[PATCH] docs: add submitting-pull-requests.rst

[PATCH] docs: add submitting-pull-requests.rst

[Tobin C. Harding]

There is currently no documentation on how to create a pull request for
Linus.

    Anyway, this actually came up at the kernel summit / maintainer
    meeting a few weeks ago, in that "how do I make a good pull request
    to Linus" is something we need to document.

    Here's what I do, and it seems to work well, so maybe we should turn
    it into the start of the documentation for how to do it.

Create document from email thread on LKML (referenced in document).

Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <me@tobin.cc>
---

Is it rude to send this during the merge window? Can resend after it closes if
it makes life easier.

thanks,
Tobin.

 Documentation/process/submitting-pull-requests.rst | 171 +++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 171 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/process/submitting-pull-requests.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-pull-requests.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-pull-requests.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..9528aead4809
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-pull-requests.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+Submitting Pull Requests to Linus: a guide for maintainers
+==========================================================
+
+This document is aimed at kernel maintainers.  It describes a method for creating
+a pull request to be sent to Linus.
+
+Configure Git
+-------------
+
+Since you _usually_ would use the same key for the same project, just set it
+once with
+
+	git config user.signingkey "keyname"
+
+and if you use the same key for everything, just add "--global".
+
+Or just edit your .git/config or ~/.gitconfig file by hand, it's designed to be
+human-readable and writable, and not some garbage like XML:
+
+	[torvalds@i7 ~]$ head -4 .gitconfig
+	[user]
+		name = Linus Torvalds
+		email = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
+		signingkey = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
+
+You may need to tell git to use gpg2
+
+	[gpg]
+		program = /path/to/gpg2
+
+You may also like to tell gpg which tty to use (add to shell rc file)
+
+	export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
+
+
+Branch, Tag, Push
+-----------------
+
+Next, put your changes on a branch, hopefully one named in a semi-useful way (I
+use 'char-misc-next' for my char/misc driver patches to be merged into
+linux-next).  That is the branch you wish to tag and have Linus pull from.
+
+Name the tag with something useful that you can understand if you run across it
+in a few weeks, and something that will be "unique".  Continuing the example of
+the char-misc tree, for the patches to be sent to Linus for the 4.15-rc1 merge
+window, I would name the tag 'char-misc-4.15-rc1':
+
+	git tag -s char-misc-4.15-rc1 char-misc-next
+
+that will create a signed tag called 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' based on the last
+commit in the char-misc-next branch, and sign it with your gpg key (configured
+above).
+
+When you run the above command, git will drop you into an editor and ask you to
+describe the tag.  In this case, you are describing a pull request, so outline
+what is contained here, why it should be merged, and what, if any, testing has
+happened to it.  All of this information will end up in the tag itself, and then
+in the merge commit that Linus makes, so write it up well, as it will be in the
+kernel tree for forever.
+
+	Anyway, at least to me, the important part is the *message*. I want to
+	understand what I'm pulling, and why I should pull it. I also want to
+	use that message as the message for the merge, so it should not just
+	make sense to me, but make sense as a historical record too.
+
+	Note that if there is something odd about the pull request, that
+	should very much be in the explanation. If you're touching files that
+	you don't maintain, explain _why_. I will see it in the diffstat
+	anyway, and if you didn't mention it, I'll just be extra suspicious.
+	And when you send me new stuff after the merge window (or even
+	bug-fixes, but ones that look scary), explain not just what they do
+	and why they do it, but explain the _timing_. What happened that this
+	didn't go through the merge window..
+
+	I will take both what you write in the email pull request _and_ in the
+	signed tag, so depending on your workflow, you can either describe
+	your work in the signed tag (which will also automatically make it
+	into the pull request email), or you can make the signed tag just a
+	placeholder with nothing interesting in it, and describe the work
+	later when you actually send me the pull request.
+
+	And yes, I will edit the message. Partly because I tend to do just
+	trivial formatting (the whole indentation and quoting etc), but partly
+	because part of the message may make sense for me at pull time
+	(describing the conflicts and your personal issues for sending it
+	right now), but may not make sense in the context of a merge commit
+	message, so I will try to make it all make sense. I will also fix any
+	speeling mistaeks and bad grammar I notice, particularly for
+	non-native speakers (but also for native ones ;^). But I may miss
+	some, or even add some.
+
+			Linus
+
+An example pull request of mine might look like:
+	Char/Misc patches for 4.15-rc1
+
+	Here is the big char/misc patch set for the 4.15-rc1 merge
+	window.  Contained in here is the normal set of new functions
+	added to all of these crazy drivers, as well as the following
+	brand new subsystems:
+		- time_travel_controller: Finally a set of drivers for
+		  the latest time travel bus architecture that provides
+		  i/o to the CPU before it asked for it, allowing
+		  uninterrupted processing
+		- relativity_shifters: due to the affect that the
+		  time_travel_controllers have on the overall system,
+		  there was a need for a new set of relativity shifter
+		  drivers to accommodate the newly formed black holes
+		  that would threaten to suck CPUs into them.  This
+		  subsystem handles this in a way to successfully
+		  neutralize the problems.  There is a Kconfig option to
+		  force these to be enabled when needed, so problems
+		  should not occur.
+
+	All of these patches have been successfully tested in the latest
+	linux-next releases, and the original problems that it found
+	have all been resolved (apologies to anyone living near Canberra
+	for the lack of the Kconfig options in the earlier versions of
+	the linux-next tree creations.)
+
+	Signed-off-by: Your-name-here <your_email@domain>
+
+
+The tag message format is just like a git commit id.  One line at the top for a
+"summary subject" and be sure to sign-off at the bottom.
+
+Now that you have a local signed tag, you need to push it up to where it can be
+retrieved by Linus:
+
+	git push origin char-misc-4.15-rc1
+
+pushes the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag to where the 'origin' repo is located.
+
+
+Create Pull Request
+-------------------
+
+The last thing to do is create the pull request message.  Git handily will do
+this for you with the 'git request-pull' command, but it needs a bit of help
+determining what you want to pull, and what to base the pull against (to show
+the correct changes to be pulled and the diffstat.)
+
+The following command(s) will generate a pull request:
+
+	$TREE=git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/char-misc.git/
+	git request-pull master $TREE char-misc-4.15-rc1
+
+This is asking git to compare the difference from the 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' tag
+location, to the head of the 'master' branch (which in my case points to the
+last location in Linus's tree that I diverged from, usually a -rc release).
+
+Note: please use the git protocol (for justification from Linus see referenced
+email thread).
+
+If the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag is not present in the repo that I am asking to be
+pulled from, git will complain saying it is not there, a handy way to remember
+to actually push it to a public location.
+
+The output of 'git request-pull' will contain the location of the git tree and
+specific tag to pull from, and the full text description of that tag (which is
+why you need to provide good information in that tag.)  It will also create a
+diffstat of the pull request, and a shortlog of the individual commits that the
+pull request will provide.
+
+
+References
+----------
+
+The thread that this document is based on:
+
+	https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184
-- 
2.7.4

Re: [PATCH] docs: add submitting-pull-requests.rst

[Jonathan Corbet]

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:54:21 +1100
"Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:

> There is currently no documentation on how to create a pull request for
> Linus.
> 
>     Anyway, this actually came up at the kernel summit / maintainer
>     meeting a few weeks ago, in that "how do I make a good pull request
>     to Linus" is something we need to document.
> 
>     Here's what I do, and it seems to work well, so maybe we should turn
>     it into the start of the documentation for how to do it.
> 
> Create document from email thread on LKML (referenced in document).
> 
> Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <me@tobin.cc>
> ---
> 
> Is it rude to send this during the merge window? Can resend after it closes if
> it makes life easier.

