Re: patches question

Re: patches question

[Daniel Pezoa]

--- Mark Hahn <hahn@physics.mcmaster.ca> wrote:
> > success, in order to know the list purposes. But i
> > think questions about: kernel, kernel modules and
> > drivers should be ok.
> 
> the point is that it's simply inappropriate to ask
> questions that you can easily answer yourself.

I think what is easy and what not is relative, if you
are more documented about kernel and use english as
your primary language, many question appear to you as
basic.

I think my question appear to you easy. I know your
answer after you make it. That is because the question
is not all specific it should be. But i think the
answers i get should be more completes. Example:

your response:

ac = alan cox

expected response:

ac is Alan Cox and this patches are oriented to
support x hardware..., (i don't found it in the faq,
may be because alan cox patches only solve problems
aleatory, without one specific purpose, and that is
the only answer i can get to my question), and the
documentation for alan cox patches are in that url
.... that link should be usefull too
http://www.linuxhq.com/lkprogram.html

> 
> > Otherwise the list must be
> > called kernel-bugs-report or mark-hahn-kernel-bugs
> :-)
> > or something similar
> 
> the list is specifically "discussion of
> kernel-development issues".
> it's not "how do I find the most introductory
> information possible".
> for instance, patches are almost certainly
> well-described in the 
> lkml faq, and changelogs are found in the most
> logical possible
> place (www.kernel.org).

sorry but i think the faq is incomplete, i think
useless for what i need too. It have incomplete
answers  and not links references for many important
questions. May be should exist one list or forum
dedicated to: Kernel, Kernel Patches, Kernel Modules,
Kernel Drives and other about Kernel Development and
Bugs Report.

> 
> lkml is not a kernel-bug list, nor do I have any
> importance to it.
> I simply offered you some advice out of charity.
>

If one question is easy to answer it not make it not
important, is important for who make it, not for you.
If exist other list, forum, ... more related to kernel
 and kernel patched and it's drivers compilation
problems please let me know it.

If i make more questions in that list, i will make
more specific questions in order to get more usefull
answers. But probably not because i think that list is
only for who develop the kernel and not for who
compile and use them and it's patches and drivers.

Thanks for your help and Good luck!!

Daniel Pezoa


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Re: patches question

[Randy.Dunlap]

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:59:56 -0700 (PDT) Daniel Pezoa <dpforos@yahoo.com> wrote:

| sorry but i think the faq is incomplete, i think
| useless for what i need too. It have incomplete
| answers  and not links references for many important
| questions. May be should exist one list or forum
| dedicated to: Kernel, Kernel Patches, Kernel Modules,
| Kernel Drives and other about Kernel Development and
| Bugs Report.

The LKML FAQ hasn't been updated since:
"Last updated on 21 Nov 2002 by Richard Gooch.
This document is GPL'ed by its various contributors."

and Richard hasn't been heard from lately AFAIK.

I would have just guessed that the FAQ needs some updates...
Doesn't someone out there want a job?

--
~Randy   [MOTD:  Always include kernel version.]
"Everything is relative."

Re: patches question

[Rob Landley]

On Wednesday 20 August 2003 12:33, Randy.Dunlap wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:59:56 -0700 (PDT) Daniel Pezoa <dpforos@yahoo.com> 
wrote:
> | sorry but i think the faq is incomplete, i think
> | useless for what i need too. It have incomplete
> | answers  and not links references for many important
> | questions. May be should exist one list or forum
> | dedicated to: Kernel, Kernel Patches, Kernel Modules,
> | Kernel Drives and other about Kernel Development and
> | Bugs Report.
>
> The LKML FAQ hasn't been updated since:
> "Last updated on 21 Nov 2002 by Richard Gooch.
> This document is GPL'ed by its various contributors."
>
> and Richard hasn't been heard from lately AFAIK.
>
> I would have just guessed that the FAQ needs some updates...
> Doesn't someone out there want a job?

I've been meaning to give the FAQ a thorough going over for a while now.  
(Bits of it are a lot more stale than 2002.)

I sent Richard a FAQ patch a month ago, which he hasn't responded to, but he 
claims to still be active:

> > Okay, that link needs to go in the "basic linux kernel
> > documentation" section at the start of the
> > "http://www.tux.org/lkml/" faq, along with some other resources that
> > have fallen through the cracks.  I'd happily generate a patch
> > against the FAQ, but haven't a clue what the source format is.  (Is
> > it hand-hacked HTML?)
>
> Yes. A plain uni-diff against the HTML will be fine. I'm busy these
> days, so don't expect a quick response. But I will get around to it.
>
>                               Regards,
>
>                                       Richard....

