Please do not edit this list for now. Email changes to me if you like. Nick Piggin <piggin@cyberone.com.au>

last updated from '''''2.6.0-test11-mm1'''''

'''Should-fix bugs'''

Legend:

 *PRI1: We're totally lame if this doesn't get in
 *PRI2: Would be nice
 *PRI3: Not very important

-- Not-ready features and speedups --


''drivers/block/''

 * viro: paride drivers need a big cleanup. Partially done, but ATAPI drivers
  need serious work and bug fixing.

  PRI2

''drivers/char/rtc/''

 * rmk, trini: add support for alarms to the existing generic rtc driver.

  PRI2

''console drivers''
  (Pavel Machek <pavel@ucw.cz>)

 * There are few must-fix bugs in cursor handling.

 * Play with gpm selection for a while and your cursor gets corrupted with
  random dots. Ouch.

''device mapper''

 * ioctl interface cleanup patch is ready (redo the structure layouts)

  PRI1

 * A port of the 2.4 snapshot and mirror targets is in progress

  PRI1

 * the fs interface to dm needs to be redone.  gregkh was going to work on
  this.  viro is interested in seeing work thus-far.

  PRI2

''drivers/net/wireless/''

  (Jean Tourrilhes <jt@bougret.hpl.hp.com>)

 * get latest orinoco changes from David.

  PRI1

 * get the latest airo.c fixes from CVS.  This will hopefully fix problems
  people have reported on the LKML.

  PRI1

 * get HostAP driver in the kernel.  No consolidation of the 802.11
  management across driver can happen until this one is in (which is probably
  2.7.X material).  I think Jouni is mostly ready but didn't find time for
  it.

  PRI2

 * get more wireless drivers into the kernel.  The most "integrable" drivers
  at this point seem the NWN driver, Pavel's Spectrum driver and the Atmel
  driver.

  PRI1

 * The last two drivers mentioned above are held up by firmware issues (see
  flamewar on LKML a few days ago).  So maybe fixing those firmware issues
  should be a requirement for 2.6.X, because we can expect more wireless
  devices to need firmware upload at startup coming to market.

  (in progress?)

  PRI1

''drivers/usb/gadget/''

 * rmk: SA11xx USB client/gadget code (David B has been doing some work on
  this, and keeps trying to prod me, but unfortunately I haven't had the time
  to look at his work, sorry David.)

  PRI3

''fs/''

 * ext3 and ext2 block allocators have serious failure modes - interleaved
  allocations.

  PRI3

 * Integrate Chris Mason's 2.4 reiserfs ordered data and data journaling
  patches.  They make reiserfs a lot safer.

  Ordered: PRI2
  data journalled: PRI3

 * (Trond:) Yes: I'm still working on an atomic "open()", i.e.  one
           where we short-circuit the usual VFS path_walk() + lookup() +
           permission() + create() + ....  bullsh*t...

           I have several reasons for wanting to do this (all of
           them related to NFS of course, but much of the reasoning applies
           to *all* networked file systems).

   1) The above sequence is simply not atomic on *any* networked
      filesystem.

   2) It introduces a sh*tload of completely unnecessary RPC calls (why
      do a 'permission' RPC call when the server is in *any* case going to
      tell you whether or not this operations is allowed.  Why do a
      'lookup()' when the 'create()' call can be made to tell you whether or
      not a file already exists).

   3) It is incompatible with some operations: the current create()
      doesn't pass an 'EXCLUSIVE' flag down to the filesystems.

   4) (NFS specific?) open() has very different cache consistency
      requirements when compared to most other VFS operations.

   I'd very much like for something like Peter Braam's 'lookup with
   intent' or (better yet) for a proper dentry->open() to be integrated with
   path_walk()/open_namei().  I'm still working on the latter (Peter has
   already completed the lookup with intent stuff).

