PATCH: Driver Maintainers

PATCH: Driver Maintainers

[Alan Cox]

I've been getting more and more people talking to me looking to pay people to 
fix small Linux bugs but having problems finding smaller companies. Obviously
wanting to send $1000 to have someone fix a driver simply doesn't work when
you talk to big companies.

One thing the FSF do which is rather sensible is keep a list in the packages
of people who you can pay to fix stuff in them. I asked on Linux-kernel
and got a small initial set of company responses. hopefully more will appear
once its merged.

The order is alphabetical logically enough

[Marcelo this seems to apply cleanly to 2.4 as well]

Alan
--


--- ../linux.2.5.46/MAINTAINERS	2002-11-05 13:54:42.000000000 +0000
+++ MAINTAINERS	2002-11-05 16:11:31.000000000 +0000
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 
 	List of maintainers and how to submit kernel changes
 
+ (Please also see Documentation/DriverFixers for people who offer driver
+	 development and fixing as a business)
+
 Please try to follow the guidelines below.  This will make things
 easier on the maintainers.  Not all of these guidelines matter for every
 trivial patch so apply some common sense.
--- /dev/null	2002-08-31 00:31:37.000000000 +0100
+++ Documentation/DriverFixers	2002-11-05 18:41:26.000000000 +0000
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+People who fix drivers as a business - ie for money. (No recommendation,
+business association or other relationship implied. This for the benefit of 
+American lawyers is just a list of people who have asked to be listed - nothing
+more).
+
+
+Company:	BitWizard
+Contact:	Rogier Wolff
+E-Mail:		R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl
+
+Company:	Caederus
+Contact:	Justin Mitchell
+E-Mail:		info@caederus.com
+URL:		http://www.caederus.com/
+Location:	Swansea, Wales, UK
+
+Company:	Weinigel Ingenjörsbyrå AB
+Contact:	Christer Weinigel
+E-Mail:		christer@weinigel.se
+Location:	Stockholm, Sweden
+
+Company:	WildOpenSource
+Contact:	Martin Hicks
+E-Mail:		info@wildopensource.com
+
+
+To be added to the list: email <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> giving the
+following information
+
+Company:	CompanyName		[Required]
+Contact:	ContactName		[Required]
+E-Mail:		An email address	[Required]
+URL:		Web site		[Optional]
+Location:	Area/Country		[Optional]
+Telephone:	Contact phone number	[Optional]
+Notes:		Any other notes (eg certifications, specialities)
+

Re: PATCH: Driver Maintainers

[Linus Torvalds]

On Tue, 5 Nov 2002, Alan Cox wrote:
> 
> One thing the FSF do which is rather sensible is keep a list in the packages
> of people who you can pay to fix stuff in them. I asked on Linux-kernel
> and got a small initial set of company responses. hopefully more will appear
> once its merged.

I would really prefer for there to be some kind of explicit requirements
for this. Even if we don't endorse the thing, I'd hate to have a bad egg
or two (assuming this expands a lot, which I think it might) causing 
trouble.

I'd also like for it to be explicitly only for individuals or small
companies ( "less than x people" ), or some other way make sure that the
thing is balanced and we set peoples expectations right (both users of the
list as well as people who want to be on the list).

Also, is the kernel source really the right place for this, considering
that many people will have sources that are years old and there is no way 
to remove potential problematic entries from already-released kernels? In 
other words, wouldn't it be better to have some nice place on the web and 
a pointer to that in the kernel sources?

		Linus

Re: PATCH: Driver Maintainers

[Alan Cox]

On Tue, 2002-11-05 at 18:43, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> to remove potential problematic entries from already-released kernels? In 
> other words, wouldn't it be better to have some nice place on the web and 
> a pointer to that in the kernel sources?

Fair comment. I can happily put it on a web site with a pointer instead
any preferences to a location like kernel.org or just 'wherever'

Splitting it up by company is easy enough to do - split the web page
into "Interested in contracts below $1000, $10000, $100000, $1M, ..."
sections

One could construct a verifiable non-repuditable rating scheme I guess.
That depends if its worth it

	"People who paid for bug fixes in the 3c501 driver also bought
	 MacIIfx support contracts..."

Re: PATCH: Driver Maintainers

[Joel Becker]

On Tue, Nov 05, 2002 at 08:16:14PM +0000, Alan Cox wrote:
> 	"People who paid for bug fixes in the 3c501 driver also bought
> 	 MacIIfx support contracts..."

	PatchRank!

Joel

-- 

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."  
         - Napoleon Bonaparte

Joel Becker
Senior Member of Technical Staff
Oracle Corporation
E-mail: joel.becker@oracle.com
Phone: (650) 506-8127

Re: PATCH: Driver Maintainers

[Leif Nixon]

Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> writes:

> One could construct a verifiable non-repuditable rating scheme I guess.
> That depends if its worth it
> 
> 	"People who paid for bug fixes in the 3c501 driver also bought
> 	 MacIIfx support contracts..."

Oh, just hook the whole thing up to Ebay.

/Leif Nixon