xref: /openbmc/linux/Documentation/nvdimm/maintainer-entry-profile.rst (revision f45ab53f)

LIBNVDIMM Maintainer Entry Profile
==================================

Overview
--------
The libnvdimm subsystem manages persistent memory across multiple
architectures. The mailing list is tracked by patchwork here:
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-nvdimm/list/
...and that instance is configured to give feedback to submitters on
patch acceptance and upstream merge. Patches are merged to either the
'libnvdimm-fixes' or 'libnvdimm-for-next' branch. Those branches are
available here:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/nvdimm/nvdimm.git/

In general patches can be submitted against the latest -rc; however, if
the incoming code change is dependent on other pending changes then the
patch should be based on the libnvdimm-for-next branch. However, since
persistent memory sits at the intersection of storage and memory there
are cases where patches are more suitable to be merged through a
Filesystem or the Memory Management tree. When in doubt copy the nvdimm
list and the maintainers will help route.

Submissions will be exposed to the kbuild robot for compile regression
testing. It helps to get a success notification from that infrastructure
before submitting, but it is not required.


Submit Checklist Addendum
-------------------------
There are unit tests for the subsystem via the ndctl utility:
https://github.com/pmem/ndctl
Those tests need to be passed before the patches go upstream, but not
necessarily before initial posting. Contact the list if you need help
getting the test environment set up.

ACPI Device Specific Methods (_DSM)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Before patches enabling a new _DSM family will be considered, it must
be assigned a format-interface-code from the NVDIMM Sub-team of the ACPI
Specification Working Group. In general, the stance of the subsystem is
to push back on the proliferation of NVDIMM command sets, so do strongly
consider implementing support for an existing command set. See
drivers/acpi/nfit/nfit.h for the set of supported command sets.


Key Cycle Dates
---------------
New submissions can be sent at any time, but if they intend to hit the
next merge window they should be sent before -rc4, and ideally
stabilized in the libnvdimm-for-next branch by -rc6. Of course if a
patch set requires more than 2 weeks of review, -rc4 is already too late
and some patches may require multiple development cycles to review.


Review Cadence
--------------
In general, please wait up to one week before pinging for feedback. A
private mail reminder is preferred. Alternatively ask for other
developers that have Reviewed-by tags for libnvdimm changes to take a
look and offer their opinion.