Re: merging new drivers (was Re: 2.6.18 -mm merge plans)

Andrew Morton
2006-06-05T01:47:16Z

On Sun, 4 Jun 2006 21:32:23 -0400
Jeff Garzik <jeff@garzik.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 04, 2006 at 01:50:11PM -0700, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > areca-raid-linux-scsi-driver.patch
>
> > I'm going to start sending the Areca driver to James, too. The vendor
> > has worked hard and the hardware is becoming more important - let's help
> > them get it in.
>
>
> In general, I'm a bit disappointed at the time it takes new drivers to
> reach the upstream kernel. I grant that a lot of vendor drivers are
> unreadable, unmergable shite... but on the other side of the coin, I
> see a lot of decent drivers get stalled simply because they aren't
> perfect.
>
> I would rather see a driver get "95% there" -- because once a driver is
> merged into the upstream kernel, it has a lot more visibility, and will
> inevitably receive the remaining changes and cleanups anyway.
>

Yes, I agree. As long as we reasonably think that a piece of code *will*
become acceptable within a reasonable amount of time then going early is
safe.

A large part of that calculation is non-technical: do we believe that the
originator will do the work to get things finished off. Often, that's a
pretty easy call to make.