xref: /linux/Documentation/process/maintainer-devicetree.rst (revision 59e6295fac26b8e85c1ea859cdd89fa1e47519d7)
1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
2
3======================================
4Devicetree and Open Firmware Subsystem
5======================================
6
7Other Process Documents
8-----------------------
9
10Please see the documents in Documentation/devicetree/bindings/ for information
11on how to write proper Devicetree bindings and how to submit patches.
12
13Patch Review and Handling
14-------------------------
15
16Patches handled by Devicetree maintainers are processed differently depending
17on the patch type:
18
191. Core OF driver code, e.g. drivers/of/:
20   patches are reviewed and applied by DT maintainers.
21
222. Devicetree bindings:
23   patches are reviewed by DT maintainers, but should be applied by subsystem
24   maintainers except in certain cases.  See also *For kernel maintainers* in
25   Documentation/devicetree/bindings/submitting-patches.rst.
26
273. DTS and drivers:
28   DT maintainers might provide comments, but review is generally not expected.
29   DTS must pass schema checks (dtbs_check) or at least do not add any
30   new warnings.
31
32Patchwork
33~~~~~~~~~
34
35Devicetree maintainers review patches using Patchwork, so the current status of
36a patch can be checked there. For typical driver submissions, Patchwork
37receives the entire patch set, but only a few patches are usually Devicetree
38bindings that are reviewed by DT maintainers.
39
40Explanation of Patchwork statuses:
41
42 - **New**: Not yet processed by the automation toolset.
43 - **Needs ACK**: Waiting for review by DT maintainers.
44 - **Handled Elsewhere**: Non-DT patch; not being reviewed here.
45 - **RFC**: Patch was likely ignored because it was an incomplete RFC.
46 - **Changes Requested**: Patch was reviewed and DT maintainers expect changes.
47 - **Accepted**: Patch was reviewed and applied by DT maintainers to their tree.
48 - **Not Applicable**: Patch was reviewed and is likely in good shape, with a
49   *Reviewed-by* or *Acked-by* tag provided, but DT maintainers expect someone
50   else to apply it.
51
52Patch Re-review and Pinging
53~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
54
55Due to the high volume of email traffic, Devicetree maintainers do not read
56every email they receive and instead rely on Patchwork during the review
57process. They also often skip patches that have already been reviewed.
58
59As a result, maintainers might miss:
60
611. Questions about already reviewed patches.
622. Pings, for example when a patch has been reviewed by DT maintainers but has
63   not been picked up by subsystem maintainers.
64
65Such cases can be addressed by:
66
671. Pinging DT maintainers on the IRC channel.
682. Dropping the DT maintainer’s *Acked-by* or *Reviewed-by* tag when sending a new
69   version of the patch set, together with an explanation in the patch
70   changelog describing why the tag was removed and what is expected from DT
71   maintainers.
72
73