For common questions and answers about the GPL, please see:
- http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
+ https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
Documentation
Other excellent descriptions of how to create patches properly are:
"The Perfect Patch"
-
- http://www.ozlabs.org/~akpm/stuff/tpp.txt
+ https://www.ozlabs.org/~akpm/stuff/tpp.txt
"Linux kernel patch submission format"
-
http://linux.yyz.us/patch-format.html
:ref:`Documentation/stable_api_nonsense.txt <stable_api_nonsense>`
full description of the in-kernel API, and rules on how to handle
locking properly.
-All such documents can be generated as PDF or HTML by running:
-
-::
+All such documents can be generated as PDF or HTML by running::
make pdfdocs
make htmldocs
respectively from the main kernel source directory.
The documents that uses ReST markup will be generated at Documentation/output.
-They can also be generated on LaTeX and ePub formats with:
-
-::
+They can also be generated on LaTeX and ePub formats with::
make latexdocs
make epubdocs
Currently, there are some documents written on DocBook that are in
the process of conversion to ReST. Such documents will be created in the
Documentation/DocBook/ directory and can be generated also as
-Postscript or man pages by running:
-
-::
+Postscript or man pages by running::
make psdocs
make mandocs
If you do not know anything about Linux kernel development, you should
look at the Linux KernelNewbies project:
- http://kernelnewbies.org
+ https://kernelnewbies.org
It consists of a helpful mailing list where you can ask almost any type
of basic kernel development question (make sure to search the archives
some task to start doing to join into the kernel development community,
go to the Linux Kernel Janitor's project:
- http://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors
+ https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors
It is a great place to start. It describes a list of relatively simple
problems that need to be cleaned up and fixed within the Linux kernel
kernel-mentors project was created to help you out with this. It is a
mailing list, and can be found at:
- http://selenic.com/mailman/listinfo/kernel-mentors
+ https://selenic.com/mailman/listinfo/kernel-mentors
Before making any actual modifications to the Linux kernel code, it is
imperative to understand how the code in question works. For this
4.x kernel tree
-----------------
4.x kernels are maintained by Linus Torvalds, and can be found on
-kernel.org in the pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ directory. Its development
+https://kernel.org in the pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ directory. Its development
process is as follows:
- As soon as a new kernel is released a two weeks window is open,
Linus, usually the patches that have already been included in the
-next kernel for a few weeks. The preferred way to submit big changes
is using git (the kernel's source management tool, more information
- can be found at http://git-scm.com/) but plain patches are also just
+ can be found at https://git-scm.com/) but plain patches are also just
fine.
- After two weeks a -rc1 kernel is released it is now possible to push
only patches that do not include new features that could affect the
It is worth mentioning what Andrew Morton wrote on the linux-kernel
mailing list about kernel releases:
-::
-
- "Nobody knows when a kernel will be released, because it's
+ *"Nobody knows when a kernel will be released, because it's
released according to perceived bug status, not according to a
- preconceived timeline."
+ preconceived timeline."*
4.x.y -stable kernel tree
-------------------------
Most of these repositories are git trees, but there are also other SCMs
in use, or patch queues being published as quilt series. Addresses of
these subsystem repositories are listed in the MAINTAINERS file. Many
-of them can be browsed at http://git.kernel.org/.
+of them can be browsed at https://git.kernel.org/.
Before a proposed patch is committed to such a subsystem tree, it is
subject to review which primarily happens on mailing lists (see the
interface which shows patch postings, any comments on a patch or
revisions to it, and maintainers can mark patches as under review,
accepted, or rejected. Most of these patchwork sites are listed at
-http://patchwork.kernel.org/.
+https://patchwork.kernel.org/.
4.x -next kernel tree for integration tests
-------------------------------------------
testing repository exists into which virtually all subsystem trees are
pulled on an almost daily basis:
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git
+ https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/next/linux-next.git
This way, the -next kernel gives a summary outlook onto what will be
expected to go into the mainline kernel at the next merge period.
