Re: [Linuxconsole-dev] Which tree and developers

[Eric S. R. <es...@th...>]

James Simmons <jsi...@ac...>:
>                    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.

These are the assumptions on the web page I'm drafting.

>    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.

It seems to me that we have three deliverables:

1. console.c and man page patches for 2.2.x to fix ANSI conformance in
   the terminal emulation.  These need to go to Alan Cox for merge into
   the old stable tree.  

I think Dominik has already done this work.  It needs to be tested and
documented, which is my job.

2. console.c and man page patches for 2.3.x to fix ANSI conformance in
   the terminal emulation.  These need to go to Linus for inclusion
   before 2.4.

Likewise I think Dominik has already done this work.

3. A line of patches for 2.4.x that implements the heavy stuff; fbdev
   refactoring, multihead, scrollback, etc.  These can't go in until
   2.5.x.

These things are what I'm going to list as deliverables on the project
web page, unless somebody objects.
 
>    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.  

I don't have enough kernel-hacking experience to have an opinion about
this.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr">Eric S. Raymond</a>

The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit 
the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms.  History teaches that all 
conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have 
prepared their own downfall by doing so.
        -- Hitler, April 11 1942, revealing the real agenda of "gun control"