Re: [RFC PATCH 00/10] isci: core

Dan Williams
2011-03-15T20:13:54Z

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 11:08 AM, Jeff Garzik <jeff@garzik.org> wrote:
> On 03/15/2011 01:55 PM, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 01:47:12PM -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote:
>>>
>>> Let's get this driver into staging for 2.6.39, if it isn't going to
>>> hit the merge window for 2.6.39.
>>>
>>> It would lame for such [presumably] high volume hardware to be in
>>> neither the main kernel, nor staging, at 2.6.39 release time.
>>
>> What's the point of staging?  That just causes tons of poinless churn.
>> Linus has made it clear that normal high volume hardware drivers can go
>> in after the merge window.  So let's just polish it for another few
>> weeks and then put it in where it belongs.
>
> That's fine... if that really happens.
>
> It seemed like this was turning into another driver that would get held
> outside the kernel until it's "perfect."  If that is the case, Linus has
> also made it clear we should get drivers for high volume, shipping hardware
> into the kernel, even if its staging, if the alternative is to deny users
> the driver.
>

Whether it is drivers/staging/ or drivers/scsi/ having a few more
weeks to at least allow for a SCSI focused review (and the resulting
cleanups / fixes) before merging is the important point.

Staging does not seem to be the location for high volume cleanups
after the merge window closes:
$ git diff --stat -M v2.6.38-rc1..v2.6.38 drivers/staging/
50 files changed, 832 insertions(+), 476 deletions(-)

...though there is a precedent for taking large staging drivers post
merge window (commit 9d200153: Staging: add MSM framebuffer driver).

This looks like a way forward. Barring objections I would also go
ahead and get the current git tree into -next just to flush out any
build / integration issues. If we (community) end up deciding the
driver should still go to staging I can just do a late "git mv
drivers/scsi/isci drivers/staging/" prior to sending the pull request
to Greg.

--
Dan
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