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    Contents of /alx-src/trunk/kernel26-alx/linux/Documentation/SubmittingDrivers

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    Revision 628 - (show 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 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