[Linuxconsole-dev] Which tree and developers

[James S. <jsi...@ac...>]

Howdy!!!

  First its time to register developers. Please send me or Eric Raymond a
email with your sourceforge account username. We will add you to the
developement list. We also have to organize who is going to do what. So
far I know I will be working on the fbdev/fbcon and multihead support 
part. Dominik Kubla wants to work on proper VT 100 and other types of
term emulations. Raymond is going to be working on our web site,
documentation, and more terminal emulation stuff. I assume Vojtech is
going to continue his input work. Everyone is welcomed so step forward and 
tell what parts you want to work on. Remember this a group project and we
all have worked in group projects so I don't have to spell out how CVS
developement is done. Think 3 times before you commit and discuss your
ideas/changes with everyone. 

   Well its time to discuss which tree to use. Some people spoke of the
2.2.X. Other want to work on the 2.3.X branch. Well their are pros and
cons to both. The 2.2.X kernels are stable so we don't have to worry to
much about keeping in sync with any important changes. The draw back is
except for bug fixes alot of our changes wouldn't be back ported. Also
the changes I'm doing to fbdev where I'm moving the console code out of
the fbdev drivers into fbcon.c will not be there. This means if we change
things we might have to update all the fbdev drivers from time to time.
Same is true even for the 2.3.X tree for the input device drivers. This
might change if and when Vojtech work is incorporated into 2.3.X. 
   If we go with the 2.3.X and if Vojtech work goes in and I finish
changing the fbdev API we have the pro of not breaking any important
drivers all the time. Only a handful of files to change. The con is we
have to keep up with any important changes all the time. 
   The next big issue is what do we place in CVS. The whole kernel tree or
just certain branches. Downloading via CVS a whole kernel the first time
is not going to be fun if you have a cheesy modem. Of course we have to
deal with docs for people who want to try the console code and have to
patch their kernels.  

"Look its a text editor, not its a OS, no it Emacs"
James Simmons                                           ____/| 
fbdev/gfx developer                                     \ o.O| 
http://www.linux-fbdev.org                               =(_)= 
http://linuxgfx.sourceforge.net                            U