I sent him the patch in question on July 17th, but haven't heard anything 
back.  (I've been a bit out of touch in the past month myself getting back 
into grad school, buying a condo, moving, etc, and haven't followed up yet.)

If Richard doesn't have time to do it anymore, and there are patches backing 
up, I could give it a whack.  I'm not exactly dripping with free time myself 
at the moment, but I usually catch up with all the important pending things 
at least once a week.  However, I don't want to usurp anybody's 
maintainership.  (I was planning on possibly making my own tree and then 
feeding him incremental patches at whatever rate he responds...)

Rob

Re: patches question

[Rob Landley]

Speaking of which, here's the FAQ update patch I sent Richard last month, just 
in case anybody else finds it useful...

--------------------

Well, here it is.  I ended up completely redoing the section, sorting the data 
into some kind of order, marking deprecated links (stuff referring to 2.0, 
etc) and moving them to the end, grouping similar entries, adding new ones, 
and updating an awful lot of stale links that have moved since the FAQ was 
last updated.

I could try giving you a more gradual series of changes, but I'm about to hit 
the road for a while so I thought I'd send what I have.  Let me know if you 
want me to explain/tweak anything, but keep in mind I might not read my email 
for a week at a time...

Rob

--- index.html	2003-06-10 19:17:05.000000000 -0400
+++ lk-faq.html	2003-06-17 13:02:45.000000000 -0400
@@ -174,107 +174,142 @@
 <HR>
 <H3>
 <A NAME="blkd"></A>Basic Linux kernel documentation</H3>
-The following are <B>Linux</B> <B>kernel</B> related documents, which you
+The following are <B>Linux kernel</B> related documents, which you
 should take a look at <B>before</B> you post to the linux-kernel mailing
 list:
+
 <UL>
+<LI>
 
-<LI><B>
-<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html">
-The Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide</A></B>,
-compiled by Michael K. Johnson of <A
-HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> fame. Includes among other
-documents selected Q/A's from the linux-kernel mailing list.
+<B><A HREF="http://www.tldp.org/docs.html">The Linux Documentation 
Project</a></B> is a comprehensive resource for Linux documentation, 
including guides, HOWTOs, man pages, FAQs, tutorials...  The LDP includes 
several particularly
+interesting resources, including:
+<UL>
+<LI>  <B><A HREF="http://en.tldp.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO/">The Linux Kernel 
HOWTO</A></B> by Brian Ward is required reading before posting to 
linux-kernel.  It explains how to compile, install, and run a Linux kernel.
 </LI>
-
-<LI><B>
-<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/LDP/tlk/tlk-toc.html">
-The Linux Kernel</A></B>
-book, by David A. Rusling, available in various formats from the
-<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/">Linux Documentation Project</A>
-and <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/mirrors.html">mirrors</A>.
-Still being worked on, but explains clearly the main structure of the
-Linux kernel.
+<LI>Robert Kiesling's <B><A HREF="http://en.tldp.org/FAQ/Linux-FAQ/">The 
Linux FAQ</A></B> is about the Linux Kernel and OS (not the linux-kernel 
mailing list).
 </LI>
+<LI>The <B><A href="http://www.tldp.org/links/devel.html">Linux Development 
Projects</A></B> page is a good index of other Linux resources available on 
the internet.
+</LI>
+</UL>
 
 <LI>
-<B><A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/FAQ/Linux-FAQ/">The Linux FAQ</A></B>
-by Robert Kiesling has many high quality Q/A's.
+The Linux <B>kernel source code</B> for each kernel version comes with
+built-in technical documentation.
+
+<ul>
+<li>The <B>Documentation</B> directory holds an large number of useful text
+files about drivers, subsystems, locking rationale, coding style, etc.  The
+index file for them is <B>Documentation/00-INDEX</B>, although it doesn't 
list
+everything.  You will probably want to start by reading Changes, CodingStyle,
+SubmittingPatches, SubmittingDrivers, and BUG-HUNTING.</li>
+<li>A few important documentation files (including <B>MAINTAINERS</B>, 
<B>README</B>, and <B>REPORTING-BUGS</B>) live at the root of the 
linux-kernel source tree, not in the Documentation subdirectory.</li>
+<li>Recent kernel versions also have DocBook documentation built into
+the source tree, in specially formatted comments.  Typing "<B>make
+htmldocs</B>"at the top of the linux kernel tree (or "<B>make pdfdocs</B>",
+or "<B>make psdocs,</B>") will generate the selected documentation format in
+the Documentation/DocBook directory.  (There is still a lot of non-docbook
+documentation in the source code.  Conversion of these comments to
+DocBook is ongoing, but reading the source will always be a good idea.)</li>
+</ul>
 </LI>
 
