Nouveau - Jun 2008 - Any Documentation Work Needed?

Hello,

I don't have much experience but I'm looking for a way to contribute to 
Nouveau. I'd be glad to work on documentation, edit IRC logs, make 
cosmetic changes to code, etc. Just let me know if you have any work of 
this sort and I'll give it a shot.

Thanks,
Adam Cozzette

On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:49:00 -0700
Adam Cozzette <adam_cozzette at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I don't have much experience but I'm looking for a way to
contribute to
> Nouveau. I'd be glad to work on documentation, edit IRC logs, make 
> cosmetic changes to code, etc. Just let me know if you have any work of 
> this sort and I'll give it a shot.
Very cool to offer!

My first suggestion would be to go over the wiki, especially FAQ. I bet
there are outdated information. Of course, you need to know what is the
truth, and the best place to ask is on the irc channel #nouveau at
freenode. I've been thinking of doing a review myself, but so far didn't
get to it.

The first thing coming to mind is randr 1.2 support, that is now enabled
by default, but I think most pages talking about randr 1.2 still assume
it's not.

Hmm, I do have another idea, too, but I think ahuillet would like to hang
me for saying it. I hope he doesn't get mad at me, I do greatly appreciate
what he did, because that was the hard part. Now someone else could improve
that.

Well, here goes: in the DDX, nv_video.c
would need a style cleanup. But don't go there yet, I'd like to hear
what
the developers think about doing cosmetic changes. IMHO nv_video.c would
be a good candidate, because AFAIK no-one is working on that currently,
so the changes would not cause major pain. This would be a nice project
to get a grip of the development infrastructure, and setting up your
own git repository for easy review of changes before pushing them to the
master. I could review the changes, if they are incremental.

Now, these are just what came to my mind, and I'm not sure I should be
saying anything since it's been long since I really worked on anything.
Feel free to ignore me, or steal the ideas ;-)
Also, in July I'll be on vacation and available occasionally. Or not.

-- 
Pekka Paalanen
http://www.iki.fi/pq/

On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 6:49 PM, Adam Cozzette
<adam_cozzette at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Hello,
Hello,
> I don't have much experience but I'm looking for a way to
contribute to
> Nouveau. I'd be glad to work on documentation, edit IRC logs, make
> cosmetic changes to code, etc. Just let me know if you have any work of
> this sort and I'll give it a shot.
I've tried to start documenting the driver some time ago, in order to
start contributing with actual code. It is a daunting task, requiring
a lot of dedication I couldn't provide at the time. The current trend
is that developers write code and not documentation, which is good and
bad at the same time.

(Pekka's answer just arrived)

I don't know your programming skills, but you should probably follow
Pekka's advice for now. If you ever feel like it, you may try my
suggestion, but keep in mind that it requires dedication.

Cheers,
  Renato Caldas
> Thanks,
> Adam Cozzette

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:00:18 -0700
Adam Cozzette <adam_cozzette at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Pekka Paalanen wrote:
> > 
> > My first suggestion would be to go over the wiki, especially FAQ. I
bet
> > there are outdated information. Of course, you need to know what is
the
> > truth, and the best place to ask is on the irc channel #nouveau at
> > freenode. I've been thinking of doing a review myself, but so far
didn't
> > get to it.
> > 
> > The first thing coming to mind is randr 1.2 support, that is now
enabled
> > by default, but I think most pages talking about randr 1.2 still
assume
> > it's not.
> 
> Sure, I could review the wiki for errors. What would be the best way to 
> go about getting them fixed? Should I make a list and send it to someone 
> or would anyone be willing to trust me with editing the wiki directly?
When you have doubt, ask in irc. Otherwise, feel free to edit. Just create
an account yourself and you're set. I and probably some other people, too,
will occasionally go through the wiki recent changes. It's not /that/
serious, it's just a wiki :-)

-- 
Pekka Paalanen
http://www.iki.fi/pq/

On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 4:19 PM, Adam Cozzette
<adam_cozzette at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Renato Caldas wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 6:49 PM, Adam Cozzette
>> <adam_cozzette at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello,
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>>> I don't have much experience but I'm looking for a way to
contribute to
>>> Nouveau. I'd be glad to work on documentation, edit IRC logs,
make
>>> cosmetic changes to code, etc. Just let me know if you have any
work of
>>> this sort and I'll give it a shot.
>>
>> I've tried to start documenting the driver some time ago, in order
to
>> start contributing with actual code. It is a daunting task, requiring
>> a lot of dedication I couldn't provide at the time. The current
trend
>> is that developers write code and not documentation, which is good and
>> bad at the same time.
>
> What kind of documentation is needed? I'm not too familiar with the
project
> yet, but maybe there are some areas where I could help. I could probably
> write docs for users but if it's documentation for developers I might
not
> have enough knowledge.
I was talking about developer documentation. You probably should
follow Pekka's advice for now, and get to know things before you get
into more complicated work.
>> (Pekka's answer just arrived)
>>
>> I don't know your programming skills, but you should probably
follow
>> Pekka's advice for now. If you ever feel like it, you may try my
>> suggestion, but keep in mind that it requires dedication.
>
> I don't have very much programming experience yet, probably because I
have a
> habit of starting projects and not finishing them. Last time I tried to
port
> a wireless card driver from Linux to Plan 9. I think I got as far as
> initializing the card and loading a firmware image into it. So anyway, I
> have at least a vague familiarity with PCI and kernel code. I might not
have
> the dedication you said is necessary, but I'd be willing to see what
kind of
> work is required.
Basically it would be looking at the code and trying to understand how
it all works together..

Oh, and by the way, always reply to the list ;)
>> Cheers,
>>  Renato Caldas
>
> Thanks for the suggestion,
> Adam Cozzette
>