Return-Path: Message-ID: <5491B275.2090403@lwfinger.net> Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 10:42:29 -0600 From: Larry Finger MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "John W. Linville" , linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org, linux-bluetooth@vger.kernel.org, linux-nfc@ml01.01.org CC: "David S. Miller" , Kalle Valo , lwn@lwn.net Subject: Re: changes to Linux wireless maintenance References: <20141217155951.GA3144@tuxdriver.com> In-Reply-To: <20141217155951.GA3144@tuxdriver.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Sender: linux-bluetooth-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On 12/17/2014 09:59 AM, John W. Linville wrote: > Greetings, > > Almost 9 years ago, Jeff Garzik wrote a message on LKML detailing > the sad state of wireless LANs in the Linux world. The point of his > message was "So... there it is. We suck. There's hope. No Luke > Skywalker in sight.": > > https://lkml.org/lkml/2006/1/5/671 > > Shortly thereafter, I became the maintainer for wireless LANs in the > Linux kernel: > > https://lkml.org/lkml/2006/1/18/377 > > Since then, we have had a number of wireless summit meetings all around > the world. Items were discussed, patches were merged, and friendships > were made. Over time, we garnered support from a large range of > wireless networking vendors. Eventually even other technologies > were sending their patches through my trees, and I was consistently > ranked amongst the top 10 "gate keepers" for getting changes into the > Linux kernel. In fact, a couple of years ago I even gave a talk on > how Linux wireless got better. It has been quite a ride! > > https://events.linuxfoundation.org/images/stories/pdf/lfcs2012_linville.pdf > > Nevertheless, I think it is time for some changes. I have been > the wireless maintainer for a long time, and I personally would > like to develop in a different direction. Plus, I think that Linux > will benefit from having some fresh blood involved in more of the > maintenance duties. I will be stepping aside to let that happen. > > The mac80211, bluetooth, and nfc trees have fed through me for some > time. I am now asking these trees to send pull request directly to > David Miller. Since these trees are managed through git, my hope is > that they will not place any significant burden on Dave. > > As for the wireless driver patches, I have asked Kalle Valo > to handle patch review and merge duties for everything under the > drivers/net/wireless directory. This will now include not only the ath > patches he already manages, but other drivers that don't have trees > such as mwifiex, rt2x00, rtlwifi, and others. For consistency, the > iwlwifi tree will also be merged through Kalle's new tree. I expect > that Kalle will announce any relevant details in a follow-up message. > > The wireless-testing tree is a resource that some people value. > I will continue to provide a wireless-testing tree. Now that tree > will feed from the various wireless trees managed by others, probably > with some sort of regularly scheduled pulls. Details are still to be > determined, but the tree will still exist and will be substantially > similar to how it has been so far. > > I also receive notices of new bug reports for wireless LANs on > bugzilla.kernel.org. For now I will continue to triage those reports, > so don't ignore me!! :-) > > Some may ask what I will do now -- I wish I had a specific answer. > Immediate plans are to enjoy the coming holidays and my traditional > year-end time away from work. After that...well, I'm sure I will > find something to do. If you have any suggestions for good uses of > my talents, feel free to contact me -- I'm not hard to find! > > In closing, I hope everyone will support Kalle and the other wireless > maintainers at least as much as you have supported me for the past > several years. These are good, hard working folks. You are in > good hands! > > Regards, > > John > > P.S. Bonus points for anyone that finds a way for me to become a > professional retro-computing hobbyist... :-) John, Many thanks for your service to the wireless community. Although some individuals still consider Linux wireless to be a mess, you have had a major impact on coordinating large-scale improvements. I hope you enjoy your new endeavors as much as I have enjoyed my second career. I look forward to working with Kalle. Larry