I can handle patches during the merge window.  That said, while I welcome
this effort and think it's a good start, there's a few things I'll
quibble about:

 - Much of this was actually written by Greg, I believe, and some by Linus.
   That deserves credit in the changelog, if nowhere else.

 - Putting it in Documentation/process as RST is good.  But it should be
   added to index.rst and made part of the docs build.  I suspect you
   haven't run it through sphinx at all yet, right?  Some things are
   unlikely to format the way you think they might.

Finally, I see this as being the first installment in what, I hope, will
someday be a nice "how to be a kernel maintainer" manual.  I wouldn't
insist on it before taking a patch like this, but if you could see
through to organizing it as a chapter in a bigger sub-book, that would be
great.

Finally finally... Dan Williams [CC'd] has plans for doing some
maintainer-level documentation.  He may have thoughts on how this fits
into what he's scheming, and I'd suggest copying him on the next
iteration.

Finally finally finally...some specific comments on the text.  Some of
them might be read to suggest a major expansion of the work you've done;
please see that as me saying "that would be nice".  Doing all of this is
not a precondition to getting this document added!

> +Submitting Pull Requests to Linus: a guide for maintainers
> +==========================================================
> +
> +This document is aimed at kernel maintainers.  It describes a method for creating
> +a pull request to be sent to Linus.

Limiting text widths to, say, 75 columns when possible is preferable.  Word
has it some maintainers are still reading the docs on their adm3a
terminals.

Most maintainers push directly to Linus, so that's an obvious best focus,
but pull requests happen at other levels too.  One would hope that this
information would be applicable at all levels, so it might be nice to
describe it as such.

> +Configure Git
> +-------------

"Configure Git to use your private key"

We are, of course, missing the whole discussion on why one would want a
keypair, how to create it, how to get it into the web of trust, etc.  All
fodder for a separate chapter in our shiny new maintainer book :)  But it
is worth saying at least that this is about making Git use your key so you
can sign tags for pull requests.

> +Since you _usually_ would use the same key for the same project, just set it
> +once with

If you end a line like that with "::", the following indented section will
be formatted as code by sphinx.  That's almost always what you want.

> +	git config user.signingkey "keyname"
> +
> +and if you use the same key for everything, just add "--global".
> +
> +Or just edit your .git/config or ~/.gitconfig file by hand, it's designed to be
> +human-readable and writable, and not some garbage like XML:
> +
> +	[torvalds@i7 ~]$ head -4 .gitconfig
> +	[user]
> +		name = Linus Torvalds
> +		email = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
> +		signingkey = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
> +
> +You may need to tell git to use gpg2
> +
> +	[gpg]
> +		program = /path/to/gpg2
> +
> +You may also like to tell gpg which tty to use (add to shell rc file)
> +
> +	export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
> +
> +
> +Branch, Tag, Push
> +-----------------
> +
> +Next, put your changes on a branch, hopefully one named in a semi-useful way (I
> +use 'char-misc-next' for my char/misc driver patches to be merged into
> +linux-next).  That is the branch you wish to tag and have Linus pull from.

Management of patches and branches would, of course, make for another nice
chapter.

> +Name the tag with something useful that you can understand if you run across it
> +in a few weeks, and something that will be "unique".  Continuing the example of

Greg likes to put quotes in weird places, but we don't need to preserve
that :)  Git will force the tag to be "unique", so we can just say unique. 

> +the char-misc tree, for the patches to be sent to Linus for the 4.15-rc1 merge
> +window, I would name the tag 'char-misc-4.15-rc1':
> +
> +	git tag -s char-misc-4.15-rc1 char-misc-next
> +
> +that will create a signed tag called 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' based on the last
> +commit in the char-misc-next branch, and sign it with your gpg key (configured
> +above).
> +
> +When you run the above command, git will drop you into an editor and ask you to
> +describe the tag.  In this case, you are describing a pull request, so outline
> +what is contained here, why it should be merged, and what, if any, testing has
> +happened to it.  All of this information will end up in the tag itself, and then
> +in the merge commit that Linus makes, so write it up well, as it will be in the
> +kernel tree for forever.

s/for//

Sphinx will format the following indented text differently, which may not
be what you want.  I think you should really introduce it with "Linus said
this:" perhaps with a link to the list archive.

> +	Anyway, at least to me, the important part is the *message*. I want to
> +	understand what I'm pulling, and why I should pull it. I also want to
> +	use that message as the message for the merge, so it should not just
> +	make sense to me, but make sense as a historical record too.
> +
> +	Note that if there is something odd about the pull request, that
> +	should very much be in the explanation. If you're touching files that
> +	you don't maintain, explain _why_. I will see it in the diffstat
> +	anyway, and if you didn't mention it, I'll just be extra suspicious.
> +	And when you send me new stuff after the merge window (or even
> +	bug-fixes, but ones that look scary), explain not just what they do
> +	and why they do it, but explain the _timing_. What happened that this
> +	didn't go through the merge window..
> +
> +	I will take both what you write in the email pull request _and_ in the
> +	signed tag, so depending on your workflow, you can either describe
> +	your work in the signed tag (which will also automatically make it
> +	into the pull request email), or you can make the signed tag just a
> +	placeholder with nothing interesting in it, and describe the work
> +	later when you actually send me the pull request.
> +
> +	And yes, I will edit the message. Partly because I tend to do just
> +	trivial formatting (the whole indentation and quoting etc), but partly
> +	because part of the message may make sense for me at pull time
> +	(describing the conflicts and your personal issues for sending it
> +	right now), but may not make sense in the context of a merge commit
> +	message, so I will try to make it all make sense. I will also fix any
> +	speeling mistaeks and bad grammar I notice, particularly for
> +	non-native speakers (but also for native ones ;^). But I may miss
> +	some, or even add some.
> +
> +			Linus
> +
> +An example pull request of mine might look like:

Here's a change of voice back to Greg.  Be careful about appearing to put
one person's words into another's mouth.

Here you definitely want the :: treatment, or sphinx will whine about the
strange (to it) indents.

> +	Char/Misc patches for 4.15-rc1
> +
> +	Here is the big char/misc patch set for the 4.15-rc1 merge
> +	window.  Contained in here is the normal set of new functions
> +	added to all of these crazy drivers, as well as the following
> +	brand new subsystems:
> +		- time_travel_controller: Finally a set of drivers for
> +		  the latest time travel bus architecture that provides
> +		  i/o to the CPU before it asked for it, allowing
> +		  uninterrupted processing
> +		- relativity_shifters: due to the affect that the
> +		  time_travel_controllers have on the overall system,
> +		  there was a need for a new set of relativity shifter
> +		  drivers to accommodate the newly formed black holes
> +		  that would threaten to suck CPUs into them.  This
> +		  subsystem handles this in a way to successfully
> +		  neutralize the problems.  There is a Kconfig option to
> +		  force these to be enabled when needed, so problems
> +		  should not occur.
> +
> +	All of these patches have been successfully tested in the latest
> +	linux-next releases, and the original problems that it found
> +	have all been resolved (apologies to anyone living near Canberra
> +	for the lack of the Kconfig options in the earlier versions of
> +	the linux-next tree creations.)
> +
> +	Signed-off-by: Your-name-here <your_email@domain>
> +
> +
> +The tag message format is just like a git commit id.  One line at the top for a
> +"summary subject" and be sure to sign-off at the bottom.

