[linux-2.6-block.git] / Documentation / hwmon / submitting-patches

	How to Get Your Patch Accepted Into the Hwmon Subsystem
	-------------------------------------------------------

This text is a collection of suggestions for people writing patches or
drivers for the hwmon subsystem. Following these suggestions will greatly
increase the chances of your change being accepted.


1. General
----------

* It should be unnecessary to mention, but please read and follow
    Documentation/SubmitChecklist
    Documentation/SubmittingDrivers
    Documentation/SubmittingPatches
    Documentation/CodingStyle

* If your patch generates checkpatch warnings, please refrain from explanations
  such as "I don't like that coding style". Keep in mind that each unnecessary
  warning helps hiding a real problem. If you don't like the kernel coding
  style, don't write kernel drivers.

* Please test your patch thoroughly. We are not your test group.
  Sometimes a patch can not or not completely be tested because of missing
  hardware. In such cases, you should test-build the code on at least one
  architecture. If run-time testing was not achieved, it should be written
  explicitly below the patch header.

* If your patch (or the driver) is affected by configuration options such as
  CONFIG_SMP, make sure it compiles for all configuration variants.


2. Adding functionality to existing drivers
-------------------------------------------

* Make sure the documentation in Documentation/hwmon/<driver_name> is up to
  date.

* Make sure the information in Kconfig is up to date.

* If the added functionality requires some cleanup or structural changes, split
  your patch into a cleanup part and the actual addition. This makes it easier
  to review your changes, and to bisect any resulting problems.

* Never mix bug fixes, cleanup, and functional enhancements in a single patch.


3. New drivers
--------------

* Running your patch or driver file(s) through checkpatch does not mean its
  formatting is clean. If unsure about formatting in your new driver, run it
  through Lindent. Lindent is not perfect, and you may have to do some minor
  cleanup, but it is a good start.

* Consider adding yourself to MAINTAINERS.

* Document the driver in Documentation/hwmon/<driver_name>.

* Add the driver to Kconfig and Makefile in alphabetical order.

* Make sure that all dependencies are listed in Kconfig.

* Avoid forward declarations if you can. Rearrange the code if necessary.

* Avoid calculations in macros and macro-generated functions. While such macros
  may save a line or so in the source, it obfuscates the code and makes code
  review more difficult. It may also result in code which is more complicated
  than necessary. Use inline functions or just regular functions instead.

* Use devres functions whenever possible to allocate resources. For rationale
  and supported functions, please see Documentation/driver-model/devres.txt.

* If the driver has a detect function, make sure it is silent. Debug messages
  and messages printed after a successful detection are acceptable, but it
  must not print messages such as "Chip XXX not found/supported".

  Keep in mind that the detect function will run for all drivers supporting an
  address if a chip is detected on that address. Unnecessary messages will just
  pollute the kernel log and not provide any value.

* Provide a detect function if and only if a chip can be detected reliably.

* Only the following I2C addresses shall be probed: 0x18-0x1f, 0x28-0x2f,
  0x48-0x4f, 0x58, 0x5c, 0x73 and 0x77. Probing other addresses is strongly
  discouraged as it is known to cause trouble with other (non-hwmon) I2C
  chips. If your chip lives at an address which can't be probed then the
  device will have to be instantiated explicitly (which is always better
  anyway.)

* Avoid writing to chip registers in the detect function. If you have to write,
  only do it after you have already gathered enough data to be certain that the
  detection is going to be successful.

  Keep in mind that the chip might not be what your driver believes it is, and
  writing to it might cause a bad misconfiguration.

* Make sure there are no race conditions in the probe function. Specifically,
  completely initialize your chip first, then create sysfs entries and register
  with the hwmon subsystem.

* Do not provide support for deprecated sysfs attributes.

* Do not create non-standard attributes unless really needed. If you have to use
  non-standard attributes, or you believe you do, discuss it on the mailing list
  first. Either case, provide a detailed explanation why you need the
  non-standard attribute(s).
  Standard attributes are specified in Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface.

* When deciding which sysfs attributes to support, look at the chip's
  capabilities. While we do not expect your driver to support everything the
  chip may offer, it should at least support all limits and alarms.

