One of the big things that seems to cause a learning curve for many new contributors for Linux and other projects that make a big effort with code review is the process of putting patches together in a way that makes the code review process more smoothly. This is a fairly straightforward thing but it [...]
One of the biggest differences between working on most other OSs and working upstream on drivers for the Linux kernel is that elsewhere the core is usually a fixed thing that has been released and can’t really be changed, even if source is available (which may not even be the case). If whatever subsystem you’re [...]
Kernel 2.6.38 will add support for tracing ASoC using trace points. Previously all logging for ASoC had been done using printk(), meaning that changing the active logging required a kernel rebuild and that when trace was enabled the volume of trace could easily become very disruptive to other logging within the system. Trace points solve these [...]
One thing that often seems to cause problems for people who work over many different areas of the Linux kernel is the process of making sure that patches actually get reviewed and applied. Where the relevant subsystem is actively maintained it’s not a problem but that’s not always the case. Sometimes maintainers are busy or [...]