FWIW, I've never formatted tag messages that way, and I'm not sure how many
others do.  But perhaps we should all be doing it?

> +Now that you have a local signed tag, you need to push it up to where it can be
> +retrieved by Linus:
> +
> +	git push origin char-misc-4.15-rc1
> +
> +pushes the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag to where the 'origin' repo is located.
> +
> +
> +Create Pull Request
> +-------------------
> +
> +The last thing to do is create the pull request message.  Git handily will do
> +this for you with the 'git request-pull' command, but it needs a bit of help
> +determining what you want to pull, and what to base the pull against (to show
> +the correct changes to be pulled and the diffstat.)
> +
> +The following command(s) will generate a pull request:
> +
> +	$TREE=git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/char-misc.git/

I don't believe that $ is correct

> +	git request-pull master $TREE char-misc-4.15-rc1
> +
> +This is asking git to compare the difference from the 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' tag
> +location, to the head of the 'master' branch (which in my case points to the
> +last location in Linus's tree that I diverged from, usually a -rc release).
> +
> +Note: please use the git protocol (for justification from Linus see referenced
> +email thread).

We need a reference to that thread.

> +If the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag is not present in the repo that I am asking to be
> +pulled from, git will complain saying it is not there, a handy way to remember
> +to actually push it to a public location.
> +
> +The output of 'git request-pull' will contain the location of the git tree and
> +specific tag to pull from, and the full text description of that tag (which is
> +why you need to provide good information in that tag.)  It will also create a
> +diffstat of the pull request, and a shortlog of the individual commits that the
> +pull request will provide.
> +
> +
> +References
> +----------
> +
> +The thread that this document is based on:
> +
> +	https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184

Ah, there's that reference.  I think it should be at the top before you
first start quoting from it.

I think there's something missing here: what do you do with that output
from 'git request-pull'?  There should be a little section on emailing it
to the relevant upstream maintainer and how to decide where to copy the
request to.  Pull requests should always be copied to a public list so that
others know that the request has been made.  Some guidance on subject-line
formatting would be good; as I recall, Linus filters mail that says "git"
or "pull" specially.  I might also add something about how to know when the
pull has happened (sign up to the commits list if nothing else).

Thanks for doing this,

jon

Re: [PATCH] docs: add submitting-pull-requests.rst

[Tobin C. Harding]

On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 04:48:16PM -0700, Jonathan Corbet wrote:

Awesome comments Jon, I knew there would be more to writing docs than
first met the eye.

> On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:54:21 +1100
> "Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:
> 
> > There is currently no documentation on how to create a pull request for
> > Linus.
> > 
> >     Anyway, this actually came up at the kernel summit / maintainer
> >     meeting a few weeks ago, in that "how do I make a good pull request
> >     to Linus" is something we need to document.
> > 
> >     Here's what I do, and it seems to work well, so maybe we should turn
> >     it into the start of the documentation for how to do it.
> > 
> > Create document from email thread on LKML (referenced in document).
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <me@tobin.cc>
> > ---
> > 
> > Is it rude to send this during the merge window? Can resend after it closes if
> > it makes life easier.
> 
> I can handle patches during the merge window.  That said, while I welcome
> this effort and think it's a good start, there's a few things I'll
> quibble about:
> 
>  - Much of this was actually written by Greg, I believe, and some by Linus.
>    That deserves credit in the changelog, if nowhere else.

Yeah, I struggled for ages with the tense, Greg's stuff is obviously
written as him. But I didn't want to paraphrase and present it as if I'd
written it. After your comments I'm still unsure of the _best_ way to
present this material with a good flow but still giving credit where
credit is due? I didn't seem right to add their names to the document
(thereby presenting myself as them). I did not think of the changelog -
I'll go that path for v2.

>  - Putting it in Documentation/process as RST is good.  But it should be
>    added to index.rst and made part of the docs build.  I suspect you
>    haven't run it through sphinx at all yet, right?  Some things are
>    unlikely to format the way you think they might.

My bad, I knew I would botch some of the RST stuff, didn't think to run
it through sphinx (I tend to view kernel docs as the raw files ;)

> Finally, I see this as being the first installment in what, I hope, will
> someday be a nice "how to be a kernel maintainer" manual.  I wouldn't
> insist on it before taking a patch like this, but if you could see
> through to organizing it as a chapter in a bigger sub-book, that would be
> great.

Happy to do so. I'm no way qualified to produce much of the text but
perhaps can assist in getting things moving.

> Finally finally... Dan Williams [CC'd] has plans for doing some
> maintainer-level documentation.  He may have thoughts on how this fits
> into what he's scheming, and I'd suggest copying him on the next
> iteration.

Let's liaise on this Dan (if you want to).

> Finally finally finally...some specific comments on the text.  Some of
> them might be read to suggest a major expansion of the work you've done;
> please see that as me saying "that would be nice".  Doing all of this is
> not a precondition to getting this document added!

There is no rush to get merged, let's get it into shape first :)

> > +Submitting Pull Requests to Linus: a guide for maintainers
> > +==========================================================
> > +
> > +This document is aimed at kernel maintainers.  It describes a method for creating
> > +a pull request to be sent to Linus.
> 
> Limiting text widths to, say, 75 columns when possible is preferable.  Word
> has it some maintainers are still reading the docs on their adm3a
> terminals.

Got it. (idea for next doc 'column widths howto' - your canonical guide
to column widths (includes git brief, commit log, email, source code,
and docs).

I'm kidding. 75 it is.

> Most maintainers push directly to Linus, so that's an obvious best focus,
> but pull requests happen at other levels too.  One would hope that this
> information would be applicable at all levels, so it might be nice to
> describe it as such.

Oh, Greg had this, I stripped it out. Back in on next spin.

> > +Configure Git
> > +-------------
> 
> "Configure Git to use your private key"
> 
> We are, of course, missing the whole discussion on why one would want a
> keypair, how to create it, how to get it into the web of trust, etc.  All
> fodder for a separate chapter in our shiny new maintainer book :)  But it
> is worth saying at least that this is about making Git use your key so you
> can sign tags for pull requests.

Funny you should say that, I'm trying to get into the web of trust so
perhaps I can help with that document (as I work out how to do it).

> > +Since you _usually_ would use the same key for the same project, just set it
> > +once with
> 
> If you end a line like that with "::", the following indented section will
> be formatted as code by sphinx.  That's almost always what you want.
> 
> > +	git config user.signingkey "keyname"

cool.

> > +
> > +and if you use the same key for everything, just add "--global".
> > +
> > +Or just edit your .git/config or ~/.gitconfig file by hand, it's designed to be
> > +human-readable and writable, and not some garbage like XML:
> > +
> > +	[torvalds@i7 ~]$ head -4 .gitconfig
> > +	[user]
> > +		name = Linus Torvalds
> > +		email = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
> > +		signingkey = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
> > +
> > +You may need to tell git to use gpg2
> > +
> > +	[gpg]
> > +		program = /path/to/gpg2
> > +
> > +You may also like to tell gpg which tty to use (add to shell rc file)
> > +
> > +	export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
> > +
> > +
> > +Branch, Tag, Push
> > +-----------------
> > +
> > +Next, put your changes on a branch, hopefully one named in a semi-useful way (I
> > +use 'char-misc-next' for my char/misc driver patches to be merged into
> > +linux-next).  That is the branch you wish to tag and have Linus pull from.
> 
> Management of patches and branches would, of course, make for another nice
> chapter.

Not maintainer specific though, right? 