   (All this is in progress, see http://www.fys.uio.no/~trondmy/src)

   (Is awaiting Pater Braam's intent patches.  Applicable to CIFS)

   PRI2 (?)

 * viro: convert more filesystems to use lib/parser.c for options.

  PRI2

 * aio: fs IO isn't async at present.  suparna has restart patches, they're
  in -mm.  Need to get Ben to review/comment.

  PRI1.

 * drepper: various filesystems use ->pid wrongly

  PRI1

 * hch: devfs: there's a fundamental lookup vs devfsd race that's only
  fixable by introducing a lookup vs devfs deadlock.  I can't see how this is
  fixable without getting rid of the current devfsd design.  Mandrake seems
  to have a workaround for this so this is at least not triggered so easily,
  but that's not what I'd consider a fix..

  PRI2

''kernel/''

 * rusty: Zippel's Reference count simplification.  Tricky code, but cuts
  about 120 lines from module.c.  Patch exists, needs stressing.

  PRI3

 * rusty: Fix module-failed-init races by starting module "disabled".  Patch
  exists, requires some subsystems (ie.  add_partition) to explicitly say
  "make module live now".  Without patch we are no worse off than 2.4 etc.

  PRI1

 * Integrate userspace irq balancing daemon.

  PRI2

 * kexec.  Seems to work, was in -mm.

  PRI3

 * rmk: lib/inflate.c must not use static variables (causes these to be
  referenced via GOTOFF relocations in PIC decompressor.  We have a PIC
  decompressor to avoid having to hard code a per platform zImage link
  address into the makefiles.)

  PRI2

 * klibc merge?

  PRI2

''mm/''

 * dropbehind for large files

  PRI2

''net/''

  (davem)

 * Real serious use of IPSEC is hampered by lack of MPLS support.  MPLS is a
  switching technology that works by switching based upon fixed length labels
  prepended to packets.  Many people use this and IPSEC to implement VPNs
  over public networks, it is also used for things like traffic engineering.

  A good reference site is:

        http://www.mplsrc.com/

  Anyways, an existing (crappy) implementation exists.  I've almost
  completed a rewrite, I should have something in the tree next week.

  PRI1

 * Sometimes we generate IP fragments when it truly isn't necessary.

  The way IP fragmentation is specified, each fragment must be modulo 8
  bytes in length.  So suppose the device has an MTU that is not 0 modulo 8,
  ethernet even classifies in this way.  1500 == (8 * 187) + 4

  Our IP fragmenting engine can fragment on packets that are sized within
  the last modulo 8 bytes of the MTU.  This happens in obscure cases, but it
  does happen.

  I've proposed a fix to Alexey, whereby very late in the output path we
  check the packet, if we fragmented but the data length would fit into the
  MTU we unfragment the packet.

  This is low priority, because technically it creates suboptimal behavior
  rather than mis-operation.

  PRI1

''net/*/netfilter/''

 * Lots of misc. cleanups, which are happening slowly.

  PRI2

''power management''

 * PM code in mainline is currently b0rked. Fixes in -mm

  PRI1

 * Pat and Pavel disagree over swsusp. Need to sort that out.

  PRI2

 * Frame buffer restore codepaths (that requires some deep PCI magic)

  PRI2

 * XFree86 hooks

  PRI2

 * AGP restoration

  PRI2

 * DRI restoration

  (davej/Alan: not super-critical, can crash laptop on restore.  davej
  looking into it.)

  PRI2

 * IDE suspend/resume without races (Ben is looking at this a little)

  PRI2

 * Pat: There are already CPU device structures; MTRRs should be a
  dynamically registered interface of CPUs, which implies there needs
  to be some other glue to know that there are MTRRs that need to be
  saved/restored.

