On Thu, May 16, 2019 at 01:40:00AM +0800, Kai-Heng Feng wrote: > at 00:39, Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 09:06:44PM +0800, Kai-Heng Feng wrote: > > > at 20:33, Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > > > > On Wed, May 15, 2019 at 07:54:58PM +0800, Kai-Heng Feng wrote: > > > > > at 19:40, Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 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. > > > > Where did they say that? Any reason their developers are not on this > > patch? > > > > > > > > > 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. > > > > Well, they try to, it doesn't always work :( > > > > > That’s why it’s a mess. > > > > Oh we all know why this is a mess. But they have been saying for > > _years_ they would clean up this mess. So push back, I'm not going to > > take another 200k lines for a simple wifi driver, again. > > > > Along those lines, we should probably just delete the other old realtek > > drivers that don't seem to be going anywhere from staging as well, > > because those are just confusing people. > > > > > > 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. > > > > That's not what I asked. > > > > I want to know why they can't just add support for their new devices to > > one of the many existing realtek drivers we already have. That is the > > simpler way, and the correct way to do this. We don't do this by adding > > 200k lines, again. > > > > > > 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. > > > > Device "goes well" please. And when in 2020? And why 2020? Why not > > 2022? 2024? > > > > > 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. > > > > So who is going to be responsible for "fixing the driver" for all new > > kernel api updates? I'm tired of seeing new developers get lost in the > > maze of yet-another realtek wifi driver. We've been putting up with > > this crud for years, and it has not gotten any better if you want to add > > another 200k lines for some unknown amount of time with the hope that a > > driver might magically show up one day. > > I have no idea why they haven’t made everything upstream, and I do hope they > did a better job, so I don’t need to cleanup their driver and send it > upstream :( > > So basically I can’t answer any of your questions. As Larry suggested, their > driver should be hosted separately and maybe by downstream distro. As it sounds like you have talked to these developers (i.e. they told you 2020), you do have a way to communicate our concerns. Please do that, or feel free to send me their contact information and I will be glad to talk to them about this. thanks, greg k-h _______________________________________________ devel mailing list devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://driverdev.linuxdriverproject.org/mailman/listinfo/driverdev-devel
