I'd like to contribute but I don't know how...

[valdis.kletnieks at vt.edu]

On Thu, 22 Feb 2018 02:33:08 +0000, Alex Arvelaez said:
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to contribute to the linux kernel eventually but I'm not sure

https://lists.kernelnewbies.org/pipermail/kernelnewbies/2017-April/017765.html

> how, I grabbed a copy of the source code and I found a FIXME that looks
> like I could fix:
>
> /* File: /usr/src/linux/tools/perf/util/string.c
>  * FIXME: replace this with an expression using log10() when we
>  * find a suitable implementation, maybe the one in the dvb drivers...
>  */

Step 0:  Verify that the comment still matches the code, *and* that the change
is still desired.  Hint:  Why do they want log10()? What does the current code
do? What, if anything, will break if you change it?

Do you understand *why* '28' was used? And why they didn't just go
ahead and use the perfectly usable log10() found in -lm ?

For bonus points, understand the code's behavior (or misbehavior) on 32 versus
64 bit architectures, and whether or not that's actually a problem.

For extra bonus points, figure out how long that FIXME has been there.  And why.

(Note that some of these are things that I don't know the answer to offhand. ;)

> I found the implementation they mention, is it okay to just copy paste
> it into the file? I'm not sure where else to ask this kind of question...

If it's going to be used in more than one place, it should be refactored
into a function, and both usage sites reworked to call the function rather
than inline.
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