Re: [PATCH] edac: Remove fixmes in e7xxx_edac.c

From: Nick Krause <xerofoify@gmail.com>
To: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Cc: "Levente Kurusa" <lkurusa@redhat.com>,
	"Tony Luck" <tony.luck@gmail.com>, "Bjørn Mork" <bjorn@mork.no>,
	"Doug Thompson" <dougthompson@xmission.com>,
	"Borislav Petkov" <bp@alien8.de>,
	"m.chehab@samsung.com" <m.chehab@samsung.com>,
	"Linux Edac Mailing List" <linux-edac@vger.kernel.org>,
	"Linux Kernel Mailing List" <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] edac: Remove fixmes in e7xxx_edac.c
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 12:19:50 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAPDOMVjbatYy9GtK6Jcu96-cDNB8C-ejboKW_x8s0NCFzQt64Q@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20140723120748.5ef6e1b5@gandalf.local.home>

On Wed, Jul 23, 2014 at 12:07 PM, Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:35:21 -0400
> Nick Krause <xerofoify@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Steve, I  have make a few mistakes. That doesn't give you the right to
>> put me under a waste of time yet.
>
> Nobody is upset at you for making a few mistakes. But ignoring advice
> from people is something quite different, and that is what tends to
> piss people off.
>
> You were told time and time again to stop this fixme craze because you
> obviously didn't know the details of what you were fixing, but you
> continued to care on. The issue is with these patches that you probably
> caught a maintainer off guard, and they just accepted it thinking you
> had some clue to the code you were fixing. Thus, not only are you
> removing crucial comments about areas of code that needs more
> attention, you end up making things worse. Your actions are dangerous to
> the kernel and the fact you ignoring everyone telling you to stop it,
> makes you dangerous to the kernel. That gives me the right to put you
> under the "waste of time" folder.
>
> Now it may seem that I'm being rather harsh to you, and I may be. The
> Linux kernel is a serious project and it can not afford having to deal
> with those that do not listen.
>
> That said...
>
> I see you stated in another email:
>
> "Very well then I guess the community wants me to listen better to the
> maintainers and not do stupid things"
>
>
> Finally, you are listening.
>
> You obviously are very enthusiastic, and I would like you not to waste
> your own time and energy trying to help in a not so helpful way. If you
> really want to help the Linux community, here's what you do.
>
> Find a single area to focus on. Not a key word throughout the kernel.
> Look at the USB stack, or find some driver in staging that is for some
> really cheap hardware that you can afford. And get it cleaned up and
> working nicely. Start simple. Try to understand that area completely.
>
> Remember, nobody understand every aspect of the kernel. All the main
> kernel developers are experts in select parts. I wouldn't even try
> fixing "fixmes" in parts of the kernel that I'm unfamiliar with.
>
> Find a part of the kernel, and learn every aspect of that part inside
> and out. Study the code. Boot the kernel. Make a modification of that
> code and see what happens. Yes! Break it (but don't submit a patch that
> does ;). Sometimes breaking stuff is the best way to understand why it
> worked in the first place. Use function graph tracing to see the code
> flow.
>
> After you have done that, and you really have a good understanding of
> that part of the kernel, you should in the mean time see a way to
> enhance it, or better yet, find a real bug and fix it. Then you can
> submit a patch and that will be something of use.
>
> Moral of the story: Learn the kernel before submitting a patch, do not
> submit a patch to help you learn the kernel.
>
> -- Steve

Steve ,
Thanks for your help.
Cheers Nick