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Linux Kernel patch submission checklist
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Here are some basic things that developers should do if they want to see their
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kernel patch submissions accepted more quickly.
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These are all above and beyond the documentation that is provided in
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Documentation/SubmittingPatches and elsewhere regarding submitting Linux
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1: If you use a facility then #include the file that defines/declares
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that facility. Don't depend on other header files pulling in ones
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2: Builds cleanly with applicable or modified CONFIG options =y, =m, and
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=n. No gcc warnings/errors, no linker warnings/errors.
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2b: Passes allnoconfig, allmodconfig
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2c: Builds successfully when using O=builddir
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3: Builds on multiple CPU architectures by using local cross-compile tools
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or some other build farm.
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4: ppc64 is a good architecture for cross-compilation checking because it
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tends to use `unsigned long' for 64-bit quantities.
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5: Check your patch for general style as detailed in
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Documentation/CodingStyle. Check for trivial violations with the
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patch style checker prior to submission (scripts/checkpatch.pl).
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You should be able to justify all violations that remain in
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6: Any new or modified CONFIG options don't muck up the config menu.
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7: All new Kconfig options have help text.
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8: Has been carefully reviewed with respect to relevant Kconfig
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combinations. This is very hard to get right with testing -- brainpower
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9: Check cleanly with sparse.
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10: Use 'make checkstack' and 'make namespacecheck' and fix any problems
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that they find. Note: checkstack does not point out problems explicitly,
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but any one function that uses more than 512 bytes on the stack is a
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11: Include kernel-doc to document global kernel APIs. (Not required for
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static functions, but OK there also.) Use 'make htmldocs' or 'make
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mandocs' to check the kernel-doc and fix any issues.
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12: Has been tested with CONFIG_PREEMPT, CONFIG_DEBUG_PREEMPT,
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CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB, CONFIG_DEBUG_PAGEALLOC, CONFIG_DEBUG_MUTEXES,
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CONFIG_DEBUG_SPINLOCK, CONFIG_DEBUG_ATOMIC_SLEEP, CONFIG_PROVE_RCU
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and CONFIG_DEBUG_OBJECTS_RCU_HEAD all simultaneously enabled.
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13: Has been build- and runtime tested with and without CONFIG_SMP and
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14: If the patch affects IO/Disk, etc: has been tested with and without
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15: All codepaths have been exercised with all lockdep features enabled.
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16: All new /proc entries are documented under Documentation/
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17: All new kernel boot parameters are documented in
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Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt.
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18: All new module parameters are documented with MODULE_PARM_DESC()
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19: All new userspace interfaces are documented in Documentation/ABI/.
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See Documentation/ABI/README for more information.
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Patches that change userspace interfaces should be CCed to
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linux-api@vger.kernel.org.
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20: Check that it all passes `make headers_check'.
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21: Has been checked with injection of at least slab and page-allocation
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failures. See Documentation/fault-injection/.
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If the new code is substantial, addition of subsystem-specific fault
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injection might be appropriate.
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22: Newly-added code has been compiled with `gcc -W' (use "make
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EXTRA_CFLAGS=-W"). This will generate lots of noise, but is good for
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finding bugs like "warning: comparison between signed and unsigned".
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23: Tested after it has been merged into the -mm patchset to make sure
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that it still works with all of the other queued patches and various
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changes in the VM, VFS, and other subsystems.
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24: All memory barriers {e.g., barrier(), rmb(), wmb()} need a comment in the
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source code that explains the logic of what they are doing and why.
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25: If any ioctl's are added by the patch, then also update
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Documentation/ioctl/ioctl-number.txt.
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26: If your modified source code depends on or uses any of the kernel
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APIs or features that are related to the following kconfig symbols,
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then test multiple builds with the related kconfig symbols disabled
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and/or =m (if that option is available) [not all of these at the
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same time, just various/random combinations of them]:
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CONFIG_SMP, CONFIG_SYSFS, CONFIG_PROC_FS, CONFIG_INPUT, CONFIG_PCI,
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CONFIG_BLOCK, CONFIG_PM, CONFIG_HOTPLUG, CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ,
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CONFIG_NET, CONFIG_INET=n (but latter with CONFIG_NET=y)