Re: Staging tree status for the .32 kernel merge

[Belisko Marek]

Hi,

On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 6:14 AM, Greg KH<greg@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Here's a summary of the state of the drivers/staging/ tree, basically
> what will be coming in the 2.6.32 merge, and what the status of the
> different drivers are so far.
>
> First off, drivers/staging/ is NOT a dumping ground for dead code. ÂIf
> no one steps up to maintain and work to get the code merged into the
> main portion of the kernel, the drivers will be removed.
>
> As proof of that, the EPL (Ethernet Power Link) driver will be removed
> in the .32 kernel, as no one is working on it, the upstream developers
> never respond to my emails, and no one seems to care about it.
>
> The pata_rdc driver is also going to be removed, as there is a "better"
> one being merged through the libata tree for this hardware.
>
> So, taking the drivers in chunks, here's some that have had active
> development on for the .32 release:
> Â Â Â Â- rt* wireless drivers. ÂBart has done amazing work merging all
> Â Â Â Â Âof these together into something much better than they
> Â Â Â Â Âoriginally were. ÂAnd even better, they still work! Â Great
> Â Â Â Â Âjob Bart!
>
> Â Â Â Â- rtl* wireless drivers. ÂAgain, Bart has been doing great work
> Â Â Â Â Âhere.
>
> Â Â Â Â- wlan-ng driver: a bit of work here, but this seems to be
> Â Â Â Â Âdropping off, with the loss of a test platform for the driver.
> Â Â Â Â ÂHopefully someone has a device around and can help out here.
>
> Â Â Â Â- comedi drivers had only a bit of work done, lots more is
> Â Â Â Â Âneeded here, let's not loose the fact that this is getting
> Â Â Â Â Âcloser to a mergable shape.
>
> Â Â Â Â- Android drivers have had a bit of work done, but upstream
> Â Â Â Â Âseems to not care at all about what is going on here, as they
> Â Â Â Â Âare working to forward port their code to the 2.6.29! kernel.
> Â Â Â Â Â{sigh}. ÂIf this keeps up, the drivers will be dropped in the
> Â Â Â Â Â2.6.32 kernel release.
> Â Â Â Â ÂNote, Pavel has been adding some of the Dream hardware
> Â Â Â Â Âdrivers, which are separate from the core Android drivers. ÂI
> Â Â Â Â Âhave no objection to those, but they should work to get merged
> Â Â Â Â Âto their "correct" places in the tree in another release or
> Â Â Â Â Âso.
>
> Â Â Â Â- w35und driver. ÂIt's slowly being worked on.
>
> Â Â Â Â- echo driver. ÂThis one is now in good enough shape to merge
> Â Â Â Â Âinto the main kernel tree. ÂI'll send out review patches soon
> Â Â Â Â Âfor this.
>
> Â Â Â Â- eth131x driver. Alan Cox is working on fixing up the issues in
> Â Â Â Â Âthis driver. ÂHopefully it will get into mergable shape soon.
>
> New drivers that will show up in the .32 kernel release:
> Â Â Â Â- vt66* wireless drivers. ÂThese VIA drivers are being actively
> Â Â Â Â Âworked on to get into a much better shape. ÂNice job.
>
> Â Â Â Â- new rt3090, and rtl8192e wireless drivers have been added and
> Â Â Â Â Âworked on cleaning up issues involved in them.
>
> Â Â Â Â- Microsoft Hyper-V drivers. ÂOver 200 patches make up the
> Â Â Â Â Âmassive cleanup effort needed to just get this code into a
> Â Â Â Â Âsemi-sane kernel coding style (someone owes me a bit bottle of
> Â Â Â Â Ârum for that work!) ÂUnfortunately the Microsoft developers
> Â Â Â Â Âseem to have disappeared, and no one is answering my emails.
