Lorenzo Lutti wrote: > Can someone clarify the relationship between the kernel shipped with > DVEVM/DVSDK and the kernel maintained on the git repository? Will they be > "merged" someday into one single project (and hopefully added to the > mainline kernel), or will they always follow two different development > paths?
They will always be separarate branches, but will always be complementary. Consider the two branches as - frozen/stable branch (DVEMV/DVSDK) - bleeding-edge (git) There is continual code sharing in both directions for bug fixes and new features. I'll describe the ideal working model between the two branches. The ideal is that active development of new features takes place in the 'bleeding-edge' tree, with community feedback, interaction and code review. If there are bug fixes, they are also backported to the stable tree (most likely by MontaVista or by TI). Then when it's time for a new stable release, relavant enhancements or new features are evalutated and if they are required in the new release, they are backported to the stable tree. The current stable release is based on the MV Pro 4.x product. When it's time for the next major release (probably MV Pro 5.x), the two trees become one for a short time, then a stable branch is split off and the process starts over again. The goal of the git tree is that it will be merged into the mainline kernel. However, there's still more work to do before community acceptance is possible. And also, I'm looking for more folks willing to contribute to make this possible. So far there's only 3 people that have contributed to the git tree. Me (MontaVista), Komal Shah and Dave Brownell. I'm concerned because I need to modify the kernel to add/extend some > DaVinci-specific functionalities, and I'm not sure on which kernel I should > stick with. The git kernel is public, kept in sync with the mainline and > apparently there is more activity on it; the DVEVM kernel hasn't a very > clear license, it's still based on 2.6.10 kernel, but apparently it supports > more DaVinci features/peripherals and it's directly maintained by TI. If you develop new features, fix old features or fix bugs in the bleeding edge tree, you can be sure that they will find their way into the stable tree. I will make sure of that. > Even if I'm still a beginner in kernel development (I've never done nothing > more complicated than simple character devices...), I would like to give my > contribution on the functionalities that aren't currently developed by > anyone. For example: Yes, please do. Your contributions will be very appreciated. > 1) MMC implementation. As it has been already pointed out, the current > implementation on git tree doesn't work because it uses the deprecated > struct request (from 2.6.10 kernel) instead of the new struct scatterlist. > Is someone taking care of this? I haven't seen any activity on this. > 2) SPI bus implementation. Since I need it *badly* :-), if someone isn't > working on it already, I will do it for sure. Since GPIOs have been already > implemented, the bitbang implementation should be fairly easy; then I will > try to adapt the OMAP SPI implementation (which hopefully shouldn't be much > different). Your work on both of these areas would be much appreciated. Please keep the list updated on your progress as I know there are others interested in SPI. > P.S. By the way, I noticed that in this mailing list there aren't much > discussions on kernel development. Is this the correct place for this topic? > Since DaVinci isn't in the mainline yet (I hope it will be someday...), I > suppose LKML isn't good. This list was intended to be the list for discussion of kernel development for DaVinci. Unfortunately, it's also become a support list for DVEVM/DVSDK customers. Hoepfully, as the kernel development community grows around DaVinci, there will be more kernel developers and questions here. Hope that helps answer you questions. Kevin _______________________________________________ Davinci-linux-open-source mailing list [email protected] http://linux.davincidsp.com/mailman/listinfo/davinci-linux-open-source
