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8b7ecb11 | 1 | Linux Kernel patch submission checklist |
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2 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
3 | ||
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4 | Here are some basic things that developers should do if they want to see their |
5 | kernel patch submissions accepted more quickly. | |
915a56d2 | 6 | |
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7 | These are all above and beyond the documentation that is provided in |
8 | Documentation/SubmittingPatches and elsewhere regarding submitting Linux | |
9 | kernel patches. | |
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10 | |
11 | ||
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12 | 1: If you use a facility then #include the file that defines/declares |
13 | that facility. Don't depend on other header files pulling in ones | |
14 | that you use. | |
15 | ||
16 | 2: Builds cleanly with applicable or modified CONFIG options =y, =m, and | |
e54695a5 | 17 | =n. No gcc warnings/errors, no linker warnings/errors. |
915a56d2 | 18 | |
b5247c85 | 19 | 2b: Passes allnoconfig, allmodconfig |
915a56d2 | 20 | |
e54695a5 | 21 | 3: Builds on multiple CPU architectures by using local cross-compile tools |
7de3369c | 22 | or some other build farm. |
915a56d2 | 23 | |
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24 | 4: ppc64 is a good architecture for cross-compilation checking because it |
25 | tends to use `unsigned long' for 64-bit quantities. | |
915a56d2 | 26 | |
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27 | 5: Check your patch for general style as detailed in |
28 | Documentation/CodingStyle. Check for trivial violations with the | |
29 | patch style checker prior to submission (scripts/checkpatch.pl). | |
30 | You should be able to justify all violations that remain in | |
31 | your patch. | |
915a56d2 | 32 | |
e54695a5 | 33 | 6: Any new or modified CONFIG options don't muck up the config menu. |
915a56d2 | 34 | |
e54695a5 | 35 | 7: All new Kconfig options have help text. |
915a56d2 | 36 | |
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37 | 8: Has been carefully reviewed with respect to relevant Kconfig |
38 | combinations. This is very hard to get right with testing -- brainpower | |
39 | pays off here. | |
915a56d2 | 40 | |
e54695a5 | 41 | 9: Check cleanly with sparse. |
915a56d2 | 42 | |
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43 | 10: Use 'make checkstack' and 'make namespacecheck' and fix any problems |
44 | that they find. Note: checkstack does not point out problems explicitly, | |
45 | but any one function that uses more than 512 bytes on the stack is a | |
46 | candidate for change. | |
915a56d2 | 47 | |
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48 | 11: Include kernel-doc to document global kernel APIs. (Not required for |
49 | static functions, but OK there also.) Use 'make htmldocs' or 'make | |
50 | mandocs' to check the kernel-doc and fix any issues. | |
915a56d2 | 51 | |
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52 | 12: Has been tested with CONFIG_PREEMPT, CONFIG_DEBUG_PREEMPT, |
53 | CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB, CONFIG_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC, CONFIG_DEBUG_MUTEXES, | |
54 | CONFIG_DEBUG_SPINLOCK, CONFIG_DEBUG_SPINLOCK_SLEEP all simultaneously | |
55 | enabled. | |
915a56d2 | 56 | |
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57 | 13: Has been build- and runtime tested with and without CONFIG_SMP and |
58 | CONFIG_PREEMPT. | |
915a56d2 | 59 | |
e54695a5 | 60 | 14: If the patch affects IO/Disk, etc: has been tested with and without |
90c699a9 | 61 | CONFIG_LBDAF. |
915a56d2 | 62 | |
e54695a5 | 63 | 15: All codepaths have been exercised with all lockdep features enabled. |
915a56d2 | 64 | |
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65 | 16: All new /proc entries are documented under Documentation/ |
66 | ||
67 | 17: All new kernel boot parameters are documented in | |
68 | Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt. | |
69 | ||
70 | 18: All new module parameters are documented with MODULE_PARM_DESC() | |
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71 | |
72 | 19: All new userspace interfaces are documented in Documentation/ABI/. | |
73 | See Documentation/ABI/README for more information. | |
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74 | Patches that change userspace interfaces should be CCed to |
75 | linux-api@vger.kernel.org. | |
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76 | |
77 | 20: Check that it all passes `make headers_check'. | |
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78 | |
79 | 21: Has been checked with injection of at least slab and page-allocation | |
80abe55b | 80 | failures. See Documentation/fault-injection/. |
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81 | |
82 | If the new code is substantial, addition of subsystem-specific fault | |
83 | injection might be appropriate. | |
a517b9f9 | 84 | |
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85 | 22: Newly-added code has been compiled with `gcc -W' (use "make |
86 | EXTRA_CFLAGS=-W"). This will generate lots of noise, but is good for | |
87 | finding bugs like "warning: comparison between signed and unsigned". | |
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88 | |
89 | 23: Tested after it has been merged into the -mm patchset to make sure | |
90 | that it still works with all of the other queued patches and various | |
91 | changes in the VM, VFS, and other subsystems. | |
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92 | |
93 | 24: All memory barriers {e.g., barrier(), rmb(), wmb()} need a comment in the | |
94 | source code that explains the logic of what they are doing and why. | |
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95 | |
96 | 25: If any ioctl's are added by the patch, then also update | |
97 | Documentation/ioctl/ioctl-number.txt. |