[Bug 294341] Review Request: open-vm-tools-kmods - Kernel modules for open-vm-tools

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Summary: Review Request: open-vm-tools-kmods - Kernel modules for open-vm-tools


https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=294341





------- Additional Comments From dwmw2 at infradead.org  2007-09-23 06:00 EST -------
I disagree -- I think it _is_ a fair assessment. It's about the quality of the
code and the design -- and that really _should_ be about "the way it's written,
how it's integrated with other/newer parts of the kernel, and so on."

Yes, the bar is high. But with good reason. And the line we tend to take in
Fedora is "if it's not good enough for Linus, we want you to make a _very_ good
case for why you think it's good enough for us".

Remember that we are _not_ just banning all non-upstream code. We've always
carried patches with new drivers &c in our kernel RPM, and now that all packages
are effectively part of "Extras" where the Great Unwashed can get at them, you
have the opportunity to maintain your patch there directly. The only thing
that's different, fundamentally, is that before you had to get an explicit
agreement from FESCo for a kmod package -- and now you have to get an explicit
agreement and commit access from the kernel maintainers instead.

And _if_ your code is deemed good enough to ship, then it's a whole lot nicer
from a technical point of view, because it's not in a separate package with all
the rpm hassle that entails and the requirement for builds to be in lock-step.

On a separate but mostly related note -- at the Kernel Summit a couple of weeks
ago, we spoke about making it easier to merge code which distributions wanted to
ship, and perhaps being slightly less picky about it and more pragmatic. Linus
indicated a desire _not_ to see distributions carrying such patches, like the
wireless-dev tree that Fedora is currently shipping. The idea is that if distros
are going to ship it, we might as well merge it upstream. So merging upstream
_may_ get a little easier too. But there are downsides to that approach on
Linus' part -- because people may stop trying as soon as code is merged, and the
final issues may never get sorted out. We'll see how it works out.

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