| xj | b04a402 | 2021-11-25 15:01:52 +0800 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | How to Get Your Patch Accepted Into the Hwmon Subsystem | 
|  | 2 | ------------------------------------------------------- | 
|  | 3 |  | 
|  | 4 | This text is a collection of suggestions for people writing patches or | 
|  | 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/process/submit-checklist.rst | 
|  | 14 | Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst | 
|  | 15 | Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst | 
|  | 16 | Documentation/process/coding-style.rst | 
|  | 17 |  | 
|  | 18 | * Please run your patch through 'checkpatch --strict'. There should be no | 
|  | 19 | errors, no warnings, and few if any check messages. If there are any | 
|  | 20 | messages, please be prepared to explain. | 
|  | 21 |  | 
|  | 22 | * If your patch generates checkpatch errors, warnings, or check messages, | 
|  | 23 | please refrain from explanations such as "I prefer that coding style". | 
|  | 24 | Keep in mind that each unnecessary message helps hiding a real problem, | 
|  | 25 | and a consistent coding style makes it easier for others to understand | 
|  | 26 | and review the code. | 
|  | 27 |  | 
|  | 28 | * Please test your patch thoroughly. We are not your test group. | 
|  | 29 | Sometimes a patch can not or not completely be tested because of missing | 
|  | 30 | hardware. In such cases, you should test-build the code on at least one | 
|  | 31 | architecture. If run-time testing was not achieved, it should be written | 
|  | 32 | explicitly below the patch header. | 
|  | 33 |  | 
|  | 34 | * If your patch (or the driver) is affected by configuration options such as | 
|  | 35 | CONFIG_SMP, make sure it compiles for all configuration variants. | 
|  | 36 |  | 
|  | 37 |  | 
|  | 38 | 2. Adding functionality to existing drivers | 
|  | 39 | ------------------------------------------- | 
|  | 40 |  | 
|  | 41 | * Make sure the documentation in Documentation/hwmon/<driver_name> is up to | 
|  | 42 | date. | 
|  | 43 |  | 
|  | 44 | * Make sure the information in Kconfig is up to date. | 
|  | 45 |  | 
|  | 46 | * If the added functionality requires some cleanup or structural changes, split | 
|  | 47 | your patch into a cleanup part and the actual addition. This makes it easier | 
|  | 48 | to review your changes, and to bisect any resulting problems. | 
|  | 49 |  | 
|  | 50 | * Never mix bug fixes, cleanup, and functional enhancements in a single patch. | 
|  | 51 |  | 
|  | 52 |  | 
|  | 53 | 3. New drivers | 
|  | 54 | -------------- | 
|  | 55 |  | 
|  | 56 | * Running your patch or driver file(s) through checkpatch does not mean its | 
|  | 57 | formatting is clean. If unsure about formatting in your new driver, run it | 
|  | 58 | through Lindent. Lindent is not perfect, and you may have to do some minor | 
|  | 59 | cleanup, but it is a good start. | 
|  | 60 |  | 
|  | 61 | * Consider adding yourself to MAINTAINERS. | 
|  | 62 |  | 
|  | 63 | * Document the driver in Documentation/hwmon/<driver_name>. | 
|  | 64 |  | 
|  | 65 | * Add the driver to Kconfig and Makefile in alphabetical order. | 
|  | 66 |  | 
|  | 67 | * Make sure that all dependencies are listed in Kconfig. | 
|  | 68 |  | 
|  | 69 | * Please list include files in alphabetic order. | 
|  | 70 |  | 
|  | 71 | * Please align continuation lines with '(' on the previous line. | 
|  | 72 |  | 
|  | 73 | * Avoid forward declarations if you can. Rearrange the code if necessary. | 
|  | 74 |  | 
|  | 75 | * Avoid macros to generate groups of sensor attributes. It not only confuses | 
|  | 76 | checkpatch, but also makes it more difficult to review the code. | 
|  | 77 |  | 
|  | 78 | * Avoid calculations in macros and macro-generated functions. While such macros | 
|  | 79 | may save a line or so in the source, it obfuscates the code and makes code | 
|  | 80 | review more difficult. It may also result in code which is more complicated | 
|  | 81 | than necessary. Use inline functions or just regular functions instead. | 
|  | 82 |  | 
|  | 83 | * Limit the number of kernel log messages. In general, your driver should not | 
