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

[Andreas FÃrber]

Am 11.03.19 um 18:02 schrieb 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.

I have two unfinished drivers that might benefit, for Hilscher netX 52
(multi-protocol) and Microchip LAN9252 (EtherCAT), as well as a Linux
port for Infineon XMC4500 that might be expanded to XMC4800 (EtherCAT).

But currently -ENOTIME for review or development, sorry.

Staging sounds like a plan, if that allows us to still break the ABI.

Can't make any guarantees whether I might get to them within one year,
as my LoRa project has been turning into a Black Hole. ;)

Are you at Netdev 0x13 later this month? That might be an opportunity to
discuss the network-related parts such as Profinet and EtherCAT.

Cheers,
Andreas

https://github.com/afaerber/netx-module
https://github.com/afaerber/lan9252-module

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