Adding a new kernel driver to Linux

[cwsulliv]

Where can I find guidelines for submitting a new kernel driver (for a USB device) for inclusion in the official Linux tree and having it accepted?

[gamblor01]

I'm pretty sure it's difficult to get your patch added to the kernel, but you should start with kernel.org. I'm not entirely sure where to submit patches but if you do enough work on the kernel then you can request an account there, referencing previous work, and then you'll probably eventually get write access to the git repository.

I have never actually submitted a kernel patch but kernel.org is probably a good place to start.

[bwkaz]

Um, whoa. Don't try to put your code directly into the kernel (e.g. by getting an account at kernel.org). That's for known kernel contributors, like the various subsystem maintainers.

What I'd do is try to find a mailing list for the part of the kernel that your driver fits into (USB possibly, but preferably a list for the specific type of USB device that this is), and send them the patch to the kernel. Of course, they'll comment on it, and ask you to change a bunch of stuff; keep going back and forth until they're happy. (Assuming they don't ignore you entirely, of course. A driver may already exist, for instance.) Hopefully, at that point, once the subsystem people have decided that this patch is good, it'll go into the kernel at the next version (but it will be put there by someone pulling patches, not by anyone that wrote the code).

You may also be able to send to lkml (the linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org mailing list) -- but the chance of success when sending there is a lot lower (there's a lot more traffic to sift through, and most people would rather see development of a new driver for a given subsystem happen off-list (on the subsystem's own list, that is) than on-list).