  PRI1

''global''

 * We need a kernel side API for reporting error events to userspace (could
  be async to 2.6 itself)

  (Prototype core based on netlink exists)

  PRI2

 * Kai: Introduce a sane, easy and standard way to build external modules
  - make clean and make modules_install are both broken

  PRI2

''drivers''

 * Alan: Cardbus/PCMCIA requires all Russell's stuff is merged to do
  multiheader right and so on

  PRI1

''drivers/acpi/''

 * Fix acpi for all newer IBM Thinkpads see
  http://bugme.osdl.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1038 for more information

 * alan: VIA APIC stuff is one bit of this, there are also some other
  reports that were caused by ACPI not setting level v edge trigger some
  times

  PRI1

 * mochel: it seems the acpi irq routing code could use a serious rewrite.

  grover: The problem is the ACPI irq routing code is trying to piggyback
  on the existing MPS-specific data structures, and it's generally a hack.
  So yes mochel is right, but it is also purging MPS-ities from common code
  as well.  I've done some preliminary work in this area and it doesn't seem
  to break anything (yet) but a rewrite in this area imho should not be
  rushed out the door.  And, I think the above bugs can be fixed w/o the
  rewrite.

  PRI2

 * mochel: ACPI suspend doesn't work.  Important, not cricital.  Pat is
  working it.

  PRI2

''drivers/block/''

 * Floppy is almost unusably buggy still

  akpm: we need more people to test & report.

  alan: "Floppy has worked for me since the patches that went in 2.5.69-ac
  and I think -bk somewhere"

  PRI1

''drivers/char/''


''drivers/ide/''

  (Alan)

 * IDE PIO has occasional unexplained PIO disk eating reports

  PRI1

 * IDE has multiple zillions of races/hangs in 2.5 still

  PRI1

 * IDE scsi needs rewriting

  PRI2

 * IDE needs significant reworking to handle Simplex right

  PRI2

 * IDE hotplug handling for 2.5 is completely broken still

  PRI2

 * There are lots of other IDE bugs that wont go away until the taskfile
  stuff is included, the locking bugs that allow any user to hang the IDE
  layer in 2.5, and some other updates are forward ported.  (esp.  HPT372N).

  PRI1

''drivers/isdn/''

  (Kai, rmk)

 * isdn_tty locking is completely broken (cli() and friends)

  PRI2

 * fix other drivers

  PRI2

 * lots more cleanups, adaption to recent APIs etc

  PRI3

 * fixup tty-based ISDN drivers which provide TIOCM* ioctls (see my recent
  3-set patch for serial stuff)

  Alternatively, we could re-introduce the fallback to driver ioctl parsing
  for these if not enough drivers get updated.

  PRI3

''drivers/net/''

 * davej: Either Wireless network drivers or PCMCIA broke somewhen.  A
  configuration that worked fine under 2.4 doesn't receive any packets.  Need
  to look into this more to make sure I don't have any misconfiguration that
  just 'happened to work' under 2.4

  PRI1

''drivers/scsi/''

 * jejb: qlogic -

  o Merge the feral driver.  It covers all qlogic chips: 1020 all the way
    up to 23xxx. http://linux-scsi.bkbits.net/scsi-isp-2.5

  o qla2xxx: only for FC chips.  Has significant build issues.  hch
    promises to send me a "must fix" list for this.
    http://linux-scsi.bkbits.net/scsi-qla2xxx-2.5

  PRI2

 * hch, Mike Anderson, Badari Pulavarty: scsi locking issues

  o there are lots of members of struct Scsi_Host/scsi_device/scsi_cmnd
    with very unclear locking, many of them probably want to become
    atomic_t's or bitmaps (for the 1bit bitfields).

  o there's lots of volatile abuse in the scsi code that needs to be
    thought about.

  o there's some global variables incremented without any locks

  PRI2

''sound/''

 * rmk: several OSS drivers for SA11xx-based hardware in need of
  ALSA-ification and L3 bus support code for these.

 * rmk: linux/sound/drivers/mpu401/mpu401.c and
  linux/sound/drivers/virmidi.c complained about 'errno' at some time in the
  past, need to confirm whether this is still a problem.

