Re: [PATCH v8 0/6] Add Fieldbus subsystem + support HMS Profinet card

From: "Andreas Färber" <afaerber@suse.de>
To: Sven Van Asbroeck <thesven73@gmail.com>
Cc: Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
	robh+dt@kernel.org, Linus Walleij <linus.walleij@linaro.org>,
	Lee Jones <lee.jones@linaro.org>,
	mark.rutland@arm.com, treding@nvidia.com,
	David Lechner <david@lechnology.com>,
	noralf@tronnes.org, johan@kernel.org,
	Michal Simek <monstr@monstr.eu>,
	michal.vokac@ysoft.com, Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>,
	john.garry@huawei.com, geert+renesas@glider.be,
	robin.murphy@arm.com,
	Paul Gortmaker <paul.gortmaker@windriver.com>,
	sebastien.bourdelin@savoirfairelinux.com, icenowy@aosc.io,
	Stuart Yoder <stuyoder@gmail.com>,
	maxime.ripard@bootlin.com,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v8 0/6] Add Fieldbus subsystem + support HMS Profinet card
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2019 18:25:56 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <c8632a8c-dd3b-6b16-3fb2-5a1b381ca29a@suse.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAGngYiXZtNcqQ3JGgavBxypo75WtAT7T-X4DQFNWD8kQcifU8g@mail.gmail.com>

Am 11.03.19 um 18:02 schrieb Sven Van Asbroeck:
> On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 9:14 AM Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
>>
>> Well, who wants this code?  Who uses it?  Find those people and get them
>> to review it.  If no one wants it or uses it, that kind of implies that
>> it's not needed :)
> 
> We have customers who (will) talk to this ABI from userspace, but they are
> not 'Linux-y' enough to come to the mailing list and meaningfully review
> the userspace ABI.
> 
> IMHO the current reality of Fieldbus on Linux is companies rolling their own
> proprietary out-of-tree interfaces and drivers. They do this partly because
> there is no existing community or infrastructure. So there is no incentive
> to be involved with mainline, which could also explain why no-one is commenting
> on this Fieldbus ABI.
> 
> Chicken-and-egg problem ?
> 
> Greg, could I convince you to take this Fieldbus subsystem in drivers/staging?
> Perhaps its presence may kickstart or seed a Linux Fieldbus community.
> Being in staging/ also means that we can tweak the userspace ABI to our
> heart's content if more people/requirements come in.
> 
> If there's been no meaningful activity in, say, one year from now, you may
> decide to send this whole subsystem to /dev/null.

I have two unfinished drivers that might benefit, for Hilscher netX 52
(multi-protocol) and Microchip LAN9252 (EtherCAT), as well as a Linux
port for Infineon XMC4500 that might be expanded to XMC4800 (EtherCAT).

But currently -ENOTIME for review or development, sorry.

Staging sounds like a plan, if that allows us to still break the ABI.

Can't make any guarantees whether I might get to them within one year,
as my LoRa project has been turning into a Black Hole. ;)

Are you at Netdev 0x13 later this month? That might be an opportunity to
discuss the network-related parts such as Profinet and EtherCAT.

Cheers,
Andreas

https://github.com/afaerber/netx-module
https://github.com/afaerber/lan9252-module

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