> > +Name the tag with something useful that you can understand if you run across it
> > +in a few weeks, and something that will be "unique".  Continuing the example of
> 
> Greg likes to put quotes in weird places, but we don't need to preserve
> that :)  Git will force the tag to be "unique", so we can just say unique. 

He also adds two spaces in between sentences, that threw me. He is
correct though, I intend on imitating.

> > +the char-misc tree, for the patches to be sent to Linus for the 4.15-rc1 merge
> > +window, I would name the tag 'char-misc-4.15-rc1':
> > +
> > +	git tag -s char-misc-4.15-rc1 char-misc-next
> > +
> > +that will create a signed tag called 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' based on the last
> > +commit in the char-misc-next branch, and sign it with your gpg key (configured
> > +above).
> > +
> > +When you run the above command, git will drop you into an editor and ask you to
> > +describe the tag.  In this case, you are describing a pull request, so outline
> > +what is contained here, why it should be merged, and what, if any, testing has
> > +happened to it.  All of this information will end up in the tag itself, and then
> > +in the merge commit that Linus makes, so write it up well, as it will be in the
> > +kernel tree for forever.
> 
> s/for//
> 
> Sphinx will format the following indented text differently, which may not
> be what you want.  I think you should really introduce it with "Linus said
> this:" perhaps with a link to the list archive.

Ok, perhaps there are examples currently in tree of how best to
quote. I'll dig around.

> > +	Anyway, at least to me, the important part is the *message*. I want to
> > +	understand what I'm pulling, and why I should pull it. I also want to
> > +	use that message as the message for the merge, so it should not just
> > +	make sense to me, but make sense as a historical record too.
> > +
> > +	Note that if there is something odd about the pull request, that
> > +	should very much be in the explanation. If you're touching files that
> > +	you don't maintain, explain _why_. I will see it in the diffstat
> > +	anyway, and if you didn't mention it, I'll just be extra suspicious.
> > +	And when you send me new stuff after the merge window (or even
> > +	bug-fixes, but ones that look scary), explain not just what they do
> > +	and why they do it, but explain the _timing_. What happened that this
> > +	didn't go through the merge window..
> > +
> > +	I will take both what you write in the email pull request _and_ in the
> > +	signed tag, so depending on your workflow, you can either describe
> > +	your work in the signed tag (which will also automatically make it
> > +	into the pull request email), or you can make the signed tag just a
> > +	placeholder with nothing interesting in it, and describe the work
> > +	later when you actually send me the pull request.
> > +
> > +	And yes, I will edit the message. Partly because I tend to do just
> > +	trivial formatting (the whole indentation and quoting etc), but partly
> > +	because part of the message may make sense for me at pull time
> > +	(describing the conflicts and your personal issues for sending it
> > +	right now), but may not make sense in the context of a merge commit
> > +	message, so I will try to make it all make sense. I will also fix any
> > +	speeling mistaeks and bad grammar I notice, particularly for
> > +	non-native speakers (but also for native ones ;^). But I may miss
> > +	some, or even add some.
> > +
> > +			Linus
> > +
> > +An example pull request of mine might look like:
> 
> Here's a change of voice back to Greg.  Be careful about appearing to put
> one person's words into another's mouth.

Agreed. (commented on above).

> Here you definitely want the :: treatment, or sphinx will whine about the
> strange (to it) indents.
> 
> > +	Char/Misc patches for 4.15-rc1
> > +
> > +	Here is the big char/misc patch set for the 4.15-rc1 merge
> > +	window.  Contained in here is the normal set of new functions
> > +	added to all of these crazy drivers, as well as the following
> > +	brand new subsystems:
> > +		- time_travel_controller: Finally a set of drivers for
> > +		  the latest time travel bus architecture that provides
> > +		  i/o to the CPU before it asked for it, allowing
> > +		  uninterrupted processing
> > +		- relativity_shifters: due to the affect that the
> > +		  time_travel_controllers have on the overall system,
> > +		  there was a need for a new set of relativity shifter
> > +		  drivers to accommodate the newly formed black holes
> > +		  that would threaten to suck CPUs into them.  This
> > +		  subsystem handles this in a way to successfully
> > +		  neutralize the problems.  There is a Kconfig option to
> > +		  force these to be enabled when needed, so problems
> > +		  should not occur.
> > +
> > +	All of these patches have been successfully tested in the latest
> > +	linux-next releases, and the original problems that it found
> > +	have all been resolved (apologies to anyone living near Canberra
> > +	for the lack of the Kconfig options in the earlier versions of
> > +	the linux-next tree creations.)
> > +
> > +	Signed-off-by: Your-name-here <your_email@domain>
> > +
> > +
> > +The tag message format is just like a git commit id.  One line at the top for a
> > +"summary subject" and be sure to sign-off at the bottom.
> 
> FWIW, I've never formatted tag messages that way, and I'm not sure how many
> others do.  But perhaps we should all be doing it?

Hopefully the patches going in will be reviewed by other maintainers and
suggestions will flow :) 

> > +Now that you have a local signed tag, you need to push it up to where it can be
> > +retrieved by Linus:
> > +
> > +	git push origin char-misc-4.15-rc1
> > +
> > +pushes the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag to where the 'origin' repo is located.
> > +
> > +
> > +Create Pull Request
> > +-------------------
> > +
> > +The last thing to do is create the pull request message.  Git handily will do
> > +this for you with the 'git request-pull' command, but it needs a bit of help
> > +determining what you want to pull, and what to base the pull against (to show
> > +the correct changes to be pulled and the diffstat.)
> > +
> > +The following command(s) will generate a pull request:
> > +
> > +	$TREE=git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/char-misc.git/
> 
> I don't believe that $ is correct

Bad Tobin, no biscuit. (read: cookie)

> > +	git request-pull master $TREE char-misc-4.15-rc1
> > +
> > +This is asking git to compare the difference from the 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' tag
> > +location, to the head of the 'master' branch (which in my case points to the
> > +last location in Linus's tree that I diverged from, usually a -rc release).
> > +
> > +Note: please use the git protocol (for justification from Linus see referenced
> > +email thread).
> 
> We need a reference to that thread.
> 
> > +If the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag is not present in the repo that I am asking to be
> > +pulled from, git will complain saying it is not there, a handy way to remember
> > +to actually push it to a public location.
> > +
> > +The output of 'git request-pull' will contain the location of the git tree and
> > +specific tag to pull from, and the full text description of that tag (which is
> > +why you need to provide good information in that tag.)  It will also create a
> > +diffstat of the pull request, and a shortlog of the individual commits that the
> > +pull request will provide.
> > +
> > +
> > +References
> > +----------
> > +
> > +The thread that this document is based on:
> > +
> > +	https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184
> 
> Ah, there's that reference.  I think it should be at the top before you
> first start quoting from it.

Perhaps (at start of document)

    This document was written by Tobin C. Harding (not an experienced
    maintainer) primarily from emails by Greg Kroah-Hartman and Linus
    Torvalds. Suggestions and fixes by Jonathan Corbet. Misrepresentation
    was unintentional but inevitable, please direct abuse to "Tobin
    C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc>. 

    Original email thread 

        https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184

> I think there's something missing here: what do you do with that output
> from 'git request-pull'?  There should be a little section on emailing it
> to the relevant upstream maintainer and how to decide where to copy the
> request to.  Pull requests should always be copied to a public list so that
> others know that the request has been made.  Some guidance on subject-line
> formatting would be good; as I recall, Linus filters mail that says "git"
> or "pull" specially.  I might also add something about how to know when the
> pull has happened (sign up to the commits list if nothing else).
> 
> Thanks for doing this,

Cheers Jon, nice to work with you.

