[CentOS-devel] possibility of an extra-hardware-support SIG

Fabian Arrotin fabian.arrotin at arrfab.net
Wed Sep 5 13:15:59 UTC 2007


On Wed, 2007-09-05 at 13:38 +0100, Karanbir Singh wrote:
> Hi guys,
Hi Master ...
> 
> I have been thinking about starting something that brings in extra Hardware 
> compatibility and drivers to the stock centos kernel. Perhaps doing this as a 
> SIG might be a good idea.
I agree ...
> 
> The aim would be ( but not limited to ):
> 
> - Find and coordinate the efforts by various hardware vendors to support CentOS
If the HW manufacturer lists RHEL as supported, the driver/module they
provide should be supported on CentOS as well ... Do you mean that these
manufacturers list CentOS itself as supported ?
> 
> - Publish a comprehensive ( as much as possible ) install time DriverDisk ( both 
> as an .img and .iso )
> 
> - Create, test and publish a mechanism to follow kernel updates ( might need 
> someone to actually have access to some of this hardware, but it should be 
> manageable specially if we can get the attention of hardware vendors ).

in kmod format i suppose ?


> - Create a feedback-loop that makes it easy for users to request drivers / 
> functionality in the stock and plus kernels. How we deliver on this is perhaps a 
> discussion in itself, and something we can consider when we come to it.
> 
> - Bring together into 1 place all the various opensource drivers being published 
> by Vendors ( 3ware, areca, tyan, supermicro etc ) for newer versions of their 
> products that are not in the upstream version as yet. This might mean setting up 
> an ftp location somewhere (?)
> 
> - I would also not mind looking at the very dark grey area of providing updated 
> drivers for some components ( like the recent bcm and marvell ethernet drivers 
> that really do need updating in the upstream kernel ) - but this again depends 
> on how people feel about it - in lots of cases, we might end up step into and 
> through a redhat patch.
> 
> Now, what does everyone else think ? If I start this, is it going to be only me 
> there or is someone else going to come along for the ride as well ?
> 
I think it's a good idea and i can join the effort ... 
For example i have to setup IBM SANs and the multipath driver is
delivered as source (which is a good thing on one hand) but who has make
and gcc on a server ? ...  :o)
This make me think to the license point of view : can every
driver/module be packaged ? This has to be taken in account ...

-- 
Fabian Arrotin <fabian.arrotin at arrfab.net>
Solution ? 
echo '16i[q]sa[ln0=aln100%Pln100/snlbx]sbA0D4D465452snlbxq' | dc
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