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docs: process: remove outdated submitting-drivers.rst

Browse Source 
Commit 31b24bee33 ("docs: add a warning to submitting-drivers.rst")
in October 2016 already warns "This (...) should maybe just be deleted,
but I'm not quite ready to do that yet".

Maybe, six years ago, we were not ready but let us remove old content
for the better now and structure and maintain less content in the kernel
documentation with a better result.

Drop this already outdated document and adjust all textual references.

Here is an argument why deleting the content will not remove any useful
information to the existing kernel documentation, individually broken down
for each section.

Section "Allocating Device Numbers" refers to https://www.lanana.org/, and
then refers to Documentation/admin-guide/devices.rst.

However, the devices.rst clearly states:

  "The version of this document at lanana.org is no longer maintained."

Everything needed for submitting drivers is already stated in devices.rst
and the reference to https://www.lanana.org/ is outdated, and should be
just deleted.

Section "Who To Submit Drivers To" is all about Linux 2.0 - 2.6, before
the new release version scheme; the mentioned developers are still around,
but actually not the first developers to contact anymore.

Section "What Criteria Determine Acceptance" has a few bullet points:

Licensing and Copyright is well-covered in process/kernel-license.rst.

Interfaces, Code, Portability, Clarity state some obvious things about
ensuring kernel code quality.

Control suggests to add a MAINTAINERS entry, which is already mentioned in
6.Followthrough.rst: "... added yourself to the MAINTAINERS file..."

PM support states a bit about implementing and testing power management of
a driver, it remains an open question where to place that in the process
documents. Driver developers interested in power management will find the
corresponding part on power management in the kernel documentation anyway.

In section "What Criteria Do Not Determine Acceptance", the points Vendor
and Author states something basic consequence of the kernel being an
open-source community software development. Probably no need to mention it
nowadays.

Section "Resources" lists resources that are also mentioned elsewhere more
central.

  - Linux kernel tree and mailing list is mentioned in many places.
  - https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/ is mentioned in
    Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst.

  - https://lwn.net/ is mentioned in:
    - Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
    - Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst

  - https://kernelnewbies.org/ is mentioned in:
      - Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
      - Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst

  - http://www.linux-usb.org/ is mentioned in
    Documentation/driver-api/usb/usb.rst

  - https://landley.net/kdocs/ols/2002/ols2002-pages-545-555.pdf
    is mentioned in Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst

  - https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors is mentioned in
    Documentation/process/howto.rst

  - https://git-scm.com/ is mentioned in
    - Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
    - Documentation/process/7.AdvancedTopics.rst
    - Documentation/process/howto.rst

Signed-off-by: Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220704122537.3407-7-lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
This commit is contained in:
Lukas Bulwahn 2022-07-04 14:25:32 +02:00 committed by Jonathan Corbet
parent 3cb5e51686
commit 9db370de27
8 changed files with 13 additions and 214 deletions
Show Stats Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

1
Documentation/hwmon/submitting-patches.rst
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@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ increase the chances of your change being accepted.
* It should be unnecessary to mention, but please read and follow:
- Documentation/process/submit-checklist.rst
- Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst
- Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
- Documentation/process/coding-style.rst

3
Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
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@ -755,8 +755,7 @@ make a neat patch, there's administrative work to be done:
it implies a more-than-passing commitment to some part of the code.
- Finally, don't forget to read
``Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst`` and possibly
``Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst``.
``Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst``
Kernel Cantrips
===============

3
Documentation/process/5.Posting.rst
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@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ of conventions and procedures which are used in the posting of patches;
following them will make life much easier for everybody involved. This
document will attempt to cover these expectations in reasonable detail;
more information can also be found in the files
:ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`,
:ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst <submittingdrivers>`
:ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`
and :ref:`Documentation/process/submit-checklist.rst <submitchecklist>`.

