The RP Enterprise Kernel is the combination of Reference Platform topic branches. The goal is that, members of Linaro will in combination contribute to a kernel branch that incorporates the activities and development of all members. The topics will be targeted towards tip, and rebased once the kernel has moved from rc to stable. As in, if the current RC is for 4.4, then all topics will be based on that kernel. Once the 4.4 kernel is released, all patches that were not accepted into the kernel release, will be rebased to the next development kernel. In the case of this example, rebase from 4.4 to 4.5.

1. Presented by
Date
Event
LEG-Kernel to RP
The WorkflowGraeme Gregory
BKK16-313A 09/05/16
Linaro Connect BKK16

2. LEG-Kernel
● No Platform Support
● Informal Release Process
● Designed to feed CI for acpi
branch integration
● Basic Testing

3. Reference Platform
● Formal Process
● Designed to be a Reference
● Formal Testing Strategy Defined
● Formal Topic Branch Strategy
● https://github.
com/96boards/documentation/wiki/Referenc
eSoftwareEE

4. Reference Platform Kernel Rules
1. Patches will not break the single multi-
platform kernel that is shipped as part of the
RP
2. In general, kernel patches will be accepted
in the RP kernel (for staging) only if they’re
undergoing review on LKML or other
relevant upstream mailing lists first

5. Reference Platform Kernel Rules
3. Patches will be dropped from the RP kernel
tree in the following cases:
● Patch has been rejected upstream and maintainer has outlined a
different approach to take
● Patch is showing no sign of progress upstream - either through
ongoing discussion or posting of follow-up versions based on earlier
reviews
● Patch doesn’t apply to a newer kernel

6. Reference Platform Kernel Rules
4. Changes to common core code will require
signoff from the relevant kernel maintainer at
Linaro
5. Members will designate an engineer who is
responsible for each patch series and will
address the questions/comments from the
tree maintainers

7. Reference Platform Kernel Rules
6. Patches can only be accepted for HW
platforms that are shared with Linaro
7. Each out-of-tree patch will be tagged with
one of the following keywords to allow easy
accounting and tracking their progress
upstream

8. Reference Platform Kernel Rules
8. Statistics will be published regularly on how
much functionality is still out-of-tree for each
platform and high-level highlights of status of
upstreaming for each feature being carried
out-of-tree.

9. Reference Platform Kernel Rules
keyword meaning
fromlist Patch is picked up from a public mailing list where it is being
reviewed
fromtree Patch is picked up from a subsystem maintainer tree where it
is already queued for merging
temphack Patch is needed temporarily until some underlying code is
fixed or refactored correctly upstream
noup Patch is only needed for enabling pre-production HW or is
only needed for local testing and won’t be pushed upstream.
It will be fixed cor rectly upstream
topost Patch isn’t posted to the list yet but posting is imminent.
These patches will only be allowed very rarely, solely at the
discre tion of the RP kernel maintainer