--- linux-2.4.19/Documentation/SubmittingDrivers.old 2002-09-30 18:14:51.000000000 +0200 +++ linux-2.4.19/Documentation/SubmittingDrivers 2002-09-30 18:31:33.000000000 +0200 @@ -2,9 +2,8 @@ --------------------------------------- This document is intended to explain how to submit device drivers to the -Linux 2.2 and 2.4 kernel trees. Note that if you are interested in video -card drivers you should probably talk to XFree86 (http://www.xfree86.org) -instead. +various kernel trees. Note that if you are interested in video card drivers +you should probably talk to XFree86 (http://www.xfree86.org) instead. Also read the Documentation/SubmittingPatches document. @@ -35,21 +34,23 @@ maintainer then please contact Alan Cox Linux 2.4: - This kernel tree is under active development. The same rules apply - as 2.2 but you may wish to submit your driver via linux-kernel (see - resources) and follow that list to track changes in API's. These - should no longer be occuring as we are now in a code freeze. - The final contact point for Linux 2.4 submissions is - . + The same rules apply as 2.2 but this kernel tree is under active + development. The final contact point for Linux 2.4 submissions is + Marcelo Tosatti . + +Linux 2.5: + The same rules apply as 2.4 except that you should follow linux-kernel + to track changes in API's. The final contact point for Linux 2.5 + submissions is Linus Torvalds . What Criteria Determine Acceptance ---------------------------------- -Licensing: The code must be released to us under the GNU General Public License. - We don't insist on any kind of exclusively GPL licensing, - and if you wish the driver to be useful to other communities - such as BSD you may well wish to release under multiple - licenses. +Licensing: The code must be released to us under the + GNU General Public License. We don't insist on any kind + of exclusively GPL licensing, and if you wish the driver + to be useful to other communities such as BSD you may well + wish to release under multiple licenses. Interfaces: If your driver uses existing interfaces and behaves like other drivers in the same class it will be much more likely @@ -64,12 +65,13 @@ maintain them just once seperate them out nicely and note this fact. -Portability: Pointers are not always 32bits, people do not all have - floating point and you shouldn't use inline x86 assembler in - your driver without careful thought. Pure x86 drivers - generally are not popular. If you only have x86 hardware it - is hard to test portability but it is easy to make sure the - code can easily be made portable. +Portability: Pointers are not always 32bits, not all computers are little + endian, people do not all have floating point and you + shouldn't use inline x86 assembler in your driver without + careful thought. Pure x86 drivers generally are not popular. + If you only have x86 hardware it is hard to test portability + but it is easy to make sure the code can easily be made + portable. Clarity: It helps if anyone can see how to fix the driver. It helps you because you get patches not bug reports. If you submit a