> Â Â Â Â ÂIf they do not show back up to claim this driver soon, it will
> Â Â Â Â Âbe removed in the 2.6.33 release. ÂSo sad...
>
> Â Â Â Â- quatech_usb2 driver. ÂI don't know if it quite works, but
> Â Â Â Â Âsomeone is developing it, so I'm not complaining :)
>
> Â Â Â Â- VME bus drivers. ÂYeah! ÂThey are progressing nicely.
>
> Â Â Â Â- SEP and RAR drivers. ÂAlan Cox has been working on cleaning
> Â Â Â Â Âthese up a lot.
>
> Â Â Â Â- IIO (Industrial I/O), these are new drivers that are being
> Â Â Â Â Âactively worked on.
>
> Â Â Â Â- pohmelfs and dst. ÂIt seems that DST is dead, so I think I
> Â Â Â Â Âwill remove it in .33. Âpohmelfs is under active development
> Â Â Â Â Âoutside of the tree, and hopefully patches start moving in
> Â Â Â Â Âhere to help out with keeping it up to date.
>
> Â Â Â Â- cowloop. ÂYes, another COW driver! Â:) ÂSeriously, this does
> Â Â Â Â Âthings that DM can't do, so it might be useful. ÂThe upstream
> Â Â Â Â Âdeveloper is interested in getting this merged properly, and
> Â Â Â Â Âis working on cleaning it up.
>
> Drivers not being actively worked on:
> Â Â Â Â- otus. ÂThis is sitting here until a "real" wireless driver
> Â Â Â Â Âwill be merged through the wireless tree. ÂHopefully that
> Â Â Â Â Âhappens soon.
>
> Â Â Â Â- agnx wireless driver. ÂNo one seems to care about it. ÂIf no
> Â Â Â Â Âone steps up soon, it will be removed in .33.
>
> Â Â Â Â- altpciechdma. ÂUpstream developers seem to have disappeared.
> Â Â Â Â ÂAgain, if no one steps up, it will be removed in .33
>
> Â Â Â Â- asus_oled. ÂThis only needs minor cleanups to get merged
> Â Â Â Â Âproperly into the main tree. ÂIf someone wants an easy
> Â Â Â Â Âproject, this would be it.
I'll work on this driver. I'll send patches soon.
>
> Â Â Â Â- at76_usb wireless driver. ÂAgain, no one working on it, it
> Â Â Â Â Âwill be dropped in .33.
>
> Â Â Â Â- b3dfg. ÂI really do not think anyone cares about this. Âagain,
> Â Â Â Â Âwill be dropped if this is true in .33.
>
> Â Â Â Â- cpc-usb. ÂAfter the initial flurry of development, everyone
> Â Â Â Â Âseems to have run away. ÂWas it the fact that I hadn't
> Â Â Â Â Âshowered in a few days? ÂAgain, will be removed if no one
> Â Â Â Â Âcomes back. ÂAnd I am wearing deodorant now...
>
> Â Â Â Â- frontier. ÂA nice driver, again, should not be hard to get
> Â Â Â Â Âmerged into the main tree, if someone wants an easy project...
>
> Â Â Â Â- go7007. ÂUgh. ÂUnless someone steps up now to take this over,
> Â Â Â Â Âit's going to be removed in .33. ÂThere is no hardware made
> Â Â Â Â Âwith this anymore, and no specs around that I know of, and the
> Â Â Â Â Âcode isn't the nicest in the world.
>
> Â Â Â Â- heci. ÂA wonderful example of a company throwing code over the
> Â Â Â Â Âwall, watching it get rejected, and then running away as fast
> Â Â Â Â Âas possible, all the while yelling over their shoulder, "it's
> Â Â Â Â Ârequired on all new systems, you will love it!" ÂWe don't, it
> Â Â Â Â Âsucks, either fix it up, or I am removing it.
>
> Â Â Â Â- line6. ÂAnother nice driver that should be simple to get
> Â Â Â Â Âmerged. ÂPlease, if you are looking for something to do, this
> Â Â Â Â Âis it.
>
> Â Â Â Â- me4000 and meilhaus. ÂThey work on the same hardware, and they
> Â Â Â Â Âduplicate the existing COMEDI drivers. ÂSomeone thinks that
> Â Â Â Â Âcustom userspace interfaces are fun and required. ÂTurns out
> Â Â Â Â Âthat being special and unique is not what to do here, use the
