Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751737AbXA3TgW (ORCPT ); Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:36:22 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751759AbXA3TgV (ORCPT ); Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:36:21 -0500 Received: from srv5.dvmed.net ([207.36.208.214]:49709 "EHLO mail.dvmed.net" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751737AbXA3TgV (ORCPT ); Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:36:21 -0500 Message-ID: <45BF9E32.60309@garzik.org> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:36:18 -0500 From: Jeff Garzik User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (X11/20061219) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Roland Dreier CC: Greg KH , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Free Linux Driver Development! References: <20070130012904.GA9617@kroah.com> <45BF8C57.1020500@garzik.org> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Score: -4.3 (----) X-Spam-Report: SpamAssassin version 3.1.7 on srv5.dvmed.net summary: Content analysis details: (-4.3 points, 5.0 required) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1551 Lines: 37 Roland Dreier wrote: > What are our standards for maintenance? How can we tell in advance if > something is going to be maintained (cf. drivers/net/chelsio)? > > I don't think you can seriously argue that just posting documentation > is going to guarantee that a device is going to get a high-quality > driver that runs on all architectures and that enterprise distros will > support. Look up from infiniband once in and while, and... surprise... that's what is actually happening. It sure seems to me like the drivers maintained by hardware vendors directly is in the distinct minority, illuminating irrefutable evidence that hardware vendors do in fact receive high quality drivers in exchange for documentation (and hardware) availability. IMO the drivers of the highest quality are usually in the this category. > And I don't think it's a good strategy to try convince > vendors to open docs by using happy talk about an idealized fantasy world. Agreed. That's why Greg was describing the real world of Linux kernel development, rather than an idealized fantasy world. How do you think you got all these highly portable ATA, USB, network, and sound drivers, hmmm? The vast majority was just documentation and hardware access. That's been the Linux way since 1993 (1991?). Jeff - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/