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    Revision 628 - (hide annotations) (download)
    Wed Mar 4 10:48:58 2009 UTC (15 years, 2 months ago) by niro
    File size: 5419 byte(s) 
    import linux sources based on 2.6.12-alx-r9:
 -using linux-2.6.12.6
 -using 2.6.12-ck6 patch set
 -using fbsplash-0.9.2-r3
 -using vesafb-tng-0.9-rc7
 -using squashfs-2.2
 -added cddvd-cmdfilter-drop.patch as ck dropped it
 -added via-epia-dri (cle266) patch
 -added zd1211-svn-32 wlan driver (http://zd1211.ath.cx/download/)
 -added debian patches to zd1211 for wep256 etc
    1 niro 628 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