236 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
236 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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Information you need to know about netdev
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-----------------------------------------
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Q: What is netdev?
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A: It is a mailing list for all network-related Linux stuff. This includes
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anything found under net/ (i.e. core code like IPv6) and drivers/net
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(i.e. hardware specific drivers) in the Linux source tree.
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Note that some subsystems (e.g. wireless drivers) which have a high volume
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of traffic have their own specific mailing lists.
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The netdev list is managed (like many other Linux mailing lists) through
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VGER ( http://vger.kernel.org/ ) and archives can be found below:
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http://marc.info/?l=linux-netdev
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http://www.spinics.net/lists/netdev/
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Aside from subsystems like that mentioned above, all network-related Linux
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development (i.e. RFC, review, comments, etc.) takes place on netdev.
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Q: How do the changes posted to netdev make their way into Linux?
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A: There are always two trees (git repositories) in play. Both are driven
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by David Miller, the main network maintainer. There is the "net" tree,
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and the "net-next" tree. As you can probably guess from the names, the
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net tree is for fixes to existing code already in the mainline tree from
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Linus, and net-next is where the new code goes for the future release.
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You can find the trees here:
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https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net.git
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https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net-next.git
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Q: How often do changes from these trees make it to the mainline Linus tree?
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A: To understand this, you need to know a bit of background information
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on the cadence of Linux development. Each new release starts off with
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a two week "merge window" where the main maintainers feed their new
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stuff to Linus for merging into the mainline tree. After the two weeks,
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the merge window is closed, and it is called/tagged "-rc1". No new
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features get mainlined after this -- only fixes to the rc1 content
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are expected. After roughly a week of collecting fixes to the rc1
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content, rc2 is released. This repeats on a roughly weekly basis
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until rc7 (typically; sometimes rc6 if things are quiet, or rc8 if
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things are in a state of churn), and a week after the last vX.Y-rcN
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was done, the official "vX.Y" is released.
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Relating that to netdev: At the beginning of the 2-week merge window,
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the net-next tree will be closed - no new changes/features. The
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accumulated new content of the past ~10 weeks will be passed onto
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mainline/Linus via a pull request for vX.Y -- at the same time,
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the "net" tree will start accumulating fixes for this pulled content
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relating to vX.Y
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An announcement indicating when net-next has been closed is usually
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sent to netdev, but knowing the above, you can predict that in advance.
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IMPORTANT: Do not send new net-next content to netdev during the
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period during which net-next tree is closed.
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Shortly after the two weeks have passed (and vX.Y-rc1 is released), the
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tree for net-next reopens to collect content for the next (vX.Y+1) release.
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If you aren't subscribed to netdev and/or are simply unsure if net-next
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has re-opened yet, simply check the net-next git repository link above for
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any new networking-related commits. You may also check the following
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website for the current status:
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http://vger.kernel.org/~davem/net-next.html
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The "net" tree continues to collect fixes for the vX.Y content, and
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is fed back to Linus at regular (~weekly) intervals. Meaning that the
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focus for "net" is on stabilization and bugfixes.
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Finally, the vX.Y gets released, and the whole cycle starts over.
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Q: So where are we now in this cycle?
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A: Load the mainline (Linus) page here:
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https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
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and note the top of the "tags" section. If it is rc1, it is early
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in the dev cycle. If it was tagged rc7 a week ago, then a release
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is probably imminent.
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Q: How do I indicate which tree (net vs. net-next) my patch should be in?
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A: Firstly, think whether you have a bug fix or new "next-like" content.
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Then once decided, assuming that you use git, use the prefix flag, i.e.
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git format-patch --subject-prefix='PATCH net-next' start..finish
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Use "net" instead of "net-next" (always lower case) in the above for
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bug-fix net content. If you don't use git, then note the only magic in
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the above is just the subject text of the outgoing e-mail, and you can
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manually change it yourself with whatever MUA you are comfortable with.
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Q: I sent a patch and I'm wondering what happened to it. How can I tell
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whether it got merged?
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A: Start by looking at the main patchworks queue for netdev:
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http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/netdev/list/
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The "State" field will tell you exactly where things are at with
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your patch.
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Q: The above only says "Under Review". How can I find out more?
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A: Generally speaking, the patches get triaged quickly (in less than 48h).
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So be patient. Asking the maintainer for status updates on your
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patch is a good way to ensure your patch is ignored or pushed to
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the bottom of the priority list.
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Q: I submitted multiple versions of the patch series, should I directly update
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patchwork for the previous versions of these patch series?
