On Thu, Jan 21, 2016 at 08:38:57AM -0800, Tony Lindgren wrote:

* Pavel Machek [off-list ref] [160121 02:19]:

quoted

On Thu 2016-01-21 09:29:10, Russell King - ARM Linux wrote:

quoted

The merge window is open, which is when development code that was merged
in good time prior to the merge window is sent upstream to Linus.  Linux
maintainers may choose not to merge new code into their tree to avoid
disrupting the utility of linux-next until the merge window has
closed.

Support for new hardware is normally allowed after -rc1.

Yeah most maintainers avoid looking at new code until -rc1. Or until
regresssions are out of the way. So patience please. Fixes are
welcome any time though.

Indeed.  However, unlike Pavel's comment, many maintainers choose not
to merge code for new hardware until the merge window - it's very rare
that support for new hardware is merged during the -rc phase.

If it were otherwise, I would've been able to get the Hummingboard 2
DTS patches in, or the etnaviv team would've been able to get the
Etnaviv GPU DRM driver in during the 4.4-rc cycle, or the Dove PMU
driver, or... etc.

Practically, new code waits for merge windows, because no one wants
to de-stabilise the progression of the -rc series with new code, and
Linus wants to see -rc merges fairly quiet and be mostly bug fixes
so he can feel good about a final release around -rc6 to -rc7 time.

-- 
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