[dpdk-dev] [EXT] Re: [PATCH] maintainers: Update for OcteonTx2 DMA and EP

[Thomas Monjalon]

18/11/2020 05:15, Radha Mohan:
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 12:28 PM Thomas Monjalon <thomas at monjalon.net> wrote:
> > 16/11/2020 19:28, Radha Mohan:
> > > On Fri, Nov 13, 2020 at 2:39 PM Thomas Monjalon <thomas at monjalon.net> wrote:
> > > > 13/11/2020 20:18, Radha Mohan:
> > > > > On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 11:57 PM Mahipal Challa <mchalla at marvell.com> wrote:
> > > > > From: Radha Mohan <mohun106 at gmail.com>
> > > > > Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2020 11:44 PM
> > > > > > On Mon, Nov 9, 2020 at 4:20 PM Radha Mohan Chintakuntla <radhac at marvell.com> wrote:
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Replace the maintainers for OcteonTx2 DMA and EP drivers.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Signed-off-by: Radha Mohan Chintakuntla <radhac at marvell.com>
> > > > [...]
> > > > > > >Adding previous maintainers to ack.
> > > > > > Acked-by: Mahipal Challa <mchalla at marvell.com
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks,
> > > > > > Mahipal
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi Thomas,
> > > > > Could you please pick this patch ?
> > > >
> > > > This low-priority patch has been sent 4 days ago,
> > > > and was acked by only 1 maintainer 3 days ago.
> > > >
> > >
> > > It was acked by both the old maintainers Satha Koteshwar and Mahipal
> > > Challa. Maybe both of those emails didn't come on top of each other.
> >
> > I missed one.
> >
> > > > Why pushing? What is your fear exactly?
> > >
> > > Just want to make the transfer of ownership official in the mainline.
> > > There's no fear I just normally wanted to send a reminder to you to
> > > pick as it might be missed inclusion. If there's a guarantee that all
> > > ack'ed patches will go automatically then I won't be sending any
> > > reminder emails in future.
> >
> > It's OK to send reminder, but please wait at least a week.
> >
> > > > Why the new maintainers candidates have 0 and 2 contributions
> > > > in git history?
> > > >
> > > These drivers requires some maintenance and likely expanded to support
> > > future chips from Marvell. So you will not see contributions right
> > > away.
> > > So to become a maintainer one has to have prior contributions ?
> >
> > Yes: http://doc.dpdk.org/guides/contributing/patches.html#maintainers-and-sub-trees
> > "
> > Maintainers should have demonstrated a reasonable level of contributions or reviews to the component area. The maintainer should be confirmed by an ack from an established contributor.
> > "
> 
> How was this done without prior contributions?
> http://git.dpdk.org/dpdk/commit/MAINTAINERS?id=238e3167ca869abf44fa50ead022d7fc3b99605b

I asked a confirmation:
http://inbox.dpdk.org/dev/1985242.AXpOyGb66D@thomas/


> The commit log says that he is a "new developer". So am I technically
> to the community.
> 
> Also the thing that puzzles me most is its a driver specific to
> Marvell and both the previous maintainers are ok with the transfer but
> a strange rule that probably applies to generic things of dpdk code
> (which really makes sense there) comes as a blocker.

Did I say it is a blocker?

> And how does new driver go?

For new drivers, the new maintainers arrive by contributing new code.

> Lets say if either myself or veerasena have pushed a new driver now
> who has to ack it for inclusion ? Isn't that like a chicken and egg
> problem.

Nobody has to ack for a new driver.

> I am looking for clarifications as things are different in other open
> source communities.
> 
> > > Kind of makes odd sense as these drivers are specific to our chip and we
> > > are changing ownership for maintaining them.
> > > I do not understand why you have an issue here?
> > > You don't like reminding then I understand.
> >
> > I don't like how you push new unconfirmed maintainers.
> 
> Could you please explain above commit made into new maintainer?

Listen: I say I don't like how pushy you are, that's all.
In general it's very good to have new contributors.
But please think how you can help instead of just requesting.
We have a lot more important things to care at the moment
to close the big release 20.11. If you want to help, you are welcome.