Re: [PATCH v8 0/6] Add Fieldbus subsystem + support HMS Profinet card

[Sven Van Asbroeck]

On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 9:14 AM Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Well, who wants this code?  Who uses it?  Find those people and get them
> to review it.  If no one wants it or uses it, that kind of implies that
> it's not needed :)

We have customers who (will) talk to this ABI from userspace, but they are
not 'Linux-y' enough to come to the mailing list and meaningfully review
the userspace ABI.

IMHO the current reality of Fieldbus on Linux is companies rolling their own
proprietary out-of-tree interfaces and drivers. They do this partly because
there is no existing community or infrastructure. So there is no incentive
to be involved with mainline, which could also explain why no-one is commenting
on this Fieldbus ABI.

Chicken-and-egg problem ?

Greg, could I convince you to take this Fieldbus subsystem in drivers/staging?
Perhaps its presence may kickstart or seed a Linux Fieldbus community.
Being in staging/ also means that we can tweak the userspace ABI to our
heart's content if more people/requirements come in.

If there's been no meaningful activity in, say, one year from now, you may
decide to send this whole subsystem to /dev/null.

Sven