Tobin.

Re: [PATCH] docs: add submitting-pull-requests.rst

[Jani Nikula]

On Wed, 15 Nov 2017, "Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 04:48:16PM -0700, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
>
> Awesome comments Jon, I knew there would be more to writing docs than
> first met the eye.
>
>> On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:54:21 +1100
>> "Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:
>> 
>> > There is currently no documentation on how to create a pull request for
>> > Linus.
>> > 
>> >     Anyway, this actually came up at the kernel summit / maintainer
>> >     meeting a few weeks ago, in that "how do I make a good pull request
>> >     to Linus" is something we need to document.
>> > 
>> >     Here's what I do, and it seems to work well, so maybe we should turn
>> >     it into the start of the documentation for how to do it.
>> > 
>> > Create document from email thread on LKML (referenced in document).
>> > 
>> > Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <me@tobin.cc>
>> > ---
>> > 
>> > Is it rude to send this during the merge window? Can resend after it closes if
>> > it makes life easier.
>> 
>> I can handle patches during the merge window.  That said, while I welcome
>> this effort and think it's a good start, there's a few things I'll
>> quibble about:
>> 
>>  - Much of this was actually written by Greg, I believe, and some by Linus.
>>    That deserves credit in the changelog, if nowhere else.
>
> Yeah, I struggled for ages with the tense, Greg's stuff is obviously
> written as him. But I didn't want to paraphrase and present it as if I'd
> written it. After your comments I'm still unsure of the _best_ way to
> present this material with a good flow but still giving credit where
> credit is due? I didn't seem right to add their names to the document
> (thereby presenting myself as them). I did not think of the changelog -
> I'll go that path for v2.
>
>>  - Putting it in Documentation/process as RST is good.  But it should be
>>    added to index.rst and made part of the docs build.  I suspect you
>>    haven't run it through sphinx at all yet, right?  Some things are
>>    unlikely to format the way you think they might.
>
> My bad, I knew I would botch some of the RST stuff, didn't think to run
> it through sphinx (I tend to view kernel docs as the raw files ;)
>
>> Finally, I see this as being the first installment in what, I hope, will
>> someday be a nice "how to be a kernel maintainer" manual.  I wouldn't
>> insist on it before taking a patch like this, but if you could see
>> through to organizing it as a chapter in a bigger sub-book, that would be
>> great.
>
> Happy to do so. I'm no way qualified to produce much of the text but
> perhaps can assist in getting things moving.
>
>> Finally finally... Dan Williams [CC'd] has plans for doing some
>> maintainer-level documentation.  He may have thoughts on how this fits
>> into what he's scheming, and I'd suggest copying him on the next
>> iteration.
>
> Let's liaise on this Dan (if you want to).
>
>> Finally finally finally...some specific comments on the text.  Some of
>> them might be read to suggest a major expansion of the work you've done;
>> please see that as me saying "that would be nice".  Doing all of this is
>> not a precondition to getting this document added!
>
> There is no rush to get merged, let's get it into shape first :)
>
>> > +Submitting Pull Requests to Linus: a guide for maintainers
>> > +==========================================================
>> > +
>> > +This document is aimed at kernel maintainers.  It describes a method for creating
>> > +a pull request to be sent to Linus.
>> 
>> Limiting text widths to, say, 75 columns when possible is preferable.  Word
>> has it some maintainers are still reading the docs on their adm3a
>> terminals.
>
> Got it. (idea for next doc 'column widths howto' - your canonical guide
> to column widths (includes git brief, commit log, email, source code,
> and docs).
>
> I'm kidding. 75 it is.
>
>> Most maintainers push directly to Linus, so that's an obvious best focus,
>> but pull requests happen at other levels too.  One would hope that this
>> information would be applicable at all levels, so it might be nice to
>> describe it as such.
>
> Oh, Greg had this, I stripped it out. Back in on next spin.
>
>> > +Configure Git
>> > +-------------
>> 
>> "Configure Git to use your private key"
>> 
>> We are, of course, missing the whole discussion on why one would want a
>> keypair, how to create it, how to get it into the web of trust, etc.  All
>> fodder for a separate chapter in our shiny new maintainer book :)  But it
>> is worth saying at least that this is about making Git use your key so you
>> can sign tags for pull requests.
>
> Funny you should say that, I'm trying to get into the web of trust so
> perhaps I can help with that document (as I work out how to do it).
>
>> > +Since you _usually_ would use the same key for the same project, just set it
>> > +once with
>> 
>> If you end a line like that with "::", the following indented section will
>> be formatted as code by sphinx.  That's almost always what you want.
>> 
>> > +	git config user.signingkey "keyname"
>
> cool.
>
>> > +
>> > +and if you use the same key for everything, just add "--global".
>> > +
>> > +Or just edit your .git/config or ~/.gitconfig file by hand, it's designed to be
>> > +human-readable and writable, and not some garbage like XML:
>> > +
>> > +	[torvalds@i7 ~]$ head -4 .gitconfig
>> > +	[user]
>> > +		name = Linus Torvalds
>> > +		email = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
>> > +		signingkey = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
>> > +
>> > +You may need to tell git to use gpg2
>> > +
>> > +	[gpg]
>> > +		program = /path/to/gpg2
>> > +
>> > +You may also like to tell gpg which tty to use (add to shell rc file)
>> > +
>> > +	export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
>> > +
>> > +
>> > +Branch, Tag, Push
>> > +-----------------
>> > +
>> > +Next, put your changes on a branch, hopefully one named in a semi-useful way (I
>> > +use 'char-misc-next' for my char/misc driver patches to be merged into
>> > +linux-next).  That is the branch you wish to tag and have Linus pull from.
>> 
>> Management of patches and branches would, of course, make for another nice
>> chapter.
>
> Not maintainer specific though, right? 
>
>> > +Name the tag with something useful that you can understand if you run across it
>> > +in a few weeks, and something that will be "unique".  Continuing the example of
>> 
>> Greg likes to put quotes in weird places, but we don't need to preserve
>> that :)  Git will force the tag to be "unique", so we can just say unique. 
>
> He also adds two spaces in between sentences, that threw me. He is
> correct though, I intend on imitating.
>
>> > +the char-misc tree, for the patches to be sent to Linus for the 4.15-rc1 merge
>> > +window, I would name the tag 'char-misc-4.15-rc1':
>> > +
>> > +	git tag -s char-misc-4.15-rc1 char-misc-next
>> > +
>> > +that will create a signed tag called 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' based on the last
>> > +commit in the char-misc-next branch, and sign it with your gpg key (configured
>> > +above).
>> > +
>> > +When you run the above command, git will drop you into an editor and ask you to
>> > +describe the tag.  In this case, you are describing a pull request, so outline
>> > +what is contained here, why it should be merged, and what, if any, testing has
>> > +happened to it.  All of this information will end up in the tag itself, and then
>> > +in the merge commit that Linus makes, so write it up well, as it will be in the
>> > +kernel tree for forever.
>> 
>> s/for//
>> 
>> Sphinx will format the following indented text differently, which may not
>> be what you want.  I think you should really introduce it with "Linus said
>> this:" perhaps with a link to the list archive.
>
> Ok, perhaps there are examples currently in tree of how best to
> quote. I'll dig around.
>
>> > +	Anyway, at least to me, the important part is the *message*. I want to
>> > +	understand what I'm pulling, and why I should pull it. I also want to
>> > +	use that message as the message for the merge, so it should not just
>> > +	make sense to me, but make sense as a historical record too.
>> > +
>> > +	Note that if there is something odd about the pull request, that
>> > +	should very much be in the explanation. If you're touching files that
>> > +	you don't maintain, explain _why_. I will see it in the diffstat
>> > +	anyway, and if you didn't mention it, I'll just be extra suspicious.
>> > +	And when you send me new stuff after the merge window (or even
>> > +	bug-fixes, but ones that look scary), explain not just what they do
>> > +	and why they do it, but explain the _timing_. What happened that this
>> > +	didn't go through the merge window..
>> > +
>> > +	I will take both what you write in the email pull request _and_ in the
>> > +	signed tag, so depending on your workflow, you can either describe
>> > +	your work in the signed tag (which will also automatically make it
>> > +	into the pull request email), or you can make the signed tag just a
>> > +	placeholder with nothing interesting in it, and describe the work
>> > +	later when you actually send me the pull request.
>> > +
>> > +	And yes, I will edit the message. Partly because I tend to do just
>> > +	trivial formatting (the whole indentation and quoting etc), but partly
>> > +	because part of the message may make sense for me at pull time
>> > +	(describing the conflicts and your personal issues for sending it
>> > +	right now), but may not make sense in the context of a merge commit
>> > +	message, so I will try to make it all make sense. I will also fix any
>> > +	speeling mistaeks and bad grammar I notice, particularly for
>> > +	non-native speakers (but also for native ones ;^). But I may miss
>> > +	some, or even add some.
>> > +
>> > +			Linus
>> > +
>> > +An example pull request of mine might look like:
>> 
>> Here's a change of voice back to Greg.  Be careful about appearing to put
>> one person's words into another's mouth.
>
> Agreed. (commented on above).
>
>> Here you definitely want the :: treatment, or sphinx will whine about the
>> strange (to it) indents.
>> 
>> > +	Char/Misc patches for 4.15-rc1
>> > +
>> > +	Here is the big char/misc patch set for the 4.15-rc1 merge
>> > +	window.  Contained in here is the normal set of new functions
>> > +	added to all of these crazy drivers, as well as the following
>> > +	brand new subsystems:
>> > +		- time_travel_controller: Finally a set of drivers for
>> > +		  the latest time travel bus architecture that provides
>> > +		  i/o to the CPU before it asked for it, allowing
>> > +		  uninterrupted processing
>> > +		- relativity_shifters: due to the affect that the
>> > +		  time_travel_controllers have on the overall system,
>> > +		  there was a need for a new set of relativity shifter
>> > +		  drivers to accommodate the newly formed black holes
>> > +		  that would threaten to suck CPUs into them.  This
>> > +		  subsystem handles this in a way to successfully
>> > +		  neutralize the problems.  There is a Kconfig option to
>> > +		  force these to be enabled when needed, so problems
>> > +		  should not occur.
>> > +
>> > +	All of these patches have been successfully tested in the latest
>> > +	linux-next releases, and the original problems that it found
>> > +	have all been resolved (apologies to anyone living near Canberra
>> > +	for the lack of the Kconfig options in the earlier versions of
>> > +	the linux-next tree creations.)
>> > +
>> > +	Signed-off-by: Your-name-here <your_email@domain>
>> > +
>> > +
>> > +The tag message format is just like a git commit id.  One line at the top for a
>> > +"summary subject" and be sure to sign-off at the bottom.
>> 
>> FWIW, I've never formatted tag messages that way, and I'm not sure how many
>> others do.  But perhaps we should all be doing it?
>
> Hopefully the patches going in will be reviewed by other maintainers and
> suggestions will flow :) 
>
>> > +Now that you have a local signed tag, you need to push it up to where it can be
>> > +retrieved by Linus:
>> > +
>> > +	git push origin char-misc-4.15-rc1
>> > +
>> > +pushes the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag to where the 'origin' repo is located.
>> > +
>> > +
>> > +Create Pull Request
>> > +-------------------
>> > +
>> > +The last thing to do is create the pull request message.  Git handily will do
>> > +this for you with the 'git request-pull' command, but it needs a bit of help
>> > +determining what you want to pull, and what to base the pull against (to show
>> > +the correct changes to be pulled and the diffstat.)
>> > +
>> > +The following command(s) will generate a pull request:
>> > +
>> > +	$TREE=git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/char-misc.git/
>> 
>> I don't believe that $ is correct
>
> Bad Tobin, no biscuit. (read: cookie)
>
>> > +	git request-pull master $TREE char-misc-4.15-rc1
>> > +
>> > +This is asking git to compare the difference from the 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' tag
>> > +location, to the head of the 'master' branch (which in my case points to the
>> > +last location in Linus's tree that I diverged from, usually a -rc release).
>> > +
>> > +Note: please use the git protocol (for justification from Linus see referenced
>> > +email thread).
>> 
>> We need a reference to that thread.
>> 
>> > +If the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag is not present in the repo that I am asking to be
>> > +pulled from, git will complain saying it is not there, a handy way to remember
>> > +to actually push it to a public location.
>> > +
>> > +The output of 'git request-pull' will contain the location of the git tree and
>> > +specific tag to pull from, and the full text description of that tag (which is
>> > +why you need to provide good information in that tag.)  It will also create a
>> > +diffstat of the pull request, and a shortlog of the individual commits that the
>> > +pull request will provide.
>> > +
>> > +
>> > +References
>> > +----------
>> > +
>> > +The thread that this document is based on:
>> > +
>> > +	https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184
>> 
>> Ah, there's that reference.  I think it should be at the top before you
>> first start quoting from it.
>
> Perhaps (at start of document)
>
>     This document was written by Tobin C. Harding (not an experienced
>     maintainer) primarily from emails by Greg Kroah-Hartman and Linus
>     Torvalds. Suggestions and fixes by Jonathan Corbet. Misrepresentation
>     was unintentional but inevitable, please direct abuse to "Tobin
>     C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc>. 
>
>     Original email thread 
>
>         https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184

