Regarding sumbiting a new NIC driver to kernel.

Regarding sumbiting a new NIC driver to kernel.

[Ren, Cloud]

Dear David S. Miller

I am working for Qualcomm(Atheros) as an engineer. Recently, we are developing a new Linux driver, "alx" , that supports AR8131, AR8151, AR8152 ,  AR8161 and etc. AR8161 is our new NIC that will be released soon.

As we know, there is a linux driver "atl1c"  in the kernel. It can also support AR8131, AR8152, AR8151. So "alx" at functionality is a little repeated with "atl1c". Now,  we hope to push the new "alx" into linux kernel and remove the old "atl1c". 

Would you have any advices to us?  If this is possible, how do I submit the new driver and remove the old driver? Can you give me a doc how to submit the driver to kernel or any hints?

Btw, why do we need to develop the new driver?
The most important reason is for convenience on maintenance 1. we need to make HW operations uniform on all supported OS, such as WinXP, Win7 and Linux.
2. As our company is continuous to release new NICs, there are more and more drivers to support those NICs. It's a pity to develop and maintain so many drivers. So we have developed the driver, "alx". We will use it to support as many NICs as possible, including NICs released in future.


Thanks
Cloud

Re: Regarding sumbiting a new NIC driver to kernel.

[Marius Kotsbak]

Den 01. juli 2011 11:09, skrev Ren, Cloud:
> Would you have any advices to us?  If this is possible, how do I submit the new driver and remove the old driver? Can you give me a doc how to submit the driver to kernel or any hints?

All should be explained in:

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=Documentation/SubmittingPatches;h=569f3532e1383cb3e67dcba7b77990b5f18a1411;hb=HEAD

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=Documentation/SubmittingDrivers;h=319baa8b60dd727d82c5e8fa062c13e3bb3126d5;hb=HEAD

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=blob;f=Documentation/SubmitChecklist;h=da0382daa39556939dcc94717b658b5917e4009f;hb=HEAD

--
Marius

Re: Regarding sumbiting a new NIC driver to kernel.

[Francois Romieu]

(insert the usual "only speaking on behalf of myself" here)

Ren, Cloud <cjren@qca.qualcomm.com> :
[...]
> Would you have any advices to us ?  If this is possible, how do I submit the
> new driver and remove the old driver? Can you give me a doc how to submit
> the driver to kernel or any hints ?

Advices:
- publish early for review and comments. Code is reviewed here, on netdev.
- work with the current atl* in-kernel drivers maintainers.
- provide a big-bang free migration path.
- read netdev. http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html lists some archive.
- don't expect the convenience on maintenance to materialize immediately.

(old farts may appreciate shorter lines - somewhere between 72 and 80
chars - too)

If you have not done so yet, please consider reading:
- Documentation/CodingStyle
- Documentation/SubmittingPatches

Documentation/SubmittingDrivers is imho irrelevant here.

> Btw, why do we need to develop the new driver?
> The most important reason is for convenience on maintenance 1. we need to
> make HW operations uniform on all supported OS, such as WinXP, Win7 and Linux.
> 2. As our company is continuous to release new NICs, there are more and more
> drivers to support those NICs. It's a pity to develop and maintain so many
> drivers. So we have developed the driver, "alx". We will use it to support
> as many NICs as possible, including NICs released in future.

Platform neutral does not necessarily bode good things... :o/ 

Don't be shy, show the code.

-- 
Ueimor