Documentation of the RIOT-OS

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Hello everybody, I've worked the whole weekend to understand where you have to add the makefile statements to get a new network device running. It is really aweful to hop from one example to the other / from one sense-less tutorial to the other to understand the behaviour of the system. Is there no central information available, where you have to add things to get for example a new driver running? There is a missing link - no information how the parts stick together. A real porting guide - a real driver implementation guide... I think not only the technical aspects of such a nice software is important - also the ease of use. At the moment I need the information how to get the sixlowpan stack running with a real network-radio device. Have you got a hint, where I find the most useful description?

Thank you very much!

Best regards, Bernhard

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Hi Bernhard!

I sense some frustration. :wink: Sorry for that, but be aware that RIOT is an open-source effort where most developers are working on it in their spare time and you're probably not surprised that writing documentation is usually not a developer's most beloved task. We're trying our best to improve the situation, but it will take some time and more help to get there.

I've worked the whole weekend to understand where you have to add the makefile statements to get a new network device running. It is really aweful to hop from one example to the other / from one sense-less tutorial to the other to understand the behaviour of the system.

It would helpful for us to know which tutorials you consider senseless and how you think it could be improved.

Is there no central information available, where you have to add things to get for example a new driver running? There is a missing link - no information how the parts stick together.

We're well aware that there are some crucial documentation elements missing. For this, we set up a special task force. Take a look at Documentation Task Force (DocTF) · RIOT-OS/RIOT Wiki · GitHub and the corresponding issues here: Issues · RIOT-OS/RIOT · GitHub Please feel free to add your comments about missing topics there.

A real porting guide

Do you have suggestions how to improve the porting guide. (I know that it is a bit brief, right now, but it is always useful to get more input.)

- a real driver implementation guide...

I'm not aware of such a guide, but I'm not an expert here and maybe I miss something. Thomas, Hauke, Peter, does something like this exist somewhere or do you have anything in the pipeline?

I think not only the technical aspects of such a nice software is important - also the ease of use.

I agree 100%.

At the moment I need the information how to get the sixlowpan stack running with a real network-radio device. Have you got a hint, where I find the most useful description?

I guess the most useful description should be included in the Makefile's comments of the gnrc_networking example and the corresponding README. If you want to introduce a new radio driver, you will also have to provide auto-initialization function in sys/auto_init/netif/ following the other examples there.

Hope this helps, Oleg

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Hi Bernhard,

do you have any suggestions on how to improve the situation?

Cheers, Oleg