Re: drivers without explicit MAINTAINERS entry - was: Re: [media-workshop] Tentative Agenda for the November workshop

[Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@redhat.com>]

Em Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:41:57 +0400
Alexey Klimov <klimov.linux@gmail.com> escreveu:

> Hi Mauro, Hans, all,
> 
> On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 6:34 PM, Mauro Carvalho Chehab
> <mchehab@redhat.com> wrote:
> > Em Fri, 2 Nov 2012 14:47:49 +0100
> > Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> escreveu:
> >
> >> On Fri November 2 2012 14:13:10 Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
> >> > Em Thu, 1 Nov 2012 14:12:44 -0200
> >> > Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@redhat.com> escreveu:
> >> >
> >> > > Em Thu, 1 Nov 2012 16:44:50 +0100
> >> > > Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> escreveu:
> >> > >
> >> > > > On Thu October 25 2012 19:27:01 Mauro Carvalho Chehab wrote:
> >> > > > > Hi Hans,
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > Em Mon, 22 Oct 2012 10:35:56 +0200
> >> > > > > Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> escreveu:
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > > Hi all,
> >> > > > > >
> >> > > > > > This is the tentative agenda for the media workshop on November 8, 2012.
> >> > > > > > If you have additional things that you want to discuss, or something is wrong
> >> > > > > > or incomplete in this list, please let me know so I can update the list.
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > Thank you for taking care of it.
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > > - Explain current merging process (Mauro)
> >> > > > > > - Open floor for discussions on how to improve it (Mauro)
> >> > > > > > - Write down minimum requirements for new V4L2 (and DVB?) drivers, both for
> >> > > > > >   staging and mainline acceptance: which frameworks to use, v4l2-compliance,
> >> > > > > >   etc. (Hans Verkuil)
> >> > > > > > - V4L2 ambiguities (Hans Verkuil)
> >> > > > > > - TSMux device (a mux rather than a demux): Alain Volmat
> >> > > > > > - dmabuf status, esp. with regards to being able to test (Mauro/Samsung)
> >> > > > > > - Device tree support (Guennadi, not known yet whether this topic is needed)
> >> > > > > > - Creating/selecting contexts for hardware that supports this (Samsung, only
> >> > > > > >   if time is available)
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > I have an extra theme for discussions there: what should we do with the drivers
> >> > > > > that don't have any MAINTAINERS entry.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > I've added this topic to the list.
> >> > >
> >> > > Thanks!
> >> > >
> >> > > > > It probably makes sense to mark them as "Orphan" (or, at least, have some
> >> > > > > criteria to mark them as such). Perhaps before doing that, we could try
> >> > > > > to see if are there any developer at the community with time and patience
> >> > > > > to handle them.
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > This could of course be handled as part of the discussions about how to improve
> >> > > > > the merge process, but I suspect that this could generate enough discussions
> >> > > > > to be handled as a separate theme.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Do we have a 'Maintainer-Light' category? I have a lot of hardware that I can
> >> > > > test. So while I wouldn't like to be marked as 'The Maintainer of driver X'
> >> > > > (since I simply don't have the time for that), I wouldn't mind being marked as
> >> > > > someone who can at least test patches if needed.
> >> > >
> >> > > There are several "maintainance" status there:
> >> > >
> >> > >   S: Status, one of the following:
> >> > >      Supported:   Someone is actually paid to look after this.
> >> > >      Maintained:  Someone actually looks after it.
> >> > >      Odd Fixes:   It has a maintainer but they don't have time to do
> >> > >                   much other than throw the odd patch in. See below..
> >> > >      Orphan:      No current maintainer [but maybe you could take the
> >> > >                   role as you write your new code].
> >> > >      Obsolete:    Old code. Something tagged obsolete generally means
> >> > >                   it has been replaced by a better system and you
> >> > >                   should be using that.
> >> > >
> >> > > (btw, I just realized that I should be changing the EDAC drivers I maintain
> >> > >  to Supported; the media drivers I maintain should be kept as Maintained).
> >> > >
> >> > > I suspect that the "maintainer-light" category for those radio and similar