16
Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
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@ -5,15 +5,13 @@ For more information
There are numerous sources of information on Linux kernel development and
related topics. First among those will always be the Documentation
directory found in the kernel source distribution. The top-level :ref:`process/howto.rst <process_howto>`
file is an important starting point; :ref:`process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`
and :ref:`process/submitting-drivers.rst <submittingdrivers>`
are also something which all kernel developers should
read. Many internal kernel APIs are documented using the kerneldoc
mechanism; "make htmldocs" or "make pdfdocs" can be used to generate those
documents in HTML or PDF format (though the version of TeX shipped by some
distributions runs into internal limits and fails to process the documents
properly).
directory found in the kernel source distribution. Start with the
top-level :ref:`process/howto.rst <process_howto>`; also read
:ref:`process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`. Many internal
kernel APIs are documented using the kerneldoc mechanism; "make htmldocs"
or "make pdfdocs" can be used to generate those documents in HTML or PDF
format (though the version of TeX shipped by some distributions runs into
internal limits and fails to process the documents properly).
Various web sites discuss kernel development at all levels of detail. Your
author would like to humbly suggest https://lwn.net/ as a source;

4
Documentation/process/howto.rst
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@ -105,8 +105,8 @@ required reading:
patches if these rules are followed, and many people will only
review code if it is in the proper style.
:ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>` and :ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst <submittingdrivers>`
These files describe in explicit detail how to successfully create
:ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`
This file describes in explicit detail how to successfully create
and send a patch, including (but not limited to):
- Email contents

1
Documentation/process/index.rst
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@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ Other guides to the community that are of interest to most developers are:
:maxdepth: 1
changes
submitting-drivers
stable-api-nonsense
management-style
stable-kernel-rules

