Re: Linux XIA - merge proposal

From: Michel Machado
Date: Tue Mar 17 2015 - 08:37:45 EST


On 03/15/2015 06:03 AM, Oded Gabbay wrote:
Hi Michel,

Although I don't know you and I'm not familiar with XIA, I would like to
encourage you to listen to Greg and continue with your efforts to
upstream XIA.

I can tell you, from my recent experience of upstreaming AMD's HSA
driver to drm (amdkfd), that I understand your response/frustration.
However, you need to understand that the feedback you got is not because
the maintainers/devs don't want your code. It is because they want your
code to be in the best shape it can be before merging it to the kernel.
Once it is in the kernel, it is distributed to millions of people and it
is maintained practically forever.

From my experience, the major changes that make your code better are
usually done *before* upstreaming the code. Once the maintainers/devs
realize that the code has reached some level of compliance with kernel
standards, and the code can't get any better by leaving it outside the
kernel, I'm sure they will accept the code. Especially if they will see
that you are dedicated to improving it.

Please see this enlightening post from drm maintainer, Dave Airlie,
about trying to push code to upstream kernel:
http://airlied.livejournal.com/80112.html

It is called:
"you have a long road to walk, but first you have to leave the house (or
why publishing code is STEP ZERO)."

BTW, I believe I was one of the reasons he wrote that post (it was
published shortly after I published amdkfd's code) :)

So bottom line, keep working on it. People gave you pointers what to do.
Follow that and don't give up. In the end, I'm sure you will be very
happy once the code is merged into the mainline kernel.

Good luck,

Oded

Hi Oded,

Thank you for sharing your experience. Dave Airlie's perspective helps. I'm going to walk the road "with a little help from friends."

[ ]'s
Michel Machado
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