Re: [patch 14/25] SCSI: use irq_handler_t where appropriate

Jeff Garzik
2007-05-24T20:49:46Z

James Bottomley wrote:
> SCSI is a slightly different subsystem from almost any other in the
> kernel. It has something like 15 active driver maintainers plus at
> least another 15-25 periodically active ones. Most (but not all) driver
> maintainers are employed by the company who produces the board/chip and
> tend to be overloaded with a lot of non-linux work. Requiring acks for
> maintained drivers is a courtesy to make sure we don't get maintainers
> spending time trying to resolve conflicts. I'm not mandating any
> particular method of getting acks, just noting that cc'ing maintainers
> and having specific subject lines mentioning the driver is a reasonable
> way of getting them to notice.

Linux has never worked that way. We always have a stream of patches
that are multi-subsystem cleanups and the like. Blocking these patches
for months at a time because individual driver maintainers are off doing
non-Linux work is just not realistic.

The system is broken, from where I sit. In pretty much every other
subsystem in the kernel, the subsystem maintainer makes sure patches
don't get stuck in limbo for months.

Jeff