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A: No, please don't interfere with the patch status on patchwork, leave it to
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the maintainer to figure out what is the most recent and current version that
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should be applied. If there is any doubt, the maintainer will reply and ask
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what should be done.
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Q: How can I tell what patches are queued up for backporting to the
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various stable releases?
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A: Normally Greg Kroah-Hartman collects stable commits himself, but
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for networking, Dave collects up patches he deems critical for the
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networking subsystem, and then hands them off to Greg.
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There is a patchworks queue that you can see here:
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http://patchwork.ozlabs.org/bundle/davem/stable/?state=*
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It contains the patches which Dave has selected, but not yet handed
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off to Greg. If Greg already has the patch, then it will be here:
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https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue.git
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A quick way to find whether the patch is in this stable-queue is
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to simply clone the repo, and then git grep the mainline commit ID, e.g.
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stable-queue$ git grep -l 284041ef21fdf2e
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releases/3.0.84/ipv6-fix-possible-crashes-in-ip6_cork_release.patch
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releases/3.4.51/ipv6-fix-possible-crashes-in-ip6_cork_release.patch
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releases/3.9.8/ipv6-fix-possible-crashes-in-ip6_cork_release.patch
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stable/stable-queue$
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Q: I see a network patch and I think it should be backported to stable.
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Should I request it via "stable@vger.kernel.org" like the references in
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the kernel's Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst file say?
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A: No, not for networking. Check the stable queues as per above 1st to see
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if it is already queued. If not, then send a mail to netdev, listing
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the upstream commit ID and why you think it should be a stable candidate.
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Before you jump to go do the above, do note that the normal stable rules
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in Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst still apply. So you need to
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explicitly indicate why it is a critical fix and exactly what users are
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impacted. In addition, you need to convince yourself that you _really_
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think it has been overlooked, vs. having been considered and rejected.
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Generally speaking, the longer it has had a chance to "soak" in mainline,
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the better the odds that it is an OK candidate for stable. So scrambling
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to request a commit be added the day after it appears should be avoided.
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Q: I have created a network patch and I think it should be backported to
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stable. Should I add a "Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org" like the references
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in the kernel's Documentation/ directory say?
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A: No. See above answer. In short, if you think it really belongs in
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stable, then ensure you write a decent commit log that describes who
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gets impacted by the bugfix and how it manifests itself, and when the
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bug was introduced. If you do that properly, then the commit will
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get handled appropriately and most likely get put in the patchworks
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stable queue if it really warrants it.
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If you think there is some valid information relating to it being in
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stable that does _not_ belong in the commit log, then use the three
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dash marker line as described in Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst to
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temporarily embed that information into the patch that you send.
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Q: Someone said that the comment style and coding convention is different
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for the networking content. Is this true?
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A: Yes, in a largely trivial way. Instead of this:
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/*
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* foobar blah blah blah
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* another line of text
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*/
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it is requested that you make it look like this:
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/* foobar blah blah blah
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* another line of text
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*/
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Q: I am working in existing code that has the former comment style and not the
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latter. Should I submit new code in the former style or the latter?
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A: Make it the latter style, so that eventually all code in the domain of
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netdev is of this format.
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Q: I found a bug that might have possible security implications or similar.
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Should I mail the main netdev maintainer off-list?
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A: No. The current netdev maintainer has consistently requested that people
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use the mailing lists and not reach out directly. If you aren't OK with
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that, then perhaps consider mailing "security@kernel.org" or reading about
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http://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros
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as possible alternative mechanisms.
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Q: What level of testing is expected before I submit my change?
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A: If your changes are against net-next, the expectation is that you
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have tested by layering your changes on top of net-next. Ideally you
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will have done run-time testing specific to your change, but at a
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minimum, your changes should survive an "allyesconfig" and an
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"allmodconfig" build without new warnings or failures.
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Q: Any other tips to help ensure my net/net-next patch gets OK'd?
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A: Attention to detail. Re-read your own work as if you were the
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reviewer. You can start with using checkpatch.pl, perhaps even
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with the "--strict" flag. But do not be mindlessly robotic in
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doing so. If your change is a bug-fix, make sure your commit log
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indicates the end-user visible symptom, the underlying reason as
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to why it happens, and then if necessary, explain why the fix proposed
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is the best way to get things done. Don't mangle whitespace, and as
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is common, don't mis-indent function arguments that span multiple lines.
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If it is your first patch, mail it to yourself so you can test apply
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it to an unpatched tree to confirm infrastructure didn't mangle it.
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Finally, go back and read Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst to be
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sure you are not repeating some common mistake documented there.
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