> Â Â Â Â ÂCOMEDI drivers instead. ÂThese will be removed. ÂHeck, I'll go
> Â Â Â Â Âremove them for .32, there is no reason these should still be
> Â Â Â Â Âaround, except to watch the RT guys squirm as they try to
> Â Â Â Â Âfigure out the byzantine locking and build logic here (which
> Â Â Â Â Âcertainly does count for something, cheap entertainment is
> Â Â Â Â Âalways good.)
>
> Â Â Â Â- mimio. ÂAnother driver that should be simple to get merged.
> Â Â Â Â ÂSomeone just step up to do this please, there are users of
> Â Â Â Â Âthis hardware out there.
>
> Â Â Â Â- p9auth. ÂWhile it seemed like a good idea, I don't think that
> Â Â Â Â Âanyone actually uses this. ÂIt will be removed in .33 unless
> Â Â Â Â Âsomeone comes forward.
>
> Â Â Â Â- panel. ÂAnother one that should be simple to merge. ÂAnyone?
>
> Â Â Â Â- phison. ÂWhat? ÂI thought I asked for this to be merged a
> Â Â Â Â Âwhile ago, sorry about that, no reason it should still be in
> Â Â Â Â Âstaging anymore, it's just so small it slipped through the
> Â Â Â Â Âcracks...
>
> Â Â Â Â- poch. ÂA long-suffering company is enduring the slowest
> Â Â Â Â Âdevelopers in the world here. ÂHopefully the code will be
> Â Â Â Â Âreplaced with a UIO driver, but testing the userspace side
> Â Â Â Â Âseems to be difficult and slow. ÂI have to give Redrapids
> Â Â Â Â Âmajor credit for being patient here, they are being amazing.
>
> Â Â Â Â- rspiusb. ÂA weird, very expensive camera, from a company that
> Â Â Â Â Âdoes not want to release the specs, and wants custom userspace
> Â Â Â Â Âinterfaces. ÂThe code hasn't built since the 2.6.20 days.
> Â Â Â Â ÂI'll go delete it now from .32, it doesn't deserve to live as
> Â Â Â Â Âno one cares about it, least of all, the original authors of
> Â Â Â Â Âthe code :(
>
> Â Â Â Â- slicoss and sxg. ÂThese are being developed by a consulting
> Â Â Â Â Âcompany for the main producer of the chips. ÂYet they seem to
> Â Â Â Â Âhave disappeared half-way through the job. ÂOdd. ÂHopefully
> Â Â Â Â Âthey come back soon.
>
> Â Â Â Â- stlc45xx. ÂAnother wireless driver that no one seems to care
> Â Â Â Â Âabout. ÂSo sad. ÂI guess no one will miss it when it goes away
> Â Â Â Â Âin .33.
>
> Â Â Â Â- udlfb. ÂVideo over USB, it doesn't get anymore whacked than
> Â Â Â Â Âthat. ÂThis is still being developed but the developer doesn't
> Â Â Â Â Âlike to do incremental updates for some odd reason. ÂHopefully
> Â Â Â Â Âhe pops up again with an update. ÂBut for now, it is quite
> Â Â Â Â Âworkable for a number of developers.
>
> Â Â Â Â- usbip. ÂUSB over IP. ÂI guess if you ran video over IP to your
> Â Â Â Â ÂUSB device, that would be more whacked than just video over
> Â Â Â Â ÂUSB. ÂThis did get one big update during the .32 development
> Â Â Â Â Âcycle, hopefully the developer can come back again when they
> Â Â Â Â Âget some free time to continue working on it. ÂRumor has it
> Â Â Â Â Âthat some major distros are starting to rely on this code, so
> Â Â Â Â Âit would be nice to get their help to get it working better...
>
> That should cover all of the 600+ patches in the staging tree for the
> .32 kernel merge, and the existing drivers/staging/ tree. ÂIf I missed
> anything, please let me know.
>
> Any questions?
>
> thanks for making it this far,
>
> greg k-h
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>

Marek

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