Please use http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20171114110500.GA21175@kroah.com so
people can find the messages using the message-id.

Please consider using reStructuredText references instead of a
semi-random looking indented block.

BR,
Jani.


>
>> I think there's something missing here: what do you do with that output
>> from 'git request-pull'?  There should be a little section on emailing it
>> to the relevant upstream maintainer and how to decide where to copy the
>> request to.  Pull requests should always be copied to a public list so that
>> others know that the request has been made.  Some guidance on subject-line
>> formatting would be good; as I recall, Linus filters mail that says "git"
>> or "pull" specially.  I might also add something about how to know when the
>> pull has happened (sign up to the commits list if nothing else).
>> 
>> Thanks for doing this,
>
> Cheers Jon, nice to work with you.
>
> Tobin.
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-doc" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html

-- 
Jani Nikula, Intel Open Source Technology Center

Re: [PATCH] docs: add submitting-pull-requests.rst

[Tobin C. Harding]

On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 04:09:32PM +0200, Jani Nikula wrote:
> On Wed, 15 Nov 2017, "Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:
> > On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 04:48:16PM -0700, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> >
> > Awesome comments Jon, I knew there would be more to writing docs than
> > first met the eye.
> >
> >> On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:54:21 +1100
> >> "Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:
> >> 
> >> > There is currently no documentation on how to create a pull request for
> >> > Linus.
> >> > 
> >> >     Anyway, this actually came up at the kernel summit / maintainer
> >> >     meeting a few weeks ago, in that "how do I make a good pull request
> >> >     to Linus" is something we need to document.
> >> > 
> >> >     Here's what I do, and it seems to work well, so maybe we should turn
> >> >     it into the start of the documentation for how to do it.
> >> > 
> >> > Create document from email thread on LKML (referenced in document).
> >> > 
> >> > Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <me@tobin.cc>
> >> > ---
> >> > 
> >> > Is it rude to send this during the merge window? Can resend after it closes if
> >> > it makes life easier.
> >> 
> >> I can handle patches during the merge window.  That said, while I welcome
> >> this effort and think it's a good start, there's a few things I'll
> >> quibble about:
> >> 
> >>  - Much of this was actually written by Greg, I believe, and some by Linus.
> >>    That deserves credit in the changelog, if nowhere else.
> >
> > Yeah, I struggled for ages with the tense, Greg's stuff is obviously
> > written as him. But I didn't want to paraphrase and present it as if I'd
> > written it. After your comments I'm still unsure of the _best_ way to
> > present this material with a good flow but still giving credit where
> > credit is due? I didn't seem right to add their names to the document
> > (thereby presenting myself as them). I did not think of the changelog -
> > I'll go that path for v2.
> >
> >>  - Putting it in Documentation/process as RST is good.  But it should be
> >>    added to index.rst and made part of the docs build.  I suspect you
> >>    haven't run it through sphinx at all yet, right?  Some things are
> >>    unlikely to format the way you think they might.
> >
> > My bad, I knew I would botch some of the RST stuff, didn't think to run
> > it through sphinx (I tend to view kernel docs as the raw files ;)
> >
> >> Finally, I see this as being the first installment in what, I hope, will
> >> someday be a nice "how to be a kernel maintainer" manual.  I wouldn't
> >> insist on it before taking a patch like this, but if you could see
> >> through to organizing it as a chapter in a bigger sub-book, that would be
> >> great.
> >
> > Happy to do so. I'm no way qualified to produce much of the text but
> > perhaps can assist in getting things moving.
> >
> >> Finally finally... Dan Williams [CC'd] has plans for doing some
> >> maintainer-level documentation.  He may have thoughts on how this fits
> >> into what he's scheming, and I'd suggest copying him on the next
> >> iteration.
> >
> > Let's liaise on this Dan (if you want to).
> >
> >> Finally finally finally...some specific comments on the text.  Some of
> >> them might be read to suggest a major expansion of the work you've done;
> >> please see that as me saying "that would be nice".  Doing all of this is
> >> not a precondition to getting this document added!
> >
> > There is no rush to get merged, let's get it into shape first :)
> >
> >> > +Submitting Pull Requests to Linus: a guide for maintainers
> >> > +==========================================================
> >> > +
> >> > +This document is aimed at kernel maintainers.  It describes a method for creating
> >> > +a pull request to be sent to Linus.
> >> 
> >> Limiting text widths to, say, 75 columns when possible is preferable.  Word
> >> has it some maintainers are still reading the docs on their adm3a
> >> terminals.
> >
> > Got it. (idea for next doc 'column widths howto' - your canonical guide
> > to column widths (includes git brief, commit log, email, source code,
> > and docs).
> >
> > I'm kidding. 75 it is.
> >
> >> Most maintainers push directly to Linus, so that's an obvious best focus,
> >> but pull requests happen at other levels too.  One would hope that this
> >> information would be applicable at all levels, so it might be nice to
> >> describe it as such.
> >
> > Oh, Greg had this, I stripped it out. Back in on next spin.
> >
> >> > +Configure Git
> >> > +-------------
> >> 
> >> "Configure Git to use your private key"
> >> 
> >> We are, of course, missing the whole discussion on why one would want a
> >> keypair, how to create it, how to get it into the web of trust, etc.  All
> >> fodder for a separate chapter in our shiny new maintainer book :)  But it
> >> is worth saying at least that this is about making Git use your key so you
> >> can sign tags for pull requests.
> >
> > Funny you should say that, I'm trying to get into the web of trust so
> > perhaps I can help with that document (as I work out how to do it).
> >
> >> > +Since you _usually_ would use the same key for the same project, just set it
> >> > +once with
> >> 
> >> If you end a line like that with "::", the following indented section will
> >> be formatted as code by sphinx.  That's almost always what you want.
> >> 
> >> > +	git config user.signingkey "keyname"
> >
> > cool.
> >
> >> > +
> >> > +and if you use the same key for everything, just add "--global".
> >> > +
> >> > +Or just edit your .git/config or ~/.gitconfig file by hand, it's designed to be
> >> > +human-readable and writable, and not some garbage like XML:
> >> > +
> >> > +	[torvalds@i7 ~]$ head -4 .gitconfig
> >> > +	[user]
> >> > +		name = Linus Torvalds
> >> > +		email = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
> >> > +		signingkey = torvalds@linux-foundation.org
> >> > +
> >> > +You may need to tell git to use gpg2
> >> > +
> >> > +	[gpg]
> >> > +		program = /path/to/gpg2
> >> > +
> >> > +You may also like to tell gpg which tty to use (add to shell rc file)
> >> > +
> >> > +	export GPG_TTY=$(tty)
> >> > +
> >> > +
> >> > +Branch, Tag, Push
> >> > +-----------------
> >> > +
> >> > +Next, put your changes on a branch, hopefully one named in a semi-useful way (I
> >> > +use 'char-misc-next' for my char/misc driver patches to be merged into
> >> > +linux-next).  That is the branch you wish to tag and have Linus pull from.
> >> 
> >> Management of patches and branches would, of course, make for another nice
> >> chapter.
> >
> > Not maintainer specific though, right? 
> >
> >> > +Name the tag with something useful that you can understand if you run across it
> >> > +in a few weeks, and something that will be "unique".  Continuing the example of
> >> 
> >> Greg likes to put quotes in weird places, but we don't need to preserve
> >> that :)  Git will force the tag to be "unique", so we can just say unique. 
> >
> > He also adds two spaces in between sentences, that threw me. He is
> > correct though, I intend on imitating.
> >
> >> > +the char-misc tree, for the patches to be sent to Linus for the 4.15-rc1 merge
