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

[Andrew Morton]

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