Re: [PATCH 01/24] Documentation: DT: document compatible string existence requirement

Paul Walmsley
2015-01-29T17:06:25Z

Hello Javier,

On 01/29/2015 09:43 AM, Javier Martinez Canillas wrote:
> Hello Paul,
>
> On 01/29/2015 12:49 AM, Paul Walmsley wrote:
>> DT maintainers require all compatible strings used in chip or board
>> DTS file to be previously documented somewhere in
>> Documentation/devicetree/bindings, per:
>>
>> http://marc.info/?l=linux-tegra&m=142201349727836&w=2
>>
> I would had preferred if checkpatch.pl didn't warn about the most specific
> variants of the IP blocks tbh.
>
> Since afaiu those were only added to the compatible string as a way to make
> it future proof in case there is going to be needed later. So in that sense
> I thought they were not part of the DT ABI.
>
> Now, dumping the unused specific strings in binding docs only to make
> checkpatch happy, will have the effect of making those unused strings become
> part of the DT ABI. Which mean that couldn't be dropped later if those are
> found to not be needed since there won't be a way to know if an OS following
> the DT binding will be matching those or not.
>
> But since the decision is to warn for all strings in a compatible property
> even if those are not used, I agree with you that it should be documented.
>
> Reviewed-by: Javier Martinez Canillas <javier.martinez@collabora.co.uk>

Thanks for the review.

For what it's worth, I agree with almost everything you wrote.

- Paul