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Microsoft contributes Hyper-V drivers to the kernelMicrosoft contributes Hyper-V drivers to the kernelPosted Jul 21, 2009 7:25 UTC (Tue) by BackSeat (subscriber, #1886)Parent article: Microsoft contributes Hyper-V drivers to the kernel I constantly read on LWN how contributors have to work with the kernel developer community to get code into the kernel, how the architecture should be discussed, how the code should be released little and often, and so on. Can someone explain to me why Microsoft have apparently worked with only one kernel developer, albeit gk-h, and somehow managed to release 20K LOC into the kernel? I'm not passing judgement on the work done, merely expressing surprise that a sizable code chunk can apparently appear in one lump, and that is apparently OK.
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Microsoft contributes Hyper-V drivers to the kernel Posted Jul 21, 2009 8:00 UTC (Tue) by skitching (subscriber, #36856) [Link]
This code hasn't gone into the kernel "core" yet; it has just gone into the "staging" directory of the kernel code repository. Just about any code can be put into "staging" as long as it is correctly licensed and Greg thinks there is some point in having it there. Staging code is not compiled by default when building the kernel, and if someone does deliberately include "staging" code when building a custom kernel then the "crap" taint flag is set in the kernel and bugreports will generally be ignored.
The idea is that once the code is in the "staging" directory it is easier for people to work on so it can eventually become an official & supported part of the kernel.
Some distributions do include a few specific drivers from the staging directory, where the hardware is in use but no "approved" driver yet exists. I doubt anyone will include the hyper-v code in their distribution kernels for a long while though...
Microsoft contributes Hyper-V drivers to the kernel Posted Jul 22, 2009 9:22 UTC (Wed) by Kamilion (subscriber, #42576) [Link]
@BackSeat, Replying to skitching for thread informativeness / clarity.
It should also be noted, the commits were the original code submissions from MSOSS, upon which many more cleanup commits were laid on top of by Greg and Co.
This is so all code is attributed to their correct respective authors, and shows the true power of open source -- not only do you get the current source, you also get the previous states, and all the information that carries with it.
You get to watch the process of Microsoft's code getting cleaned up and vetted. This is how it should be. This is how it must be -- think of our future digitally-inclined offspring, and how they will view 'history'. Shall it be an opaque black box of 'X happened.' or a transparent 'Here's thirty layers of wiki-depth, choose your interest level.' history? I prefer the latter. And http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Computer_science is a good start, and addictive! Help it grow!
Celebrate it. Let it be known, Microsoft is changing, just like IBM and Intel did after understanding and embracing linux and open source.
Community can make a difference. Let's show them how much, and welcome them to *our* community. They're beginning to listen. Let's not disappoint them.
Microsoft contributes Hyper-V drivers to the kernel Posted Jul 21, 2009 19:36 UTC (Tue) by jgg (guest, #55211) [Link]
Drivers tend to go in alot easier without the architecture discussion stuff. As long as the driver looks more or less like kernel code and isn't hugely flawed there isn't too much trouble. Ultimately broken drivers only affect people with that hardware. I suspect it will be a lot less than 20kloc once it is in 'kernel style'.
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