 * rmk: need to complete ALSA-ification of the WaveArtist driver for both
  NetWinder and other stuff (there's some fairly fundamental differences in
  the way the mixer needs to be handled for the NetWinder.)

  (Issues with forward-porting 2.4 bugfixes.)
  (Killing off OSS is 2.7 material)

PRI2

''arch/i386/''

 * Also PC9800 merge needs finishing to the point we want for 2.6 (not all).

  PRI3

 * davej: PAT support (for mtrr exhaustion w/ AGP)

  PRI2

 * 2.5.x won't boot on some 440GX

  alan: Problem understood now, feasible fix in 2.4/2.4-ac.  (440GX has two
  IRQ routers, we use the $PIR table with the PIIX, but the 440GX doesnt use
  the PIIX for its IRQ routing).  Fall back to BIOS for 440GX works and Intel
  concurs.

  PRI1

 * 2.5.x doesn't handle VIA APIC right yet.

  1. We must write the PCI_INTERRUPT_LINE

  2. We have quirk handlers that seem to trash it.

  PRI1

 * ECC driver questions are not yet sorted (DaveJ is working on this) (Dan
  Hollis)

  alan: ECC - I have some test bits from Dan's stuff - they need no kernel
  core changes for most platforms.  That means we can treat it as a random
  driver merge.

  PRI3

 * alan: 2.4 has some fixes for tsc handling bugs.  One where some bioses in
  SMM mode mess up our toggle on the time high/low or mangle the counter and
  one where a few chips need religious use of _p for timer access and we
  don't do that.  This is forward porting little bits of fixup.

  ACPI HZ stuff we can't trap - a lot of ACPI is implemented as outb's
  triggering SMM traps

  PRI1

''arch/x86_64/''

  (Andi)

 * time handling is broken. Need to move up 2.4 time.c code.

  PRI1

 * NMI watchdog seems to tick too fast

  PRI2

 * need to coredump 64bit vsyscall code with dwarf2

  PRI2

 * Consider merging of Erich Focht's very clean and simple homenode NUMA
  scheduler (I have my own in 2.4, but Erich's 2.5 version is much cleaner)

  PRI2

 * Consider port of the Simple NUMA API from 2.4/homenode.

  PRI3

 * move 64bit signal trampolines into vsyscall code and add dwarf2 for it.
  (in progress)

  PRI1

 * describe kernel assembly with dwarf2 annotations for kgdb

  PRI3

''arch/alpha/''

 * rth: Ptrace writes are broken.  This means we can't (reliably) set
  breakpoints or modify variables from gdb.

  PRI1

''arch/arm/''

 * rmk: missing raw keyboard translation tables for all ARM machines.
  Haven't even looked into this at all.  This could be messy since there
  isn't an ARM architecture standard.  I'm presently hoping that it won't be
  an issue.  If it does, I guess we'll see drivers/char/keyboard.c explode.

  PRI2

''arch/others/''

 * SH needs resyncing, as do some other ports. SH64 needs merging.
  No impact on mainstream platforms hopefully.

  PRI2

''arch/s390/''

 * A nastly memory management problem causes random crashes.  These appear
  to be fixed/hidden by the objrmap patch, more investigation is needed.

  PRI1

''drivers/s390/''

 * Early userspace and 64 bit dev_t will allow the removal of most of
  dasd_devmap.c and dasd_genhd.c.

  PRI2

 * The 3270 console driver needs to be replaced with a working one
  (prototype is there, needs to be finished).

  PRI2

 * Minor interface changes are pending in cio/ when the z990 machines are
  out.

  PRI2

 * Jan Glauber is working on a fix for the timer issues related to running
  on virtualized CPUs (wall-clock vs.  cpu time).

  PRI1

 * a block device driver for ramdisks shared among virtual machines

  PRI3

 * driver for crypto hardware

  PRI3

 * 'claw' network device driver

  PRI3