-<LI>
-<B><A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html">The Linux
-Kernel HOWTO</A></B> by Brian Ward.  Fundamental reading for anybody
-wanting to post to the linux-kernel mailing list.
+<LI>An invaluable resource for anyone who doesn't know where to start reading
+through the Linux kernel source code is <B><a 
href=http://www.moses.uklinux.net/patches/lki.html>Linux Kernel 2.4 
Internals</a></B> by Tigran Aivazian.
 </LI>
 
-<LI>
-A completely new <B>Kernelhacking-HOWTO</B> at
-<A HREF="http://www.kernelhacking.org/">http://www.kernelhacking.org/</A>.
-Currently work in progress, but already contains some useful information.
+<LI>To bring yourself up to speed on the differences between 2.4 and 2.5/2.6,
+read Jonathan Corbet's <B><a 
href=http://lwn.net/Articles/driver-porting/>Porting
+device drivers to 2.5</a></B>, a 30 article series for Linux Weekly News.
 </LI>
 
-<LI>
-Various Linux <B>
-<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/index.html">HOWTOs</A></B>
-on specific questions, such as the <B>
-<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/mini/BogoMips.html">
-BogoMips mini-HOWTO</A></B> by Wim van Dorst. These are all by
-definition LDP documents.
+<LI>Mel Gorman's <B><a 
href=http://www.csn.ul.ie/~mel/projects/vm/guide/>Virtual
+memory Guides</a></B> are useful to anyone learning that subsystem.  (Read
+the "understanding" guide first, then "coding".)
 </LI>
 
 <LI>
-The Linux <B>kernel source code</B> for any particular kernel version
-that you may be using. Note that there is a /Documentation directory
-which holds some very useful text files about drivers, etc. Also check
-the MAINTAINERS file in the kernel source root directory.
+Another useful site is:
+<B><A 
HREF="http://www.kernelnewbies.org/">http://www.kernelnewbies.org/</A></B>
 </LI>
 
 <LI>
-Some drivers even have <B>Web pages</B>, with additional up to date
-information e.g. <A
-HREF="http://www.scyld.com/page/support/network/">the network drivers
-by Donald Becker</A>, etc. Check the <A
-HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/devel.html">Hardware section in the
-LDP site</A>.
+A google search is often the easiest way to find specialized web pages,
+mailing lists, or documentation for specific hardware,
+such as <A HREF="http://www.scyld.com/page/support/network/">the
+network drivers by Donald Becker</A>, or specific CPU architectures,
+such as the <A HREF=http://www.alphalinux.org/>Alpha Linux</A> website for
+running Linux on the Alpha processor.  They're out there if you look for
+them.
 </LI>
 
 <LI>
-Similarly, Linux implementations for some CPU architectures have
-dedicated <B>Web pages, mailing lists</B>, and sometimes even a HOWTO
-e.g. the <B><A
-HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Alpha-HOWTO.html">Linux Alpha
-HOWTO</A></B> by Neal Crook. Check the LDP site and its mirrors for
-Web links to the various architecture specific sites.
+Here is a general guide on
+<A HREF="http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html">how to ask smart
+questions</a> in a way that greatly improves your chances
+of getting a reply.  If you have a bug to report, you should also read this
+paper on <A HREF="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html">how 
to
+report bugs effectively</a>, then read the specific
+<A HREF=reporting-bugs.html>Linux-kernel bug reporting instructions</A>.
+<BR>
 </LI>
 
+</UL>
+
+<UL>
+<li>
+<B>A few books</B> that might help you get up to speed
+with the Linux kernel include:
+<UL>
+
 <LI>
-<B><I>Linux device drivers</I></B>, a book written by Alessandro
-Rubini. C. Scott Ananian <A
-HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D1565922921/cscottananianA/002-0842973-3116635">reviewed
-it for Amazon.com</A>.
+The complete text of <B><I>Linux device drivers</I></B>, by Alessandro Rubini
+and Jonathan Corbet is
+<a href=http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/index.html>available online</a>,
+or from your local bookstore.
 </LI>
 
 <LI>
-<B><I>Linux kernel internals</I></B>, a book by Michael Beck (Editor) et al. 
Also <A 
HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0201331438/r/002-0842973-3116635">reviewed 
for Amazon.com</A>.
+<B><I>Linux kernel internals</I></B>,
+a book by Michael Beck (Editor) et al., is <a 
href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201331438/103-4959406-6330231?vi=glance>available 
from Amazon.com</a>.  The version linked to covers the 2.4.4 kernel.
 </LI>
 
