Guidelines

This document describes the general project guidelines that apply to nova-coreand nova-drm.

Language

The Nova project uses the Rust programming language. In this context, all rulesof the Rust for Linux project as documented inGeneral Information apply. Additionally, the following rulesapply.

  • Unless technically necessary otherwise (e.g. uAPI), any driver code is writtenin Rust.

  • Unless technically necessary, unsafe Rust code must be avoided. In case oftechnical necessity, unsafe code should be isolated in a separate componentproviding a safe API for other driver code to use.

Style

All rules of the Rust for Linux project as documented inCoding Guidelines apply.

For a submit checklist, please also see theRust for Linux Submit checklistaddendum.

Documentation

The availability of proper documentation is essential in terms of scalability,accessibility for new contributors and maintainability of a project in general,but especially for a driver running as complex hardware as Nova is targeting.

Hence, adding documentation of any kind is very much encouraged by the project.

Besides that, there are some minimum requirements.

  • Every non-private structure needs at least a brief doc comment explaining thesemantical sense of the structure, as well as potential locking and lifetimerequirements. It is encouraged to have the same minimum documentation fornon-trivial private structures.

  • uAPIs must be fully documented with kernel-doc comments; additionally, thesemantical behavior must be explained including potential special or cornercases.

  • The APIs connecting the 1st level driver (nova-core) with 2nd level driversmust be fully documented. This includes doc comments, potential locking andlifetime requirements, as well as example code if applicable.

  • Abbreviations must be explained when introduced; terminology must be uniquelydefined.

  • Register addresses, layouts, shift values and masks must be defined properly;unless obvious, the semantical sense must be documented. This only applies ifthe author is able to obtain the corresponding information.

Acceptance Criteria

  • Patches must only be applied if reviewed by at least one other person on themailing list; this also applies for maintainers.