-signoff               do not check for 'Signed-off-by' line
   --patch                    treat FILE as patchfile (default)

@@ -198,6 +203,46 @@ if (-f $conf) {
 	unshift(@ARGV, @conf_args) if @conf_args;
 }
 
+sub load_docs {
+	open(my $docs, '<', "$docsfile")
+	    or warn "$P: Can't read the documentation file $docsfile $!\n";
+
+	my $type = '';
+	my $desc = '';
+	my $in_desc = 0;
+
+	while (<$docs>) {
+		chomp;
+		my $line = $_;
+		$line =~ s/\s+$//;
+
+		if ($line =~ /^\s*\*\*(.+)\*\*$/) {
+			if ($desc ne '') {
+				$verbose_messages{$type} = trim($desc);
+			}
+			$type = $1;
+			$desc = '';
+			$in_desc = 1;
+		} elsif ($in_desc) {
+			if ($line =~ /^(?:\s{4,}|$)/) {
+				$line =~ s/^\s{4}//;
+				$desc .= $line;
+				$desc .= "\n";
+			} else {
+				$verbose_messages{$type} = trim($desc);
+				$type = '';
+				$desc = '';
+				$in_desc = 0;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if ($desc ne '') {
+		$verbose_messages{$type} = trim($desc);
+	}
+	close($docs);
+}
+
 # Perl's Getopt::Long allows options to take optional arguments after a space.
 # Prevent --color by itself from consuming other arguments
 foreach (@ARGV) {

@@ -208,6 +253,7 @@ foreach (@ARGV) {
 
 GetOptions(
 	'q|quiet+'	=> \$quiet,
+	'v|verbose!'	=> \$verbose,
 	'tree!'		=> \$tree,
 	'signoff!'	=> \$chk_signoff,
 	'patch!'	=> \$chk_patch,

@@ -247,13 +293,15 @@ GetOptions(
 
 help(0) if ($help);
 
+die "$P: --git cannot be used with --file or --fix\n" if ($git && ($file || $fix));
+die "$P: --verbose cannot be used with --terse\n" if ($verbose && $terse);
+
 list_types(0) if ($list_types);
+load_docs() if ($verbose);
 
 $fix = 1 if ($fix_inplace);
 $check_orig = $check;
 
-die "$P: --git cannot be used with --file or --fix\n" if ($git && ($file || $fix));
-
 my $exit = 0;
 
 my $perl_version_ok = 1;

@@ -2209,7 +2257,16 @@ sub report {
 		splice(@lines, 1, 1);
 		$output = join("\n", @lines);
 	}
-	$output = (split('\n', $output))[0] . "\n" if ($terse);
+
+	if ($terse) {
+		$output = (split('\n', $output))[0] . "\n";
+	}
+
+	if ($verbose && exists($verbose_messages{$type}) &&
+	    !exists($verbose_emitted{$type})) {
+		$output .= $verbose_messages{$type} . "\n\n";
+		$verbose_emitted{$type} = 1;
+	}
 
 	push(our @report, $output);