> >> > +window, I would name the tag 'char-misc-4.15-rc1':
> >> > +
> >> > +	git tag -s char-misc-4.15-rc1 char-misc-next
> >> > +
> >> > +that will create a signed tag called 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' based on the last
> >> > +commit in the char-misc-next branch, and sign it with your gpg key (configured
> >> > +above).
> >> > +
> >> > +When you run the above command, git will drop you into an editor and ask you to
> >> > +describe the tag.  In this case, you are describing a pull request, so outline
> >> > +what is contained here, why it should be merged, and what, if any, testing has
> >> > +happened to it.  All of this information will end up in the tag itself, and then
> >> > +in the merge commit that Linus makes, so write it up well, as it will be in the
> >> > +kernel tree for forever.
> >> 
> >> s/for//
> >> 
> >> Sphinx will format the following indented text differently, which may not
> >> be what you want.  I think you should really introduce it with "Linus said
> >> this:" perhaps with a link to the list archive.
> >
> > Ok, perhaps there are examples currently in tree of how best to
> > quote. I'll dig around.
> >
> >> > +	Anyway, at least to me, the important part is the *message*. I want to
> >> > +	understand what I'm pulling, and why I should pull it. I also want to
> >> > +	use that message as the message for the merge, so it should not just
> >> > +	make sense to me, but make sense as a historical record too.
> >> > +
> >> > +	Note that if there is something odd about the pull request, that
> >> > +	should very much be in the explanation. If you're touching files that
> >> > +	you don't maintain, explain _why_. I will see it in the diffstat
> >> > +	anyway, and if you didn't mention it, I'll just be extra suspicious.
> >> > +	And when you send me new stuff after the merge window (or even
> >> > +	bug-fixes, but ones that look scary), explain not just what they do
> >> > +	and why they do it, but explain the _timing_. What happened that this
> >> > +	didn't go through the merge window..
> >> > +
> >> > +	I will take both what you write in the email pull request _and_ in the
> >> > +	signed tag, so depending on your workflow, you can either describe
> >> > +	your work in the signed tag (which will also automatically make it
> >> > +	into the pull request email), or you can make the signed tag just a
> >> > +	placeholder with nothing interesting in it, and describe the work
> >> > +	later when you actually send me the pull request.
> >> > +
> >> > +	And yes, I will edit the message. Partly because I tend to do just
> >> > +	trivial formatting (the whole indentation and quoting etc), but partly
> >> > +	because part of the message may make sense for me at pull time
> >> > +	(describing the conflicts and your personal issues for sending it
> >> > +	right now), but may not make sense in the context of a merge commit
> >> > +	message, so I will try to make it all make sense. I will also fix any
> >> > +	speeling mistaeks and bad grammar I notice, particularly for
> >> > +	non-native speakers (but also for native ones ;^). But I may miss
> >> > +	some, or even add some.
> >> > +
> >> > +			Linus
> >> > +
> >> > +An example pull request of mine might look like:
> >> 
> >> Here's a change of voice back to Greg.  Be careful about appearing to put
> >> one person's words into another's mouth.
> >
> > Agreed. (commented on above).
> >
> >> Here you definitely want the :: treatment, or sphinx will whine about the
> >> strange (to it) indents.
> >> 
> >> > +	Char/Misc patches for 4.15-rc1
> >> > +
> >> > +	Here is the big char/misc patch set for the 4.15-rc1 merge
> >> > +	window.  Contained in here is the normal set of new functions
> >> > +	added to all of these crazy drivers, as well as the following
> >> > +	brand new subsystems:
> >> > +		- time_travel_controller: Finally a set of drivers for
> >> > +		  the latest time travel bus architecture that provides
> >> > +		  i/o to the CPU before it asked for it, allowing
> >> > +		  uninterrupted processing
> >> > +		- relativity_shifters: due to the affect that the
> >> > +		  time_travel_controllers have on the overall system,
> >> > +		  there was a need for a new set of relativity shifter
> >> > +		  drivers to accommodate the newly formed black holes
> >> > +		  that would threaten to suck CPUs into them.  This
> >> > +		  subsystem handles this in a way to successfully
> >> > +		  neutralize the problems.  There is a Kconfig option to
> >> > +		  force these to be enabled when needed, so problems
> >> > +		  should not occur.
> >> > +
> >> > +	All of these patches have been successfully tested in the latest
> >> > +	linux-next releases, and the original problems that it found
> >> > +	have all been resolved (apologies to anyone living near Canberra
> >> > +	for the lack of the Kconfig options in the earlier versions of
> >> > +	the linux-next tree creations.)
> >> > +
> >> > +	Signed-off-by: Your-name-here <your_email@domain>
> >> > +
> >> > +
> >> > +The tag message format is just like a git commit id.  One line at the top for a
> >> > +"summary subject" and be sure to sign-off at the bottom.
> >> 
> >> FWIW, I've never formatted tag messages that way, and I'm not sure how many
> >> others do.  But perhaps we should all be doing it?
> >
> > Hopefully the patches going in will be reviewed by other maintainers and
> > suggestions will flow :) 
> >
> >> > +Now that you have a local signed tag, you need to push it up to where it can be
> >> > +retrieved by Linus:
> >> > +
> >> > +	git push origin char-misc-4.15-rc1
> >> > +
> >> > +pushes the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag to where the 'origin' repo is located.
> >> > +
> >> > +
> >> > +Create Pull Request
> >> > +-------------------
> >> > +
> >> > +The last thing to do is create the pull request message.  Git handily will do
> >> > +this for you with the 'git request-pull' command, but it needs a bit of help
> >> > +determining what you want to pull, and what to base the pull against (to show
> >> > +the correct changes to be pulled and the diffstat.)
> >> > +
> >> > +The following command(s) will generate a pull request:
> >> > +
> >> > +	$TREE=git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/char-misc.git/
> >> 
> >> I don't believe that $ is correct
> >
> > Bad Tobin, no biscuit. (read: cookie)
> >
> >> > +	git request-pull master $TREE char-misc-4.15-rc1
> >> > +
> >> > +This is asking git to compare the difference from the 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' tag
> >> > +location, to the head of the 'master' branch (which in my case points to the
> >> > +last location in Linus's tree that I diverged from, usually a -rc release).
> >> > +
> >> > +Note: please use the git protocol (for justification from Linus see referenced
> >> > +email thread).
> >> 
> >> We need a reference to that thread.
> >> 
> >> > +If the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag is not present in the repo that I am asking to be
> >> > +pulled from, git will complain saying it is not there, a handy way to remember
> >> > +to actually push it to a public location.
> >> > +
> >> > +The output of 'git request-pull' will contain the location of the git tree and
> >> > +specific tag to pull from, and the full text description of that tag (which is
> >> > +why you need to provide good information in that tag.)  It will also create a
> >> > +diffstat of the pull request, and a shortlog of the individual commits that the
> >> > +pull request will provide.
> >> > +
> >> > +
> >> > +References
> >> > +----------
> >> > +
> >> > +The thread that this document is based on:
> >> > +
> >> > +	https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184
> >> 
> >> Ah, there's that reference.  I think it should be at the top before you
> >> first start quoting from it.
> >
> > Perhaps (at start of document)
> >
> >     This document was written by Tobin C. Harding (not an experienced
> >     maintainer) primarily from emails by Greg Kroah-Hartman and Linus
> >     Torvalds. Suggestions and fixes by Jonathan Corbet. Misrepresentation
> >     was unintentional but inevitable, please direct abuse to "Tobin
> >     C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc>. 
> >
> >     Original email thread 
> >
> >         https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184
> 
> Please use http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20171114110500.GA21175@kroah.com so
> people can find the messages using the message-id.

