Steps to integrate new 40G Network driver to the kernel tree

Steps to integrate new 40G Network driver to the kernel tree

[Joyce Yu - System Software]

Hello,

We have a new 40G network Linux driver. What are the steps to integrate  
it to the kernel tree?

Thanks,
Joyce

Re: Steps to integrate new 40G Network driver to the kernel tree

[Stephen Hemminger]

On Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:51:18 -0700
Joyce Yu - System Software <joyce.yu@oracle.com> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> We have a new 40G network Linux driver. What are the steps to integrate  
> it to the kernel tree?

There is a simple well documented process.
See the file SubmittingPatches in the kernel source Documentation directory.

Network drivers should be submitted to netdev list.

Re: Steps to integrate new 40G Network driver to the kernel tree

[Stephen Hemminger]

On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:47:12 -0700
Joyce Yu - System Software <joyce.yu@oracle.com> wrote:

> 
> Since it is a new driver, shall I follow the "Submitting Drivers for the 
> Linux Kernel" Doc? The driver is ready and passed all our QA cycles. I  
> have three source base, one is for 2.6.16 and 2.6.18 (for RHL 5.X and 
> SLES 10 SP3) , one is for 2.6.32 (For RHL 6.X, SLES11SP1), one for 
> 2.6.27 (For SLES11). Can it be integrated to the 2.6.18 and 2.6.32 tree? 
> or it has to be in the latest 2.6.39 or later?
> 

Do you want the driver to show up in 3.0 (aka 2.6.40) or next release.
For 3.0 submit patch against 3.0-rc4 for next release base the patch
against the network development tree (net-next-2.6).

The code should remove all special case code to deal with old kernel
versions. No backward compatiablity #ifdef's

Re: Steps to integrate new 40G Network driver to the kernel tree

[Joyce Yu - System Software]

Since it is a new driver, shall I follow the "Submitting Drivers for the 
Linux Kernel" Doc? The driver is ready and passed all our QA cycles. I  
have three source base, one is for 2.6.16 and 2.6.18 (for RHL 5.X and 
SLES 10 SP3) , one is for 2.6.32 (For RHL 6.X, SLES11SP1), one for 
2.6.27 (For SLES11). Can it be integrated to the 2.6.18 and 2.6.32 tree? 
or it has to be in the latest 2.6.39 or later?

Thanks,
Joyce

Re: Steps to integrate new 40G Network driver to the kernel tree

[Ben Hutchings]

On Tue, 2011-06-21 at 16:53 -0700, Joyce Yu - System Software wrote:
> Since it is a new driver, shall I follow the "Submitting Drivers for the 
> Linux Kernel" Doc? The driver is ready and passed all our QA cycles. I  
> have three source base, one is for 2.6.16 and 2.6.18 (for RHL 5.X and 
> SLES 10 SP3) , one is for 2.6.32 (For RHL 6.X, SLES11SP1), one for 
> 2.6.27 (For SLES11). Can it be integrated to the 2.6.18 and 2.6.32 tree? 
> or it has to be in the latest 2.6.39 or later?

There are 'longterm' branches for Linux 2.6.27 and 2.6.32, but they
don't include new drivers.  If you want your driver to go into existing
distributions then you have to talk to the distributors.  They will
generally tell you that your driver should be accepted in mainline Linux
first.  So you should first submit a driver based on David Miller's
net-2.6 tree (targetting 3.0) or net-next-2.6 (targetting 3.1).

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare
Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job.
They asked us to note that Solarflare product names are trademarked.

Re: Steps to integrate new 40G Network driver to the kernel tree

[Ben Hutchings]

On Fri, 2011-04-15 at 16:51 -0700, Joyce Yu - System Software wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> We have a new 40G network Linux driver. What are the steps to integrate  
> it to the kernel tree?

Make sure it works as an addition to David Miller's net-2.6 git tree.
Send patches here for review, in <100K chunks (that's the limit for this
list).  Update it based on review feedback, and repeat as necessary.

Documentation/SubmittingPatches has general advice on patches.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings, Senior Software Engineer, Solarflare
Not speaking for my employer; that's the marketing department's job.
They asked us to note that Solarflare product names are trademarked.