Bug Reporting
-------------
-bugzilla.kernel.org is where the Linux kernel developers track kernel
+https://bugzilla.kernel.org is where the Linux kernel developers track kernel
bugs. Users are encouraged to report all bugs that they find in this
tool. For details on how to use the kernel bugzilla, please see:
- http://bugzilla.kernel.org/page.cgi?id=faq.html
+ https://bugzilla.kernel.org/page.cgi?id=faq.html
The file REPORTING-BUGS in the main kernel source directory has a good
template for how to report a possible kernel bug, and details what kind
bugs is one of the best ways to get merits among other developers, because
not many people like wasting time fixing other people's bugs.
-To work in the already reported bug reports, go to http://bugzilla.kernel.org.
+To work in the already reported bug reports, go to https://bugzilla.kernel.org.
If you want to be advised of the future bug reports, you can subscribe to the
bugme-new mailing list (only new bug reports are mailed here) or to the
bugme-janitor mailing list (every change in the bugzilla is mailed here)
- http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bugme-new
- http://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bugme-janitors
+ https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bugme-new
+
+ https://lists.linux-foundation.org/mailman/listinfo/bugme-janitors
writing at the top of the mail.
If you add patches to your mail, make sure they are plain readable text
-as stated in Documentation/SubmittingPatches. Kernel developers don't
-want to deal with attachments or compressed patches; they may want
-to comment on individual lines of your patch, which works only that way.
-Make sure you use a mail program that does not mangle spaces and tab
-characters. A good first test is to send the mail to yourself and try
-to apply your own patch by yourself. If that doesn't work, get your
-mail program fixed or change it until it works.
+as stated in Documentation/SubmittingPatches.
+Kernel developers don't want to deal with
+attachments or compressed patches; they may want to comment on
+individual lines of your patch, which works only that way. Make sure you
+use a mail program that does not mangle spaces and tab characters. A
+good first test is to send the mail to yourself and try to apply your
+own patch by yourself. If that doesn't work, get your mail program fixed
+or change it until it works.
Above all, please remember to show respect to other subscribers.
toward a solution that is right.
It is normal that the answers to your first patch might simply be a list
-of a dozen things you should correct. This does _not_ imply that your
-patch will not be accepted, and it is _not_ meant against you
+of a dozen things you should correct. This does **not** imply that your
+patch will not be accepted, and it is **not** meant against you
personally. Simply correct all issues raised against your patch and
resend it.
Here is an analogy from kernel developer Al Viro:
-::
-
- "Think of a teacher grading homework from a math student. The
+ *"Think of a teacher grading homework from a math student. The
teacher does not want to see the student's trials and errors
before they came up with the solution. They want to see the
cleanest, most elegant answer. A good student knows this, and
would never submit her intermediate work before the final
- solution.
+ solution.*
- The same is true of kernel development. The maintainers and
+ *The same is true of kernel development. The maintainers and
reviewers do not want to see the thought process behind the
solution to the problem one is solving. They want to see a
- simple and elegant solution."
+ simple and elegant solution."*
It may be challenging to keep the balance between presenting an elegant
solution and working together with the community and discussing your
ChangeLog section of the document:
"The Perfect Patch"
-
http://www.ozlabs.org/~akpm/stuff/tpp.txt
-
-
All of these things are sometimes very hard to do. It can take years to
perfect these practices (if at all). It's a continuous process of
improvement that requires a lot of patience and determination. But
----------
Thanks to Paolo Ciarrocchi who allowed the "Development Process"
-(http://lwn.net/Articles/94386/) section
+(https://lwn.net/Articles/94386/) section
to be based on text he had written, and to Randy Dunlap and Gerrit
Huizenga for some of the list of things you should and should not say.
Also thanks to Pat Mochel, Hanna Linder, Randy Dunlap, Kay Sievers,
projects / cascardo / linux.git / blobdiff