> >> > > old stuff is likely "Odd Fixes".
> >> > >
> >> > > > > There are some issues by not having a MAINTAINERS entry:
> >> > > > >       - patches may not flow into the driver maintainer;
> >> > > > >       - patches will likely be applied without tests/reviews or may
> >> > > > >         stay for a long time queued;
> >> > > > >       - ./scripts/get_maintainer.pl at --no-git-fallback won't return
> >> > > > >         any maintainer[1].
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > [1] Letting get_maintainer.pl is very time/CPU consuming. Letting it would
> >> > > > > delay a lot the patch review process, if applied for every patch, with
> >> > > > > unreliable and doubtful results. I don't do it, due to the large volume
> >> > > > > of patches, and because the 'other' results aren't typically the driver
> >> > > > > maintainer.
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > An example of this is the results for a patch I just applied
> >> > > > > (changeset 2866aed103b915ca8ba0ff76d5790caea4e62ced):
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > >       $ git show --pretty=email|./scripts/get_maintainer.pl
> >> > > > >       Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@infradead.org> (maintainer:MEDIA INPUT INFRA...,commit_signer:7/7=100%)
> >> > > > >       Hans Verkuil <hans.verkuil@cisco.com> (commit_signer:4/7=57%)
> >> > > > >       Anatolij Gustschin <agust@denx.de> (commit_signer:1/7=14%)
> >> > > > >       Wei Yongjun <yongjun_wei@trendmicro.com.cn> (commit_signer:1/7=14%)
> >> > > > >       Hans de Goede <hdegoede@redhat.com> (commit_signer:1/7=14%)
> >> > > > >       linux-media@vger.kernel.org (open list:MEDIA INPUT INFRA...)
> >> > > > >       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org (open list)
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > According with this driver's copyrights:
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > >  * Copyright 2008-2010 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
> >> > > > >  *
> >> > > > >  *  Freescale VIU video driver
> >> > > > >  *
> >> > > > >  *  Authors: Hongjun Chen <hong-jun.chen@freescale.com>
> >> > > > >  *         Porting to 2.6.35 by DENX Software Engineering,
> >> > > > >  *         Anatolij Gustschin <agust@denx.de>
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > The driver author (Hongjun Chen <hong-jun.chen@freescale.com>) was not even
> >> > > > > shown there, and the co-author got only 15% hit, while I got 100% and Hans
> >> > > > > got 57%.
> >> > > > >
> >> > > > > This happens not only to this driver. In a matter of fact, on most cases where
> >> > > > > no MAINTAINERS entry exist, the driver's author gets a very small hit chance,
> >> > > > > as, on several of those drivers, the author doesn't post anything else but
> >> > > > > the initial patch series.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > We probably need to have an entry for all the media drivers, even if it just
> >> > > > points to the linux-media mailinglist as being the 'collective default maintainer'.
> >> > >
> >> > > Yes, I think that all media drivers should be there. I prefer to tag the ones
> >> > > that nobody sends us a MAINTAINERS entry with "Orphan", as this tag indicates
> >> > > that help is wanted.
> >> >
> >> > I wrote a small shell script to see what's missing, using the analyze_build.pl script
> >> > at media-build devel_scripts dir:
> >> >
> >> >     DIR=$(dirname $0)
> >> >
> >> >     $DIR/analyze_build.pl --path drivers/media/ --show_files_per_module >/tmp/all_drivers
> >> >     grep drivers/media/ MAINTAINERS | perl -ne 's/F:\s+//;s,drivers/media/,,; print $_ if (!/^\n/)' >maintained
> >> >     grep -v -f maintained /tmp/all_drivers |grep -v -e keymaps -e v4l2-core/ -e dvb-core/ -e media.ko -e rc-core.ko -e ^#| sort >without_maint
> >> >
> >> > I excluded the core files from the list, as they don't need any specific entry. RC
> >> > keymaps is also a special case, as I don't think any maintainer is needed for them.
> >> >
> >> > Basically, analyze_build.pl says that there are 613 drivers under drivers/media.
> >> > The above script shows 348 drivers without an explicit maintainer. So, only 43%
> >> > of the drivers have a formal maintainer.
> >> >
> >> > Yet, on the list below, I think several of them can be easily tagged as
> >> > "Odd fixes", like cx88 and saa7134.
> >> >
> >> > I think I'll send today a few RFC MAINTAINERS patches for some stuff below that
> >> > I can myself be added as "Odd fixes". Yet, I would very much prefer if someone
> >> > with more time than me could be taking over the "Odd fixes" patches I'll propose.
> >> >
> >> > Regards,
> >> > Mauro
