README

Coding Standards:
-----------------

All contributions to U-Boot should conform to the Linux kernel
coding style; see the file "Documentation/CodingStyle" in your Linux
kernel source directory.

Please note that U-Boot is implemented in C (and to some small parts
in Assembler); no C++ is used, so please do not use C++ style
comments (//) in your code.

Submissions which do not conform to the standards may be returned
with a request to reformat the changes.


Submitting Patches:
-------------------

Since the number of patches for U-Boot is growing, we need to
establish some rules. Submissions which do not conform to these rules
may be rejected, even when they contain important and valuable stuff.


When you send a patch, please include the following information with
it:

* For bug fixes: a description of the bug and how your patch fixes
  this bug. Please try to include a way of demonstrating that the
  patch actually fixes something.

* For new features: a description of the feature and your
  implementation.

* A CHANGELOG entry as plaintext (separate from the patch)

* For major contributions, your entry to the CREDITS file

* When you add support for a new board, don't forget to add this
  board to the MAKEALL script, too.

* If your patch adds new configuration options, don't forget to
  document these in the README file.

* The patch itself. If you are accessing the CVS repository use "cvs
  update; cvs diff -puRN"; else, use "diff -purN OLD NEW". If your
  version of diff does not support these options, then get the latest
  version of GNU diff.

  The current directory when running this command shall be the top
  level directory of the U-Boot source tree, or it's parent directory
  (i. e. please make sure that your patch includes sufficient
  directory information for the affected files).

  We accept patches as plain text, MIME attachments or as uuencoded
  gzipped text.

* If one logical set of modifications affects or creates several
  files, all these changes shall be submitted in a SINGLE patch file.

* Changesets that contain different, unrelated modifications shall be
  submitted as SEPARATE patches, one patch per changeset.


Notes:

* Before sending the patch, run the MAKEALL script on your patched
  source tree and make sure that no errors or warnings are reported
  for any of the boards.

* Keep your modifications to the necessary minimum: A patch
  containing several unrelated changes or arbitrary reformats will be
  returned with a request to re-formatting / split it.

* If you modify existing code, make sure that your new code does not
  add to the memory footprint of the code ;-) Small is beautiful!
  When adding new features, these should compile conditionally only
  (using #ifdef), and the resulting code with the new feature
  disabled must not need more memory than the old code without your
  modification.