For the next Media Summit, I'd like to discuss some criteria in order to avoid drivers to stay at staging from longer than needed.
We have drivers at staging that aren't touched since 2014 (except for trivial and cleanup changes or due to changes at kABI). It sounds really doubtful that such drivers will get any care anytime soon. The way I see from some developers is that they rush to get stuff under staging, but, once the code is there, they relax and pretend that their drivers are already at the Linux Kernel and are first class citizens. I suspect that part of such behavior is due to some sort of pressure from the vendors that are sponsoring their work, but, once things enter at staging, they stop their sponsorship to fix the problems there. Staging is not supposed to work like that: once the driver gets merged there, developers and their sponsors should actually be committing to do whatever required to get the driver done to be part of the Linux Kernel's full body, and not to stay forever on a sort of Kernel's refugee camp. If, for whatever reason this doesn't happen, we should be dropping those drivers after a while. So, I'd like to discuss a set of criteria we'll be adopting in order to decide when it is time to send unloved staging code to /dev/null. Regards, Mauro Em Tue, 25 Jun 2019 08:48:26 -0300 Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+sams...@kernel.org> escreveu: > Keeping legacy problematic code forever is not a good idea. > > So, let's schedule a date for those legacy stuff to rest in piece. > > If someone wants to steps up and take them from the staging ostracism > and do give them a rejuvenation shower in order to address the > isues pointed on their TODO lists, be our guest! > > Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+sams...@kernel.org> > --- > drivers/staging/media/bcm2048/TODO | 6 ++++++ > drivers/staging/media/davinci_vpfe/TODO | 7 +++++++ > drivers/staging/media/omap4iss/TODO | 7 +++++++ > drivers/staging/media/soc_camera/TODO | 9 +++++++++ > 4 files changed, 29 insertions(+) > > diff --git a/drivers/staging/media/bcm2048/TODO > b/drivers/staging/media/bcm2048/TODO > index 6bee2a2dad68..478984672c9b 100644 > --- a/drivers/staging/media/bcm2048/TODO > +++ b/drivers/staging/media/bcm2048/TODO > @@ -1,3 +1,9 @@ > +NOTE: > + The bcm2048 driver fixes on this TODO were not addressed yet. > + It has been a long time since the last related change. > + Unless someone steps up addressing those, this driver is > + scheduled to be removed for Kernel 5.4. > + > TODO: > > From the initial code review: > diff --git a/drivers/staging/media/davinci_vpfe/TODO > b/drivers/staging/media/davinci_vpfe/TODO > index cc8bd9306f2a..9d4577a911c9 100644 > --- a/drivers/staging/media/davinci_vpfe/TODO > +++ b/drivers/staging/media/davinci_vpfe/TODO > @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ > +NOTE: > + The davinci_vpfe driver fixes on this TODO were not addressed yet. > + It has been a long time since the last related change. > + Unless someone steps up addressing those, this driver is > + scheduled to be removed for Kernel 5.4. > + > + > TODO (general): > ================================== > > diff --git a/drivers/staging/media/omap4iss/TODO > b/drivers/staging/media/omap4iss/TODO > index 4d220ef82653..fb90be3c1f32 100644 > --- a/drivers/staging/media/omap4iss/TODO > +++ b/drivers/staging/media/omap4iss/TODO > @@ -1,3 +1,10 @@ > +NOTE: > + The omap4iss driver fixes on this TODO were not addressed yet. > + It has been a long time since the last related change. > + Unless someone steps up addressing those, this driver is > + scheduled to be removed for Kernel 5.4. > + > + > * Fix FIFO/buffer overflows and underflows > * Replace dummy resizer code with a real implementation > * Fix checkpatch errors and warnings > diff --git a/drivers/staging/media/soc_camera/TODO > b/drivers/staging/media/soc_camera/TODO > index 932af6443b67..677dcdc1de61 100644 > --- a/drivers/staging/media/soc_camera/TODO > +++ b/drivers/staging/media/soc_camera/TODO > @@ -1,3 +1,12 @@ > +NOTE: > + The old drivers that depends on SoC camera framework require > + conversion. We're not accepting any patches that are doing just > + checkpatch or style fixes before such conversion. > + > + If nobody steps up addressing those, this driver is scheduled to be > + removed for Kernel 5.5. > + > + > The SoC camera framework is obsolete and scheduled for removal in the near > future. Developers are encouraged to convert the drivers to use the > regular V4L2 API if these drivers are still needed (and if someone has the Thanks, Mauro