|  | 84 | generate an error message just because a runtime operation failed. Report | 
|  | 85 | errors to user space instead, using an appropriate error code. Keep in mind | 
|  | 86 | that kernel error log messages not only fill up the kernel log, but also are | 
|  | 87 | printed synchronously, most likely with interrupt disabled, often to a serial | 
|  | 88 | console. Excessive logging can seriously affect system performance. | 
|  | 89 |  | 
|  | 90 | * Use devres functions whenever possible to allocate resources. For rationale | 
|  | 91 | and supported functions, please see Documentation/driver-model/devres.txt. | 
|  | 92 | If a function is not supported by devres, consider using devm_add_action(). | 
|  | 93 |  | 
|  | 94 | * If the driver has a detect function, make sure it is silent. Debug messages | 
|  | 95 | and messages printed after a successful detection are acceptable, but it | 
|  | 96 | must not print messages such as "Chip XXX not found/supported". | 
|  | 97 |  | 
|  | 98 | Keep in mind that the detect function will run for all drivers supporting an | 
|  | 99 | address if a chip is detected on that address. Unnecessary messages will just | 
|  | 100 | pollute the kernel log and not provide any value. | 
|  | 101 |  | 
|  | 102 | * Provide a detect function if and only if a chip can be detected reliably. | 
|  | 103 |  | 
|  | 104 | * Only the following I2C addresses shall be probed: 0x18-0x1f, 0x28-0x2f, | 
|  | 105 | 0x48-0x4f, 0x58, 0x5c, 0x73 and 0x77. Probing other addresses is strongly | 
|  | 106 | discouraged as it is known to cause trouble with other (non-hwmon) I2C | 
|  | 107 | chips. If your chip lives at an address which can't be probed then the | 
|  | 108 | device will have to be instantiated explicitly (which is always better | 
|  | 109 | anyway.) | 
|  | 110 |  | 
|  | 111 | * Avoid writing to chip registers in the detect function. If you have to write, | 
|  | 112 | only do it after you have already gathered enough data to be certain that the | 
|  | 113 | detection is going to be successful. | 
|  | 114 |  | 
|  | 115 | Keep in mind that the chip might not be what your driver believes it is, and | 
|  | 116 | writing to it might cause a bad misconfiguration. | 
|  | 117 |  | 
|  | 118 | * Make sure there are no race conditions in the probe function. Specifically, | 
|  | 119 | completely initialize your chip and your driver first, then register with | 
|  | 120 | the hwmon subsystem. | 
|  | 121 |  | 
|  | 122 | * Use devm_hwmon_device_register_with_groups() or, if your driver needs a remove | 
|  | 123 | function, hwmon_device_register_with_groups() to register your driver with the | 
|  | 124 | hwmon subsystem. Try using devm_add_action() instead of a remove function if | 
|  | 125 | possible. Do not use hwmon_device_register(). | 
|  | 126 |  | 
|  | 127 | * Your driver should be buildable as module. If not, please be prepared to | 
|  | 128 | explain why it has to be built into the kernel. | 
|  | 129 |  | 
|  | 130 | * Do not provide support for deprecated sysfs attributes. | 
|  | 131 |  | 
|  | 132 | * Do not create non-standard attributes unless really needed. If you have to use | 
|  | 133 | non-standard attributes, or you believe you do, discuss it on the mailing list | 
|  | 134 | first. Either case, provide a detailed explanation why you need the | 
|  | 135 | non-standard attribute(s). | 
|  | 136 | Standard attributes are specified in Documentation/hwmon/sysfs-interface. | 
|  | 137 |  | 
|  | 138 | * When deciding which sysfs attributes to support, look at the chip's | 
|  | 139 | capabilities. While we do not expect your driver to support everything the | 
|  | 140 | chip may offer, it should at least support all limits and alarms. | 
|  | 141 |  | 
|  | 142 | * Last but not least, please check if a driver for your chip already exists | 
|  | 143 | before starting to write a new driver. Especially for temperature sensors, | 
|  | 144 | new chips are often variants of previously released chips. In some cases, | 
|  | 145 | a presumably new chip may simply have been relabeled. |