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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/SubmittingPatches')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/SubmittingPatches | 49 |
1 files changed, 36 insertions, 13 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches index dcadffcab2dc..1fa1caa198eb 100644 --- a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches +++ b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches @@ -84,18 +84,42 @@ is another popular alternative. 2) Describe your changes. -Describe the technical detail of the change(s) your patch includes. - -Be as specific as possible. The WORST descriptions possible include -things like "update driver X", "bug fix for driver X", or "this patch -includes updates for subsystem X. Please apply." +Describe your problem. Whether your patch is a one-line bug fix or +5000 lines of a new feature, there must be an underlying problem that +motivated you to do this work. Convince the reviewer that there is a +problem worth fixing and that it makes sense for them to read past the +first paragraph. + +Describe user-visible impact. Straight up crashes and lockups are +pretty convincing, but not all bugs are that blatant. Even if the +problem was spotted during code review, describe the impact you think +it can have on users. Keep in mind that the majority of Linux +installations run kernels from secondary stable trees or +vendor/product-specific trees that cherry-pick only specific patches +from upstream, so include anything that could help route your change +downstream: provoking circumstances, excerpts from dmesg, crash +descriptions, performance regressions, latency spikes, lockups, etc. + +Quantify optimizations and trade-offs. If you claim improvements in +performance, memory consumption, stack footprint, or binary size, +include numbers that back them up. But also describe non-obvious +costs. Optimizations usually aren't free but trade-offs between CPU, +memory, and readability; or, when it comes to heuristics, between +different workloads. Describe the expected downsides of your +optimization so that the reviewer can weigh costs against benefits. + +Once the problem is established, describe what you are actually doing +about it in technical detail. It's important to describe the change +in plain English for the reviewer to verify that the code is behaving +as you intend it to. The maintainer will thank you if you write your patch description in a form which can be easily pulled into Linux's source code management system, git, as a "commit log". See #15, below. -If your description starts to get long, that's a sign that you probably -need to split up your patch. See #3, next. +Solve only one problem per patch. If your description starts to get +long, that's a sign that you probably need to split up your patch. +See #3, next. When you submit or resubmit a patch or patch series, include the complete patch description and justification for it. Don't just @@ -459,12 +483,10 @@ have been included in the discussion 14) Using Reported-by:, Tested-by:, Reviewed-by:, Suggested-by: and Fixes: -If this patch fixes a problem reported by somebody else, consider adding a -Reported-by: tag to credit the reporter for their contribution. Please -note that this tag should not be added without the reporter's permission, -especially if the problem was not reported in a public forum. That said, -if we diligently credit our bug reporters, they will, hopefully, be -inspired to help us again in the future. +The Reported-by tag gives credit to people who find bugs and report them and it +hopefully inspires them to help us again in the future. Please note that if +the bug was reported in private, then ask for permission first before using the +Reported-by tag. A Tested-by: tag indicates that the patch has been successfully tested (in some environment) by the person named. This tag informs maintainers that @@ -770,6 +792,7 @@ Greg Kroah-Hartman, "How to piss off a kernel subsystem maintainer". <http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/maintainer-03.html> <http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/maintainer-04.html> <http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/maintainer-05.html> + <http://www.kroah.com/log/linux/maintainer-06.html> NO!!!! No more huge patch bombs to linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org people! <https://lkml.org/lkml/2005/7/11/336> |