Re: SocketCAN driver for USB2CAN converter (8 devices)

[Wolfgang Grandegger <wg@grandegger.com>]

Hi Bernd,

On 11/17/2012 08:33 AM, "Bernd Krumböck" wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I'm developing a driver for the USB2CAN converter from "8 devices"
> (http://www.8devices.com/product/2/usb2can).
> 
> At the moment the community seems to be very small, so I'm the only tester
> and I have only this USB2CAN converter. Hope this situation will change in
> future.

I think you need to communicate with another node on the CAN bus to
fully validate the functionality of the driver, especially to test
error state and bus-off handling.

> What must be done that this driver will become part of the kernel?

This is a good occasion to update our old "README.submitting-patches",
which I have attached below:

*********************************************************************
How to get your Linux-CAN changes into the mainline Linux kernel
================================================================

If you have developed a Linux-CAN (aka Socket-CAN) driver patch which
is already mature in terms of functionality and code quality, you may
want to get it into the mainline kernel sooner than later.

Note that the GIT home of the Linux-CAN project is at gitorious.org [1].
There you find the official the "can-utils" and also the "can-modules"
repository allowing to build *out-of-tree* Linux-CAN kernel modules
mainly useful for old kernel versions. Unfortunately, it is not well
maintained and pushing your changes mainline is clearly preferred.

Patches for kernel inclusion:
----------------------------

For kernel inclusion you should prepare patches against David Millers
"net-next-2.6" GIT tree, which you can get as shown below:

  $ git clone \
    git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net-next-2.6.git

In case you have a bug fix patch for a "-rcX" kernel release, you should
use the GIT tree "net-2.6" instead.

Before publishing you should check the following items:

- Please ensure that the patches comply to the Linux coding style rules
  by reading the kernel's "Documentation/CodingStyle" and running the
  script "scripts/checkpatch.pl".

- The patch should contain a proper description and your "signed-off-by"
  line.

- Please use a prefix for the subject similar to the following:

  "[PATCH] flexcan: ..."

- Please add a version string to the subject for revised patches, e.g.:

  "[PATCH v2] flexcan: ..."

  It's also common practice to briefly describe the changes.

- Please send the patches *inline* and take care that your mail client
  does *not* white-space mangle the patch. "git-send-email" does a very
  good job, especially for a series of patches.

- "Documentation/SubmittingPatches" of the kernel tree contains further
  useful information.

The patch should finally be sent to "linux-can@vger.kernel.org" [4] and
maybe other related mailing lists, e.g. the Linux-USB mailing lists for
CAN USB drivers.

References:
----------

[1] http://gitorious.org/linux-can
[2] http://gitorious.org/linux-can/can-utils
[3] http://gitorious.org/linux-can/can-modules
[4] http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
*********************************************************************

Comments on this HOWTO are welcome.

Wolfgang.