> >>
> >> These two are 'Supported' by me:
> >>
> >> i2c/ad9389b.ko                 = i2c/ad9389b.c
> >> i2c/adv7604.ko                 = i2c/adv7604.c
> >>
> >> These are 'Maintained' by me:
> >>
> >> i2c/cx2341x.ko                 = i2c/cx2341x.c
> >> parport/bw-qcam.ko             = parport/bw-qcam.c
> >> parport/c-qcam.ko              = parport/c-qcam.c
> >> radio/dsbr100.ko               = radio/dsbr100.c
> >> radio/radio-cadet.ko           = radio/radio-cadet.c
> >> radio/radio-isa.ko             = radio/radio-isa.c
> >> radio/radio-keene.ko           = radio/radio-keene.c
> >
> > OK. Could you please send patches for those? I think that the better is
> > to write one patch by each MAINTAINERS entry (except, of course, if there
> > are consecutive entries), as I suspect that MAINTAINERS is likely one
> > of top-rated merge-conflicts file.
> >
> >>
> >> There are more radio drivers that can have that status, but I would need
> >> to check that when I'm back in Oslo.
> >>
> >> I can do 'Odd fixes' for the following:
> >>
> >> i2c/cx25840/cx25840.ko         = i2c/cx25840/cx25840-core.c i2c/cx25840/cx25840-audio.c i2c/cx25840/cx25840-firmware.c i2c/cx25840/cx25840-vbi.c i2c/cx25840/cx25840-ir.c
> >> i2c/m52790.ko                  = i2c/m52790.c
> >> i2c/msp3400.ko                 = i2c/msp3400-driver.c i2c/msp3400-kthreads.c
> >> i2c/saa6588.ko                 = i2c/saa6588.c
> >> i2c/saa7110.ko                 = i2c/saa7110.c
> >> i2c/saa7115.ko                 = i2c/saa7115.c
> >> i2c/saa7127.ko                 = i2c/saa7127.c
> >> i2c/saa717x.ko                 = i2c/saa717x.c
> >> i2c/tda7432.ko                 = i2c/tda7432.c
> >> i2c/tda9840.ko                 = i2c/tda9840.c
> >> i2c/tea6415c.ko                = i2c/tea6415c.c
> >> i2c/tea6420.ko                 = i2c/tea6420.c
> >> i2c/tvaudio.ko                 = i2c/tvaudio.c
> >> i2c/tveeprom.ko                = i2c/tveeprom.c
> >
> >> i2c/tvp5150.ko                 = i2c/tvp5150.c
> > While I don't mind if you want to do odd fixes for this device,
> > I think I can maintain this one, as the "default" device I use for
> > random tests has this chipset (HVR-950), and I wrote this driver.
> >
> >> i2c/wm8739.ko                  = i2c/wm8739.c
> >> i2c/wm8775.ko                  = i2c/wm8775.c
> >> parport/pms.ko                 = parport/pms.c
> >> platform/vivi.ko               = platform/vivi.c
> >> radio/radio-aimslab.ko         = radio/radio-aimslab.c
> >> radio/radio-gemtek.ko          = radio/radio-gemtek.c
> >> radio/radio-maxiradio.ko       = radio/radio-maxiradio.c
> >> radio/radio-miropcm20.ko       = radio/radio-miropcm20.c
> >> radio/radio-mr800.ko           = radio/radio-mr800.c
> >> radio/radio-rtrack2.ko         = radio/radio-rtrack2.c
> >> radio/radio-si4713.ko          = radio/radio-si4713.c
> >
> >> usb/cx231xx/cx231xx-alsa.ko    = usb/cx231xx/cx231xx-audio.c
> >> usb/cx231xx/cx231xx-dvb.ko     = usb/cx231xx/cx231xx-dvb.c
> >> usb/cx231xx/cx231xx-input.ko   = usb/cx231xx/cx231xx-input.c
> >> usb/cx231xx/cx231xx.ko         = +
> > I think we should check if the driver author is not interested on
> > taking maintainership for this one, before putting it on Odd fixes status.
> 
> I'm very sorry for long silence but i'm ready to take maintainership
> for radio-mr800. By the way, i think that only fixes will be present
> for this driver in the future.

Good. could you please send us a patch for Maintainers then?

> Is it possible for driver to have two maintainers or for example one
> person marked as maintainer and another one marked as "odd fixes" ?

Well, it is possible to have two maintainers for a driver. A few of them
have it, but, AFAIKT, the driver maintainership status should be just one 
for the entire driver.

> I
> mean i'm interested to be in c/c regarding all email, news,
> interesting patches for radio-mr800, dsbr100 and usb radio part of
> si470x but i don't know how to mark it that i want to help with these
> drivers. I have only dsbr100, mr800 and kworld fm700 (based on si470x)
> usb radios and i'm ready to test any patches and help as much as i
> can.

If the above drivers have a maintainer, the patch adding you there
as another maintainer should be sent by him (or with his ack).

> I don't have usb radio for radio-keene.c driver but i probably will
> take a look how to buy it here..
> 
> And i'm also ready to maintain driver radio-ma901.c. I posted patches
> for this device about two weeks ago. Driver is rather small (first
> working version) but i hope to add more features there in future.

Ok. Please send us a maintainership patch for it as well.

Thank you!
Mauro

> 
> Best regards and wishes,
> Alexey Klimov