Return-path: Received: from mail-la0-f49.google.com ([209.85.215.49]:64473 "EHLO mail-la0-f49.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1161150Ab3DEITW (ORCPT ); Fri, 5 Apr 2013 04:19:22 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: From: "Luis R. Rodriguez" Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 01:19:00 -0700 Message-ID: (sfid-20130405_101944_883584_CBD98868) Subject: Re: Version number policy! To: Adrian Chadd Cc: ath9k_htc_fw , linux-wireless , "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" , linux-bluetooth , Christian Lamparter Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 11:27 AM, Adrian Chadd wrote: > Hi, > > Here's my first take on the version number policy: > > https://github.com/qca/open-ath9k-htc-firmware/wiki/VersionPolicy > > The summary: > > * major version number changes are for firmware API / behaviour > changes that aren't backwards compatible; > * minor version number changes are for firmware API / behaviour > changes that are incremental and default to the old behaviour (eg, new > optional commands); > * the driver should check the minor version number before using any > optional features with that version. > > What's TODO: > > * Add a new WMI command to get the build number, git string, etc. > * add it as our first optional minor version command :-) This is better than anything we had drafted before for 802.11 open firmware design rules. Cc'ing a few lists for wider review given that what we had written before for rules was for 802.11 and Bluetooth [0] and it was very Linux specific. We are striving for open firmware here for the community, for BSD / Linux. Christian would have dealt with more of the support on open firmware design so far due to carl9170.fw [1] so curious if he has any input. As for 802.11 the rules we defined were pretty silly about firmware file names but should be considered. Here's the key thing I think we should keep from those old guidelines: "In general if you are just providing bug fixes you do not need to provide a new firmware filename for the module, using the old filename is fine so long as the same API was kept." The rest I think your specification details better what we should do in terms of API changes for versioning. [0] http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/firmware-versioning [1] http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/carl9170.fw Luis