How did you generate this URL? Is this the format that should be used
whenever linking to LKML messages i.e when including links in mail being
sent to LKML?

> Please consider using reStructuredText references instead of a
> semi-random looking indented block.

Yep, thanks. Amateur effort this one. Expect better for next spin.

thanks,
Tobin.

Re: [PATCH] docs: add submitting-pull-requests.rst

[Jani Nikula]

On Tue, 21 Nov 2017, "Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 15, 2017 at 04:09:32PM +0200, Jani Nikula wrote:
>> On Wed, 15 Nov 2017, "Tobin C. Harding" <me@tobin.cc> wrote:
>> >     Original email thread 
>> >
>> >         https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184
>> 
>> Please use http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20171114110500.GA21175@kroah.com so
>> people can find the messages using the message-id.
>
> How did you generate this URL? Is this the format that should be used
> whenever linking to LKML messages i.e when including links in mail being
> sent to LKML?

See https://lkml.kernel.org/. It's just a base URL + message-id of the
message. (In my MUA, I can just hit a few keys and get the URL stashed
to the clipboard.)

The message-id based URL lets people find the message using their MUA
instead of having to go to some horrendous web site. But it still lets
people who prefer web sites use them.

Moreover, if an archive goes down, this makes it possible to still find
the message.



BR,
Jani.

-- 
Jani Nikula, Intel Open Source Technology Center