linux/Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
Lukas Bulwahn 9db370de27 docs: process: remove outdated submitting-drivers.rst
Commit 31b24bee33 ("docs: add a warning to submitting-drivers.rst")
in October 2016 already warns "This (...) should maybe just be deleted,
but I'm not quite ready to do that yet".

Maybe, six years ago, we were not ready but let us remove old content
for the better now and structure and maintain less content in the kernel
documentation with a better result.

Drop this already outdated document and adjust all textual references.

Here is an argument why deleting the content will not remove any useful
information to the existing kernel documentation, individually broken down
for each section.

Section "Allocating Device Numbers" refers to https://www.lanana.org/, and
then refers to Documentation/admin-guide/devices.rst.

However, the devices.rst clearly states:

  "The version of this document at lanana.org is no longer maintained."

Everything needed for submitting drivers is already stated in devices.rst
and the reference to https://www.lanana.org/ is outdated, and should be
just deleted.

Section "Who To Submit Drivers To" is all about Linux 2.0 - 2.6, before
the new release version scheme; the mentioned developers are still around,
but actually not the first developers to contact anymore.

Section "What Criteria Determine Acceptance" has a few bullet points:

Licensing and Copyright is well-covered in process/kernel-license.rst.

Interfaces, Code, Portability, Clarity state some obvious things about
ensuring kernel code quality.

Control suggests to add a MAINTAINERS entry, which is already mentioned in
6.Followthrough.rst: "... added yourself to the MAINTAINERS file..."

PM support states a bit about implementing and testing power management of
a driver, it remains an open question where to place that in the process
documents. Driver developers interested in power management will find the
corresponding part on power management in the kernel documentation anyway.

In section "What Criteria Do Not Determine Acceptance", the points Vendor
and Author states something basic consequence of the kernel being an
open-source community software development. Probably no need to mention it
nowadays.

Section "Resources" lists resources that are also mentioned elsewhere more
central.

  - Linux kernel tree and mailing list is mentioned in many places.
  - https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/ is mentioned in
    Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst.

  - https://lwn.net/ is mentioned in:
    - Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
    - Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst

  - https://kernelnewbies.org/ is mentioned in:
      - Documentation/process/8.Conclusion.rst
      - Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst

  - http://www.linux-usb.org/ is mentioned in
    Documentation/driver-api/usb/usb.rst

  - https://landley.net/kdocs/ols/2002/ols2002-pages-545-555.pdf
    is mentioned in Documentation/process/kernel-docs.rst

  - https://kernelnewbies.org/KernelJanitors is mentioned in
    Documentation/process/howto.rst

  - https://git-scm.com/ is mentioned in
    - Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
    - Documentation/process/7.AdvancedTopics.rst
    - Documentation/process/howto.rst

Signed-off-by: Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220704122537.3407-7-lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
2022-07-14 15:03:57 -06:00

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3.0 KiB
ReStructuredText

.. _development_conclusion:
For more information
====================
There are numerous sources of information on Linux kernel development and
related topics. First among those will always be the Documentation
directory found in the kernel source distribution. Start with the
top-level :ref:`process/howto.rst <process_howto>`; also read
:ref:`process/submitting-patches.rst <submittingpatches>`. Many internal
kernel APIs are documented using the kerneldoc mechanism; "make htmldocs"
or "make pdfdocs" can be used to generate those documents in HTML or PDF
format (though the version of TeX shipped by some distributions runs into
internal limits and fails to process the documents properly).
Various web sites discuss kernel development at all levels of detail. Your
author would like to humbly suggest https://lwn.net/ as a source;
information on many specific kernel topics can be found via the LWN kernel
index at:
https://lwn.net/Kernel/Index/
Beyond that, a valuable resource for kernel developers is:
https://kernelnewbies.org/
And, of course, one should not forget https://kernel.org/, the definitive
location for kernel release information.
There are a number of books on kernel development:
Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition (Jonathan Corbet, Alessandro
Rubini, and Greg Kroah-Hartman). Online at
https://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/.
Linux Kernel Development (Robert Love).
Understanding the Linux Kernel (Daniel Bovet and Marco Cesati).
All of these books suffer from a common fault, though: they tend to be
somewhat obsolete by the time they hit the shelves, and they have been on
the shelves for a while now. Still, there is quite a bit of good
information to be found there.
Documentation for git can be found at:
https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/
https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/user-manual.html
Conclusion
==========
Congratulations to anybody who has made it through this long-winded
document. Hopefully it has provided a helpful understanding of how the
Linux kernel is developed and how you can participate in that process.
In the end, it's the participation that matters. Any open source software
project is no more than the sum of what its contributors put into it. The
Linux kernel has progressed as quickly and as well as it has because it has
been helped by an impressively large group of developers, all of whom are
working to make it better. The kernel is a premier example of what can be
done when thousands of people work together toward a common goal.
The kernel can always benefit from a larger developer base, though. There
is always more work to do. But, just as importantly, most other
participants in the Linux ecosystem can benefit through contributing to the
kernel. Getting code into the mainline is the key to higher code quality,
lower maintenance and distribution costs, a higher level of influence over
the direction of kernel development, and more. It is a situation where
everybody involved wins. Fire up your editor and come join us; you will be
more than welcome.