Re: [PATCH] Documentation: riscv: add patch acceptance guidelines

[Paul Walmsley <paul.walmsley@sifive.com>]

Hi Matthew,

On Fri, 22 Nov 2019, Matthew Wilcox wrote:

> On Fri, Nov 22, 2019 at 06:44:39PM -0800, Paul Walmsley wrote:
> >  Documentation/riscv/patch-acceptance.rst | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >  1 file changed, 32 insertions(+)
> >  create mode 100644 Documentation/riscv/patch-acceptance.rst
> 
> Should this be linked into the toctree somewhere so it's findable
> on kernel.org?  Maybe add a line to Documentation/process/index.rst
> to include ../riscv/patch-acceptance.rst?

Does this updated patch contain what you had in mind?


- Paul

From: Paul Walmsley <paul.walmsley@sifive.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2019 18:33:28 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] Documentation: riscv: add patch acceptance guidelines

Formalize, in kernel documentation, the patch acceptance policy for
arch/riscv.  In summary, it states that as maintainers, we plan to
only accept patches for new modules or extensions that have been
frozen or ratified by the RISC-V Foundation.

We've been following these guidelines for the past few months.  In the
meantime, we've received quite a bit of feedback that it would be
helpful to have these guidelines formally documented.

Based on a suggestion from Matthew Wilcox, we also add a link to this
file to Documentation/process/index.rst, to make this document easier
to find.

Signed-off-by: Paul Walmsley <paul.walmsley@sifive.com>
Reviewed-by: Palmer Dabbelt <palmerdabbelt@google.com>
Cc: Palmer Dabbelt <palmer@dabbelt.com>
Cc: Albert Ou <aou@eecs.berkeley.edu>
Cc: Krste Asanovic <krste@berkeley.edu>
Cc: Andrew Waterman <waterman@eecs.berkeley.edu>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>
---
 Documentation/process/index.rst          |  1 +
 Documentation/riscv/index.rst            |  1 +
 Documentation/riscv/patch-acceptance.rst | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 34 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/riscv/patch-acceptance.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/process/index.rst b/Documentation/process/index.rst
index e2c9ffc682c5..9b8394eacea6 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/index.rst
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ lack of a better place.
    magic-number
    volatile-considered-harmful
    clang-format
+   ../riscv/patch-acceptance
 
 .. only::  subproject and html
 
diff --git a/Documentation/riscv/index.rst b/Documentation/riscv/index.rst
index 215fd3c1f2d5..fa33bffd8992 100644
--- a/Documentation/riscv/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/riscv/index.rst
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ RISC-V architecture
 
     boot-image-header
     pmu
+    patch-acceptance
 
 .. only::  subproject and html
 
diff --git a/Documentation/riscv/patch-acceptance.rst b/Documentation/riscv/patch-acceptance.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2e658353b53c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/riscv/patch-acceptance.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+====================================================
+arch/riscv maintenance and the RISC-V specifications
+====================================================
+
+The RISC-V instruction set architecture is developed in the open:
+in-progress drafts are available for all to review and to experiment
+with implementations.  New module or extension drafts can change
+during the development process - sometimes in ways that are
+incompatible with previous drafts.  This flexibility can present a
+challenge for RISC-V Linux maintenance.  Linux maintainers disapprove
+of churn, and the Linux development process prefers well-reviewed and
+tested code over experimental code.  We wish to extend these same
+principles to the RISC-V-related code that will be accepted for
+inclusion in the kernel.
+
+Therefore, as maintainers, we'll only accept patches for new modules
+or extensions if the specifications for those modules or extensions
+are listed as being "Frozen" or "Ratified" by the RISC-V Foundation.
+(Developers may, of course, maintain their own Linux kernel trees that
+contain code for any draft extensions that they wish.)
+
+Additionally, the RISC-V specification allows implementors to create
+their own custom extensions.  These custom extensions aren't required
+to go through any review or ratification process by the RISC-V
+Foundation.  To avoid the maintenance complexity and potential
+performance impact of adding kernel code for implementor-specific
+RISC-V extensions, we'll only to accept patches for extensions that
+have been officially frozen or ratified by the RISC-V Foundation.
+(Implementors, may, of course, maintain their own Linux kernel trees
+containing code for any custom extensions that they wish.)
-- 
2.24.0.rc0


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