Contents of /alx-src/tags/kernel26-2.6.12-alx-r9/Documentation/SubmittingDrivers
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Wed Mar 4 11:03:09 2009 UTC (15 years, 6 months ago) by niro
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Wed Mar 4 11:03:09 2009 UTC (15 years, 6 months ago) by niro
File size: 5419 byte(s)
Tag kernel26-2.6.12-alx-r9
1 | Submitting Drivers For The Linux Kernel |
2 | --------------------------------------- |
3 | |
4 | This document is intended to explain how to submit device drivers to the |
5 | various kernel trees. Note that if you are interested in video card drivers |
6 | you should probably talk to XFree86 (http://www.xfree86.org/) and/or X.Org |
7 | (http://x.org/) instead. |
8 | |
9 | Also read the Documentation/SubmittingPatches document. |
10 | |
11 | |
12 | Allocating Device Numbers |
13 | ------------------------- |
14 | |
15 | Major and minor numbers for block and character devices are allocated |
16 | by the Linux assigned name and number authority (currently better |
17 | known as H Peter Anvin). The site is http://www.lanana.org/. This |
18 | also deals with allocating numbers for devices that are not going to |
19 | be submitted to the mainstream kernel. |
20 | |
21 | If you don't use assigned numbers then when you device is submitted it will |
22 | get given an assigned number even if that is different from values you may |
23 | have shipped to customers before. |
24 | |
25 | Who To Submit Drivers To |
26 | ------------------------ |
27 | |
28 | Linux 2.0: |
29 | No new drivers are accepted for this kernel tree |
30 | |
31 | Linux 2.2: |
32 | If the code area has a general maintainer then please submit it to |
33 | the maintainer listed in MAINTAINERS in the kernel file. If the |
34 | maintainer does not respond or you cannot find the appropriate |
35 | maintainer then please contact Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> |
36 | |
37 | Linux 2.4: |
38 | The same rules apply as 2.2. The final contact point for Linux 2.4 |
39 | submissions is Marcelo Tosatti <marcelo.tosatti@cyclades.com>. |
40 | |
41 | Linux 2.6: |
42 | The same rules apply as 2.4 except that you should follow linux-kernel |
43 | to track changes in API's. The final contact point for Linux 2.6 |
44 | submissions is Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org>. |
45 | |
46 | What Criteria Determine Acceptance |
47 | ---------------------------------- |
48 | |
49 | Licensing: The code must be released to us under the |
50 | GNU General Public License. We don't insist on any kind |
51 | of exclusively GPL licensing, and if you wish the driver |
52 | to be useful to other communities such as BSD you may well |
53 | wish to release under multiple licenses. |
54 | |
55 | Copyright: The copyright owner must agree to use of GPL. |
56 | It's best if the submitter and copyright owner |
57 | are the same person/entity. If not, the name of |
58 | the person/entity authorizing use of GPL should be |
59 | listed in case it's necessary to verify the will of |
60 | the copright owner. |
61 | |
62 | Interfaces: If your driver uses existing interfaces and behaves like |
63 | other drivers in the same class it will be much more likely |
64 | to be accepted than if it invents gratuitous new ones. |
65 | If you need to implement a common API over Linux and NT |
66 | drivers do it in userspace. |
67 | |
68 | Code: Please use the Linux style of code formatting as documented |
69 | in Documentation/CodingStyle. If you have sections of code |
70 | that need to be in other formats, for example because they |
71 | are shared with a windows driver kit and you want to |
72 | maintain them just once separate them out nicely and note |
73 | this fact. |
74 | |
75 | Portability: Pointers are not always 32bits, not all computers are little |
76 | endian, people do not all have floating point and you |
77 | shouldn't use inline x86 assembler in your driver without |
78 | careful thought. Pure x86 drivers generally are not popular. |
79 | If you only have x86 hardware it is hard to test portability |
80 | but it is easy to make sure the code can easily be made |
81 | portable. |
82 | |
83 | Clarity: It helps if anyone can see how to fix the driver. It helps |
84 | you because you get patches not bug reports. If you submit a |
85 | driver that intentionally obfuscates how the hardware works |
86 | it will go in the bitbucket. |
87 | |
88 | Control: In general if there is active maintainance of a driver by |
89 | the author then patches will be redirected to them unless |
90 | they are totally obvious and without need of checking. |
91 | If you want to be the contact and update point for the |
92 | driver it is a good idea to state this in the comments, |
93 | and include an entry in MAINTAINERS for your driver. |
94 | |
95 | What Criteria Do Not Determine Acceptance |
96 | ----------------------------------------- |
97 | |
98 | Vendor: Being the hardware vendor and maintaining the driver is |
99 | often a good thing. If there is a stable working driver from |
100 | other people already in the tree don't expect 'we are the |
101 | vendor' to get your driver chosen. Ideally work with the |
102 | existing driver author to build a single perfect driver. |
103 | |
104 | Author: It doesn't matter if a large Linux company wrote the driver, |
105 | or you did. Nobody has any special access to the kernel |
106 | tree. Anyone who tells you otherwise isn't telling the |
107 | whole story. |
108 | |
109 | |
110 | Resources |
111 | --------- |
112 | |
113 | Linux kernel master tree: |
114 | ftp.??.kernel.org:/pub/linux/kernel/... |
115 | ?? == your country code, such as "us", "uk", "fr", etc. |
116 | |
117 | Linux kernel mailing list: |
118 | linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org |
119 | [mail majordomo@vger.kernel.org to subscribe] |
120 | |
121 | Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition (covers 2.6.10): |
122 | http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/ (free version) |
123 | |
124 | Kernel traffic: |
125 | Weekly summary of kernel list activity (much easier to read) |
126 | http://www.kerneltraffic.org/kernel-traffic/ |
127 | |
128 | LWN.net: |
129 | Weekly summary of kernel development activity - http://lwn.net/ |
130 | 2.6 API changes: |
131 | http://lwn.net/Articles/2.6-kernel-api/ |
132 | Porting drivers from prior kernels to 2.6: |
133 | http://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/ |
134 | |
135 | KernelTrap: |
136 | Occasional Linux kernel articles and developer interviews |
137 | http://kerneltrap.org/ |
138 | |
139 | KernelNewbies: |
140 | Documentation and assistance for new kernel programmers |
141 | http://kernelnewbies.org/ |
142 | |
143 | Linux USB project: |
144 | http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-usb/ |
145 |