[U-Boot] [STATUS] "Quality" of patches / testing.

[Detlev Zundel <dzu@denx.de>]

Hi Wolfgang,

[...]

> Note # 3 at http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/Patches says:
>
> 	Before sending the patch, you must run the MAKEALL script on
> 	your patched source tree and make sure that no errors or
> 	warnings are reported for any of the boards. Well, at least
> 	not any more warnings than without your patch.
>
> 	It is strongly recommended to verify that out-of-tree building
> 	(with "-O" make option resp. "BUILD_DIR" environment variable)
> 	is still working. For example, run:
>
> 	$ BUILD_DIR=/tmp/u-boot-build ./MAKEALL
>
> Why is nobody doing this?

I'd like to raise awareness looking at the root of the problems, not how
to fix the fallout.

Why is it that we regularly have cases where ("local") U-Boot changes
break ("distant") board configurations?  Isn't this a sign that our code
base isn't as orhtogonal as it should be?  Is such an orthogonality not
possible for us?

Has anyone got a good explanation why it is this way - and even better
ideas on how to improve this?

Thanks
  Detlev

-- 
I think that level of generalization is too abstract for useful thinking.
             -- Richard Stallman in <E19N344-0006Q9-Bt@fencepost.gnu.org>
--
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,      MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
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