 <LI>
-Another useful site is:
-<A HREF="http://www.kernelnewbies.org/">http://www.kernelnewbies.org/</A>
+<B><I>The ia-64 Linux Kernel Book</I></B> may be useful to people working on
+64 bit platforms.  It has a <a href=http://www.lia64.org/book/>homepage</a>.
 </LI>
 
+</UL>
+</UL>
+
+
+<P>Some older documentation is also available on the web, although it may
+be somewhat out of date.
+
+<UL>
 <LI>
-Here is a general guide on how to ask questions in a way that greatly
-improves your chances of getting a reply:
-<A HREF="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html">
-http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html</A>. If you have
-a bug to report, you should also read
-<A HREF="http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html">
-http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html</A>.
-<BR>
-Extra instructions, specific to the Linux kernel are available
-<A HREF="reporting-bugs.html">here</A>.
+A completely new <a 
href=http://www.kernelhacking.org/docs/kernelhacking-HOWTO/index.html>Kernelhacking-HOWTO</a> 
at
+<A HREF="http://www.kernelhacking.org/">http://www.kernelhacking.org/</A>.
+Currently work in progress, but already contains some useful information.
+(Note: this project stalled in early 2002, with a call for volunteers, but 
may
+restart at any time.)
+</LI>
+
+<LI><B>
+<A HREF="http://en.tldp.org/LDP/khg/HyperNews/get/khg.html">
+The Linux Kernel Hackers' Guide</A></B>,
+compiled by Michael K. Johnson of <A
+HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> fame. Includes among other
+documents selected Q/A's from the linux-kernel mailing list.  (Circa 2.0 
kernel.
+Explicitly abandoned.)
+</LI>
+
+<LI><B>
+<A HREF="http://en.tldp.org/LDP/tlk/tlk.html">
+The Linux Kernel</A></B>
+book, by David A. Rusling, available in various formats from the
+<A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/">Linux Documentation Project</A>
+and <A HREF="http://www.linuxdoc.org/mirrors.html">mirrors</A>.
+Explains clearly the main structure of the Linux kernel.  (Circa 2.0 kernel.)
 </LI>
 
 </UL>

Re: patches question

[John Bradford]

> | sorry but i think the faq is incomplete, i think
> | useless for what i need too. It have incomplete
> | answers  and not links references for many important
> | questions. May be should exist one list or forum
> | dedicated to: Kernel, Kernel Patches, Kernel Modules,
> | Kernel Drives and other about Kernel Development and
> | Bugs Report.
>
> The LKML FAQ hasn't been updated since:
> "Last updated on 21 Nov 2002 by Richard Gooch.
> This document is GPL'ed by its various contributors."
>
> and Richard hasn't been heard from lately AFAIK.
>
> I would have just guessed that the FAQ needs some updates...
> Doesn't someone out there want a job?

I'll do some updates for it if nobody else wants to.

John.

Re: patches question

[Herbert Pötzl]

On Mon, Aug 18, 2003 at 04:25:39PM -0700, Daniel Pezoa wrote:
> Hello Kernel Community
> 
> I have one linux distribution, with the kernel
> linux-2.4.21-pre5-ac3, and i want to know what is the
> purpose of this patches:
> 
> patch-2.4.21-pre5
 -preX means that it actually is a prerelease kernel

  2.4.20	stable kernel release
 -------------- new features for next release
  2.4.21-pre1	prerelease 1
  ...
  2.4.21-preN	prerelease N
 -------------- feature freeze ...
  2.4.21-rc1	release candidate 1
  ...
  2.4.21-rcM	release candidate M
  2.4.21	stable release

> patch-2.4.21-pre5-ac3

 -acY means that it is one of Alan Cox's patchsets
      adding a bunch of fixes/drivers/etc not yet
      in the mainstream kernel ...

> Why should be are used, and where can i learn more
> about them??

 http://www.kernel.org/

 read the Changelogs, there you'll find some info ...
 
> Thanks for your help and Good luck!!

HTH,
Herbert

> Daniel Pezoa

patches question

[Daniel Pezoa]

Hello Kernel Community

I have one linux distribution, with the kernel
linux-2.4.21-pre5-ac3, and i want to know what is the
purpose of this patches:

patch-2.4.21-pre5

patch-2.4.21-pre5-ac3

Why should be are used, and where can i learn more
about them??

Thanks for your help and Good luck!!

Daniel Pezoa


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