[Pkg-zfsonlinux-devel] About downstream patches on debian packages from zfsonlinux.org repository.

[Petter Reinholdtsen]

[Brian Behlendorf]
> I'm sure the proposed patches work well on Debian where they were
> developed and tested.  But they can't be accepted upstream until
> they're reviewed and verified to work properly on other major
> distributions.  Upstream we invest a huge amount of effort making sure
> ZoL works properly on as wide a range of Linux targets as possible.

So, how do we get in touch with people able to test in other major
distributions?  Which are these, btw?

> We've tried to streamline the process of submitting patches.  There's
> definitely still room for improvement but it's easier than it used to
> be.  If anyone is interested in helping improve the process we'd welcome
> the help.
>
> Despite my concerns above I'm willing to revisit merging the existing
> sharing patches as long as they meet the same requirements of as other
> proposed changes.

Very good.  Then we have an opening to try to reduce the difference, and
that is good.  My first priority would be the NFS patch, as I use NFS
(and not SMB and iSCSI) myself.  I suspect the SMB patches are important
to more people, thought.

> * They should be rebased against the master branch, apply cleanly, and
> introduce no new build warnings or failures as reported by the
> automated testing.

When you say 'automated testing', do you mean something done with each
pull request, or something that need to be run by the requester outside
github?

> * They should update and enable all of the existing 'share' tests in
> the ZFS Test Suite.  These tests will be run by the automated testing
> infrastructure and must to pass on all the regularly tested
> distributions.

Right.  Where can we learn how to do this?  I know nothing about ZFS
internals myself, but know how to program.

> * They must receive positive code reviews from a ZFS developers other
> than the author and myself.

This sound like an impossible requirement to me, given that no-one among
the ZFS reviewers cared enough about the relevant patches for several
years to bring the patches forward?  What make it likely that anyone
else will look at it?

The NFS patch is <URL: https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/pull/2790 >
with no news for two years.

The SMB patch is <URL: https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/pull/1476 >
with no news for 1.5 year.

> I'd love to see a representative from the Debian team at the OpenZFS
> Developer Summit.  I'll be there giving a talk as will several other
> key ZoL developers.  Many of the talks this year are based on work
> being done on Linux.

I hope you and Aron can get in touch while you both are there. :)

-- 
Happy hacking
Petter Reinholdtsen