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Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -07001Linux Kernel patch sumbittal checklist
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Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07004Here are some basic things that developers should do if they want to see their
5kernel patch submissions accepted more quickly.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -07006
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07007These are all above and beyond the documentation that is provided in
8Documentation/SubmittingPatches and elsewhere regarding submitting Linux
9kernel patches.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070010
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Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700131: Builds cleanly with applicable or modified CONFIG options =y, =m, and
14 =n. No gcc warnings/errors, no linker warnings/errors.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070015
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700162: Passes allnoconfig, allmodconfig
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070017
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700183: Builds on multiple CPU architectures by using local cross-compile tools
19 or something like PLM at OSDL.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070020
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700214: ppc64 is a good architecture for cross-compilation checking because it
22 tends to use `unsigned long' for 64-bit quantities.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070023
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700245: Matches kernel coding style(!)
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070025
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700266: Any new or modified CONFIG options don't muck up the config menu.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070027
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700287: All new Kconfig options have help text.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070029
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700308: Has been carefully reviewed with respect to relevant Kconfig
31 combinations. This is very hard to get right with testing -- brainpower
32 pays off here.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070033
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -0700349: Check cleanly with sparse.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070035
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07003610: Use 'make checkstack' and 'make namespacecheck' and fix any problems
37 that they find. Note: checkstack does not point out problems explicitly,
38 but any one function that uses more than 512 bytes on the stack is a
39 candidate for change.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070040
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07004111: Include kernel-doc to document global kernel APIs. (Not required for
42 static functions, but OK there also.) Use 'make htmldocs' or 'make
43 mandocs' to check the kernel-doc and fix any issues.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070044
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07004512: Has been tested with CONFIG_PREEMPT, CONFIG_DEBUG_PREEMPT,
46 CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB, CONFIG_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC, CONFIG_DEBUG_MUTEXES,
47 CONFIG_DEBUG_SPINLOCK, CONFIG_DEBUG_SPINLOCK_SLEEP all simultaneously
48 enabled.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070049
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07005013: Has been build- and runtime tested with and without CONFIG_SMP and
51 CONFIG_PREEMPT.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070052
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07005314: If the patch affects IO/Disk, etc: has been tested with and without
54 CONFIG_LBD.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070055
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07005615: All codepaths have been exercised with all lockdep features enabled.
Randy Dunlap915a56d2006-06-23 02:05:49 -070057
Andrew Mortone54695a2006-07-10 04:45:42 -07005816: All new /proc entries are documented under Documentation/
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6017: All new kernel boot parameters are documented in
61 Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt.
62
6318: All new module parameters are documented with MODULE_PARM_DESC()
Randy Dunlap1a036cdd2006-09-29 02:01:26 -070064
6519: All new userspace interfaces are documented in Documentation/ABI/.
66 See Documentation/ABI/README for more information.
Andrew Mortonce584f92006-09-30 23:27:39 -070067
6820: Check that it all passes `make headers_check'.
Andrew Morton0dd4e5b2006-12-10 02:18:56 -080069
7021: Has been checked with injection of at least slab and page-allocation
71 fauilures. See Documentation/fault-injection/.
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73 If the new code is substantial, addition of subsystem-specific fault
74 injection might be appropriate.
Andrew Mortona517b9f2007-01-22 20:40:36 -080075
Andrew Morton98091692007-05-10 22:22:49 -07007622: Newly-added code has been compiled with `gcc -W' (use "make
77 EXTRA_CFLAGS=-W"). This will generate lots of noise, but is good for
78 finding bugs like "warning: comparison between signed and unsigned".
Randy Dunlap244474b2007-02-28 20:12:35 -080079
8023: Tested after it has been merged into the -mm patchset to make sure
81 that it still works with all of the other queued patches and various
82 changes in the VM, VFS, and other subsystems.
Roland Dreier4d355632007-05-09 02:33:35 -070083
8424: Avoid whitespace damage such as indenting with spaces or whitespace
85 at the end of lines. You can test this by feeding the patch to
86 "git apply --check --whitespace=error-all"
Andy Whitcroft0a920b52007-06-01 00:46:48 -070087
8825: Check your patch for general style as detailed in
89 Documentation/CodingStyle. Check for trivial violations with the
90 patch style checker prior to submission (scripts/checkpatch.pl).
91 You should be able to justify all violations that remain in
92 your patch.