[mythtv-users] TBS drivers updated to work with kernels up to 6.2

[Stephen Worthington]

On Wed, 29 Mar 2023 00:08:51 +0000, you wrote:

>On Tue, Mar 28, 2023 at 7:19?PM Paul Harrison <mythtv at mythqml.net> wrote:
>
>> I was told it's something to do with supporting there clients who wish
>> to embed there devices in there products who typically use older kernels
>> or something like that.
>
>That is no doubt true for past revisions
>(and old kernels), but does not prevent
>them getting the current driver revision
>upstreamed so eventually they do not
>have to deal with all the out-of-tree
>issues, and if some paying (for support)
>customer has an issue with a specific older
>kernel version driver, would not prevent
>them from providing an out of tree patch
>(just as many companies do for their
>paying clients today to support kernel
>3.10, or, whatever).
>
>I expect it is more about not wanting
>to pay (their staff, or a contractor) to
>change the drivers to meet current
>kernel standards (structure, naming,
>etc.) as their paying (for ongoing
>support) customers don't care, and
>their non-paying (for support)
>customers on linux do not generate
>enough revenue to justify the
>expenses.

TBS produce Linux based boxes that use their own cards, so a good
chunk of their revenue is from Linux.  So they are not like the normal
suppliers where Linux is of distinctly secondary importance to them.

The problem seems to be the one of having to conform to the kernel
standards, more than anything else.  And with new chips, they do need
to be able to publish updates rapidly until the drivers become stable.

The drivers I use seem to be produced by a single Ukrainian guy, who
is pretty good at creating drivers and fixing any problems that come
along, but there is only one of him and I suspect TBS does not pay him
as a full time employee.