194
Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst
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@ -1,194 +0,0 @@
.. _submittingdrivers:
Submitting Drivers For The Linux Kernel
=======================================
This document is intended to explain how to submit device drivers to the
various kernel trees. Note that if you are interested in video card drivers
you should probably talk to XFree86 (https://www.xfree86.org/) and/or X.Org
(https://x.org/) instead.
.. note::
This document is old and has seen little maintenance in recent years; it
should probably be updated or, perhaps better, just deleted. Most of
what is here can be found in the other development documents anyway.
Oh, and we don't really recommend submitting changes to XFree86 :)
Also read the :ref:`Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`
document.
Allocating Device Numbers
-------------------------
Major and minor numbers for block and character devices are allocated
by the Linux assigned name and number authority (currently this is
Torben Mathiasen). The site is https://www.lanana.org/. This
also deals with allocating numbers for devices that are not going to
be submitted to the mainstream kernel.
See :ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/devices.rst <admin_devices>`
for more information on this.
If you don't use assigned numbers then when your device is submitted it will
be given an assigned number even if that is different from values you may
have shipped to customers before.
Who To Submit Drivers To
------------------------
Linux 2.0:
No new drivers are accepted for this kernel tree.
Linux 2.2:
No new drivers are accepted for this kernel tree.
Linux 2.4:
If the code area has a general maintainer then please submit it to
the maintainer listed in MAINTAINERS in the kernel file. If the
maintainer does not respond or you cannot find the appropriate
maintainer then please contact Willy Tarreau <w@1wt.eu>.
Linux 2.6 and upper:
The same rules apply as 2.4 except that you should follow linux-kernel
to track changes in API's. The final contact point for Linux 2.6+
submissions is Andrew Morton.
What Criteria Determine Acceptance
----------------------------------
Licensing:
The code must be released to us under the
GNU General Public License. If you wish the driver to be
useful to other communities such as BSD you may release
under multiple licenses. If you choose to release under
licenses other than the GPL, you should include your
rationale for your license choices in your cover letter.
See accepted licenses at include/linux/module.h
Copyright:
The copyright owner must agree to use of GPL.
It's best if the submitter and copyright owner
are the same person/entity. If not, the name of
the person/entity authorizing use of GPL should be
listed in case it's necessary to verify the will of
the copyright owner.
Interfaces:
If your driver uses existing interfaces and behaves like
other drivers in the same class it will be much more likely
to be accepted than if it invents gratuitous new ones.
If you need to implement a common API over Linux and NT
drivers do it in userspace.
Code:
Please use the Linux style of code formatting as documented
in :ref:`Documentation/process/coding-style.rst <codingStyle>`.
If you have sections of code
that need to be in other formats, for example because they
are shared with a windows driver kit and you want to
maintain them just once separate them out nicely and note
this fact.
Portability:
Pointers are not always 32bits, not all computers are little
endian, people do not all have floating point and you
shouldn't use inline x86 assembler in your driver without
careful thought. Pure x86 drivers generally are not popular.
If you only have x86 hardware it is hard to test portability
but it is easy to make sure the code can easily be made
portable.
Clarity:
It helps if anyone can see how to fix the driver. It helps
you because you get patches not bug reports. If you submit a
driver that intentionally obfuscates how the hardware works
it will go in the bitbucket.
PM support:
Since Linux is used on many portable and desktop systems, your
driver is likely to be used on such a system and therefore it
should support basic power management by implementing, if
necessary, the .suspend and .resume methods used during the
system-wide suspend and resume transitions. You should verify
that your driver correctly handles the suspend and resume, but
if you are unable to ensure that, please at least define the
.suspend method returning the -ENOSYS ("Function not
implemented") error. You should also try to make sure that your
driver uses as little power as possible when it's not doing
anything. For the driver testing instructions see
Documentation/power/drivers-testing.rst and for a relatively
complete overview of the power management issues related to
drivers see :ref:`Documentation/driver-api/pm/devices.rst <driverapi_pm_devices>`.
Control:
In general if there is active maintenance of a driver by
the author then patches will be redirected to them unless
they are totally obvious and without need of checking.
If you want to be the contact and update point for the
driver it is a good idea to state this in the comments,
and include an entry in MAINTAINERS for your driver.
What Criteria Do Not Determine Acceptance
-----------------------------------------
Vendor:
Being the hardware vendor and maintaining the driver is
often a good thing. If there is a stable working driver from
other people already in the tree don't expect 'we are the
vendor' to get your driver chosen. Ideally work with the
existing driver author to build a single perfect driver.
Author:
It doesn't matter if a large Linux company wrote the driver,
or you did. Nobody has any special access to the kernel
tree. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn't telling the
whole story.
Resources
---------
Linux kernel master tree:
ftp.\ *country_code*\ .kernel.org:/pub/linux/kernel/...
where *country_code* == your country code, such as
**us**, **uk**, **fr**, etc.
https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
Linux kernel mailing list:
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
[mail majordomo@vger.kernel.org to subscribe]
Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition (covers 2.6.10):
https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/ (free version)
LWN.net:
Weekly summary of kernel development activity - https://lwn.net/
2.6 API changes:
https://lwn.net/Articles/2.6-kernel-api/
Porting drivers from prior kernels to 2.6:
https://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/
KernelNewbies:
Documentation and assistance for new kernel programmers
https://kernelnewbies.org/
Linux USB project:
http://www.linux-usb.org/
How to NOT write kernel driver by Arjan van de Ven:
https://landley.net/kdocs/ols/2002/ols2002-pages-545-555.pdf
Kernel Janitor:
https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors
GIT, Fast Version Control System:
https://git-scm.com/

5
Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
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@ -12,9 +12,8 @@ This document contains a large number of suggestions in a relatively terse
format. For detailed information on how the kernel development process
works, see Documentation/process/development-process.rst. Also, read
Documentation/process/submit-checklist.rst
for a list of items to check before submitting code. If you are submitting
a driver, also read Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst; for device
tree binding patches, read
for a list of items to check before submitting code.
For device tree binding patches, read
Documentation/devicetree/bindings/submitting-patches.rst.
This documentation assumes that you're using ``git`` to prepare your patches.