Thorsten Leemhuis writes:
> Turn the "Why some bugs remain unfixed and some report are ignored"
> section into a proper appendix while improving it slightly.
>
> Signed-off-by: Thorsten Leemhuis
> ---
> .../admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst | 102 +-
> 1 file changed, 54 insertions(+), 48 deletions(-)
Some comments below, but I have to ask: do we really need this section
at all? Getting people to read long documents is hard, and this adds a
fair amount of length to, essentially, say that the kernel is an
open-source program like any other and its developers are not required
to address your problems...?
> diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
> b/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
> index 9676ba85e1b73c..745e698cb6be8b 100644
> --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
> @@ -1693,60 +1693,66 @@ for the subsystem where the issue seems to have its
> roots; CC the mailing list
> for the subsystem as well as the stable mailing list
> ([email protected]).
>
>
> -Why some issues won't get any reaction or remain unfixed after being reported
> -=
> +Appendix: additional background information
> +===
>
> -When reporting a problem to the Linux developers, be aware only 'issues of
> high
> -priority' (regressions, security issues, severe problems) are definitely
> going
> -to get resolved. The maintainers or if all else fails Linus Torvalds himself
> -will make sure of that. They and the other kernel developers will fix a lot
> of
> -other issues as well. But be aware that sometimes they can't or won't help;
> and
> -sometimes there isn't even anyone to send a report to.
> +.. _unfixedbugs_repiapdx:
This label is seemingly unused?
> -This is best explained with kernel developers that contribute to the Linux
> -kernel in their spare time. Quite a few of the drivers in the kernel were
> -written by such programmers, often because they simply wanted to make their
> -hardware usable on their favorite operating system.
> +Why some bugs remain unfixed and some report are ignored
report*s*
> +
> +
> +When reporting a problem to the Linux developers, be aware that they are only
> +obliged to fix regressions, security issues, and severe problems. Developers,
> +maintainers, or, if all else fails, Linus Torvalds himself will make sure of
> +that. They will fix a lot of other issues as well, but sometimes they can't
> or
> +won't help -- and sometimes there isn't even anyone to send a report to.
> +
> +This situation is best explained using kernel developers that contribute to
> the
"using" is weird; "highlighting" or some such?
> +Linux kernel in their spare time. Quite a few of the drivers in the kernel
> were
> +written by such programmers; often they simply wanted to make the
> +hardware they owned usable on their favorite operating system.
This really kind of reinforces the old "developed in their parents'
basement" stuff we used to hear; again, do we really need this?
> These programmers most of the time will happily fix problems other people
> -report. But nobody can force them to do, as they are contributing
> voluntarily.
> -
> -Then there are situations where such developers really want to fix an issue,
> -but can't: sometimes they lack hardware programming documentation to do so.
> -This often happens when the publicly available docs are superficial or the
> -driver was written with the help of reverse engineering.
> -
> -Sooner or later spare time developers will also stop caring for the driver.
> -Maybe their test hardware broke, got replaced by something more fancy, or is
> so
> -old that it's something you don't find much outside of computer museums
> -anymore. Sometimes developer stops caring for their code and Linux at all, as
> -something different in their life became way more important. In some cases
> -nobody is willing to take over the job as maintainer – and nobody can be
> forced
> -to, as contributing to the Linux kernel is done on a voluntary basis.
> Abandoned
> -drivers nevertheless remain in the kernel: they are still useful for people
> and
> -removing would be a regression.
> +report. But nobody can force them to do so, as they are contributing
> +voluntarily.
> +
> +There are also situations where such developers would like to fix issues,
> +but can't: They might lack programming documentation to do so or hardware to
> +test. The former can happen when the publicly available docs are superficial
> or
> +when a driver was written with the help of reverse engineering.
> +
> +Sooner or later, spare-time developers usually stop caring for the driver.
> +Maybe their test hardware broke, was replaced by something more fancy, or
> +became so old that it is something you
