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[2001:b011:380f:14b9:2dec:a462:2693:8ecd]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id v40sm2515992pgn.17.2019.05.15.06.06.45 (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Wed, 15 May 2019 06:06:46 -0700 (PDT) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; delsp=yes; format=flowed Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 12.4 \(3445.104.8\)) Subject: Re: [PATCH] staging: Add rtl8821ce PCIe WiFi driver From: Kai-Heng Feng In-Reply-To: <20190515123319.GA435@kroah.com> Date: Wed, 15 May 2019 21:06:44 +0800 Cc: devel@driverdev.osuosl.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Larry Finger Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-Id: <63833AA2-AC8B-4EEA-AF36-EF2A9BFD4F9F@canonical.com> References: <20190515112401.15373-1-kai.heng.feng@canonical.com> <20190515114022.GA18824@kroah.com> <6D5557B8-8140-48A8-BED7-9587936902D8@canonical.com> <20190515123319.GA435@kroah.com> To: Greg KH X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3445.104.8) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org at 20:33, Greg KH wrote: > On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 07:54:58PM +0800, Kai-Heng Feng wrote: >> at 19:40, Greg KH wrote: >> >>> On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 07:24:01PM +0800, Kai-Heng Feng wrote: >>>> The rtl8821ce can be found on many HP and Lenovo laptops. >>>> Users have been using out-of-tree module for a while, >>>> >>>> The new Realtek WiFi driver, rtw88, will support rtl8821ce in 2020 or >>>> later. >>> >>> Where is that driver, and why is it going to take so long to get merged? >> >> rtw88 is in 5.2 now, but it doesn’t support 8821ce yet. >> >> They plan to add the support in 2020. > > Who is "they" and what is needed to support this device and why wait a > full year? “They” refers to Realtek. It’s their plan so I can’t really answer that on behalf of Realtek. > >>>> 296 files changed, 206166 insertions(+) >>> >>> Ugh, why do we keep having to add the whole mess for every single one of >>> these devices? >> >> Because Realtek devices are unfortunately ubiquitous so the support is >> better come from kernel. > > That's not the issue here. The issue is that we keep adding the same > huge driver files to the kernel tree, over and over, with no real change > at all. We have seen almost all of these files in other realtek > drivers, right? Yes. They use one single driver to support different SoCs, different architectures and even different OSes. That’s why it’s a mess. > Why not use the ones we already have? It’s virtually impossible because Realtek’s mega wifi driver uses tons of #ifdefs, only one chip can be selected to be supported at compile time. > > But better yet, why not add proper support for this hardware and not use > a staging driver? Realtek plans to add the support in 2020, if everything goes well. Meanwhile, many users of HP and Lenovo laptops are using out-of-tree driver, some of them are stuck to older kernels because they don’t know how to fix the driver. So I strongly think having this in kernel is beneficial to many users, even it’s only for a year. Kai-Heng > > thanks, > > greg k-h