* Last but not least, please check if a driver for your chip already exists
  before starting to write a new driver. Especially for temperature sensors,
  new chips are often variants of previously released chips. In some cases,
  a presumably new chip may simply have been relabeled.
Commit	Line	Data
c3a2f0ad GR	1	How to Get Your Patch Accepted Into the Hwmon Subsystem
	2	-------------------------------------------------------
	3
ac20ad14	4	This text is a collection of suggestions for people writing patches or
c3a2f0ad GR	5	drivers for the hwmon subsystem. Following these suggestions will greatly
	6	increase the chances of your change being accepted.
	7
	8
	9	1. General
	10	----------
	11
	12	* It should be unnecessary to mention, but please read and follow
	13	Documentation/SubmitChecklist
	14	Documentation/SubmittingDrivers
	15	Documentation/SubmittingPatches
	16	Documentation/CodingStyle
	17
	18	* If your patch generates checkpatch warnings, please refrain from explanations
	19	such as "I don't like that coding style". Keep in mind that each unnecessary
	20	warning helps hiding a real problem. If you don't like the kernel coding
	21	style, don't write kernel drivers.
	22
	23	* Please test your patch thoroughly. We are not your test group.
	24	Sometimes a patch can not or not completely be tested because of missing
	25	hardware. In such cases, you should test-build the code on at least one
	26	architecture. If run-time testing was not achieved, it should be written
	27	explicitly below the patch header.
	28
	29	* If your patch (or the driver) is affected by configuration options such as
40b31360	30	CONFIG_SMP, make sure it compiles for all configuration variants.
c3a2f0ad GR	31
	32
	33	2. Adding functionality to existing drivers
	34	-------------------------------------------
	35
	36	* Make sure the documentation in Documentation/hwmon/<driver_name> is up to
	37	date.
	38
	39	* Make sure the information in Kconfig is up to date.
	40
	41	* If the added functionality requires some cleanup or structural changes, split
	42	your patch into a cleanup part and the actual addition. This makes it easier
	43	to review your changes, and to bisect any resulting problems.
	44
	45	* Never mix bug fixes, cleanup, and functional enhancements in a single patch.
	46
	47
	48	3. New drivers
	49	--------------
	50
	51	* Running your patch or driver file(s) through checkpatch does not mean its
	52	formatting is clean. If unsure about formatting in your new driver, run it
	53	through Lindent. Lindent is not perfect, and you may have to do some minor
	54	cleanup, but it is a good start.
	55
	56	* Consider adding yourself to MAINTAINERS.
	57
	58	* Document the driver in Documentation/hwmon/<driver_name>.
	59
	60	* Add the driver to Kconfig and Makefile in alphabetical order.
	61
07d33600	62	* Make sure that all dependencies are listed in Kconfig.
c3a2f0ad GR	63
	64	* Avoid forward declarations if you can. Rearrange the code if necessary.
	65
	66	* Avoid calculations in macros and macro-generated functions. While such macros
	67	may save a line or so in the source, it obfuscates the code and makes code
	68	review more difficult. It may also result in code which is more complicated
	69	than necessary. Use inline functions or just regular functions instead.
	70
3fafb0ce GR	71	* Use devres functions whenever possible to allocate resources. For rationale
	72	and supported functions, please see Documentation/driver-model/devres.txt.
	73
c3a2f0ad GR	74	* If the driver has a detect function, make sure it is silent. Debug messages
	75	and messages printed after a successful detection are acceptable, but it
	76	must not print messages such as "Chip XXX not found/supported".
	77
	78	Keep in mind that the detect function will run for all drivers supporting an
	79	address if a chip is detected on that address. Unnecessary messages will just
	80	pollute the kernel log and not provide any value.
	81
	82	* Provide a detect function if and only if a chip can be detected reliably.
	83
97607f98 JD	84	* Only the following I2C addresses shall be probed: 0x18-0x1f, 0x28-0x2f,
	85	0x48-0x4f, 0x58, 0x5c, 0x73 and 0x77. Probing other addresses is strongly
	86	discouraged as it is known to cause trouble with other (non-hwmon) I2C
	87	chips. If your chip lives at an address which can't be probed then the
	88	device will have to be instantiated explicitly (which is always better
	89	anyway.)
	90
c3a2f0ad GR	91	* Avoid writing to chip registers in the detect function. If you have to write,
	92	only do it after you have already gathered enough data to be certain that the
	93	detection is going to be successful.
	94
	95	Keep in mind that the chip might not be what your driver believes it is, and
	96	writing to it might cause a bad misconfiguration.
	97
	98	* Make sure there are no race conditions in the probe function. Specifically,
	99	completely initialize your chip first, then create sysfs entries and register
	100	with the hwmon subsystem.
	101
	102	* Do not provide support for deprecated sysfs attributes.
	103
	104	* Do not create non-standard attributes unless really needed. If you have to use
	105	non-standard attributes, or you believe you do, discuss it on the mailing list
	106	first. Either case, provide a detailed explanation why you need the
	107	non-standard attribute(s).
	108	Standard attributes are specified in Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface.
	109
	110	* When deciding which sysfs attributes to support, look at the chip's
	111	capabilities. While we do not expect your driver to support everything the
	112	chip may offer, it should at least support all limits and alarms.
	113
	114	* Last but not least, please check if a driver for your chip already exists
	115	before starting to write a new driver. Especially for temperature sensors,
	116	new chips are often variants of previously released chips. In some cases,
	117	a presumably new chip may simply have been relabeled.