When reviewers stop responding

When reviewers stop responding

[Ian Pilcher]

I am looking for advice on how to proceed when kernel patch reviewers
stop responding to patches.  I've been working on a patch series for
several months - sending 3 "RFC" and 8 non-RFC versions, receiving
feedback, and implementing all of the changes that have been requested.

I sent the last patch series (version 8) on October 9, and resent it on
October 22.  I also sent an off-list email to the subsystem maintainer
and the (previously) most active reviewer on November 8.  I haven't
received any responses since October 8.

How should I proceed?

Thanks!

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Re: When reviewers stop responding

[Greg KH]

On Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 01:55:41PM -0600, Ian Pilcher wrote:
> I am looking for advice on how to proceed when kernel patch reviewers
> stop responding to patches.  I've been working on a patch series for
> several months - sending 3 "RFC" and 8 non-RFC versions, receiving
> feedback, and implementing all of the changes that have been requested.
> 
> I sent the last patch series (version 8) on October 9, and resent it on
> October 22.  I also sent an off-list email to the subsystem maintainer
> and the (previously) most active reviewer on November 8.  I haven't
> received any responses since October 8.
> 
> How should I proceed?

As the merge window is now over, please just resend the patches.
Remember maintainers can not add anything to their trees usually for the
week before, and during the 2 weeks of, the merge window, so that might
account for the delay here.

Also, just resend because things do get lost.

To help out, while waiting, why not review some patches for the same
subsystem on the mailing list to provide help for the maintainers?  That
help can go a long way in making sure your patches are reviewed.

good luck!

greg k-h

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Re: When reviewers stop responding

[Ian Pilcher]

On 11/19/21 01:08, Greg KH wrote:
> As the merge window is now over, please just resend the patches.
> Remember maintainers can not add anything to their trees usually for the
> week before, and during the 2 weeks of, the merge window, so that might
> account for the delay here.
> 
> Also, just resend because things do get lost.

Well ... 6 more months have passed without any response.  During that
time I've resent the patch series 3 times.

> To help out, while waiting, why not review some patches for the same
> subsystem on the mailing list to provide help for the maintainers?  That
> help can go a long way in making sure your patches are reviewed.

Unfortunately, I just don't have the knowledge to do that.  I am not at
all experienced with kernel development, nor do I have any knowledge of
interrupt context code or Devicetree, which are the subject of the vast
majority of patches to that subsystem.

(I don't want to be more specific, because I'm not trying to "name &
shame" anyone.  I'm sure that the people who work on this particular
subsystem are simply overwhelmed.)

Is there anything else that I can do?  Should I just give up at this
point?

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Re: When reviewers stop responding

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Jun 07, 2022 at 12:19:03PM -0500, Ian Pilcher wrote:
> On 11/19/21 01:08, Greg KH wrote:
> > As the merge window is now over, please just resend the patches.
> > Remember maintainers can not add anything to their trees usually for the
> > week before, and during the 2 weeks of, the merge window, so that might
> > account for the delay here.
> > 
> > Also, just resend because things do get lost.
> 
> Well ... 6 more months have passed without any response.  During that
> time I've resent the patch series 3 times.

lore.kernel.org links to those patches?

> > To help out, while waiting, why not review some patches for the same
> > subsystem on the mailing list to provide help for the maintainers?  That
> > help can go a long way in making sure your patches are reviewed.
> 
> Unfortunately, I just don't have the knowledge to do that.  I am not at
> all experienced with kernel development, nor do I have any knowledge of
> interrupt context code or Devicetree, which are the subject of the vast
> majority of patches to that subsystem.

If you have enough experience to send changes that you wish for others
to maintain over time, you should at least be able to review others
changes.  If not, how do you know your changes are correct to start
with?

> (I don't want to be more specific, because I'm not trying to "name &
> shame" anyone.  I'm sure that the people who work on this particular
> subsystem are simply overwhelmed.)
> 
> Is there anything else that I can do?  Should I just give up at this
> point?

Specifics matter here, links to the submission would be appreciated.
And again, please help review code, otherwise you are just asking others
to do work for you, which if you think about it, could be construed as a
bit selfish, and I don't think you mean it to be.

thanks,

greg k-h

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Re: When reviewers stop responding

[Philipp Hortmann]

On 6/7/22 19:23, Greg KH wrote:
> And again, please help review code, otherwise you are just asking others
> to do work for you, which if you think about it, could be construed as a
> bit selfish, and I don't think you mean it to be.

Hi Greg,

this applies to me. I promise to improve. But this topic is not enough 
advertised. Everywhere information about patches can be found. But how 
to do a correct Reviewed-by: or Tested-by: is not so good documented.

I bought hardware to improve and did one "Tested-by:" of the patch:

[PATCH v2 0/5] Fixed some coding style issues and spelling
from Chang Yu <marcus.yu.56@gmail.com>

https://lore.kernel.org/linux-staging/91c9a0de-76f8-37fb-31b4-4401a6e35d48@gmail.com/T/#t

Did I do something wrong or was I just unlucky?

Is 24 hours quick enough response?

Thanks for your support.

Bye Philipp








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Re: When reviewers stop responding

[Greg KH]

On Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 06:20:04AM +0200, Philipp Hortmann wrote:
> On 6/7/22 19:23, Greg KH wrote:
> > And again, please help review code, otherwise you are just asking others
> > to do work for you, which if you think about it, could be construed as a
> > bit selfish, and I don't think you mean it to be.
> 
> Hi Greg,
> 
> this applies to me. I promise to improve. But this topic is not enough
> advertised. Everywhere information about patches can be found. But how to do
> a correct Reviewed-by: or Tested-by: is not so good documented.
> 
> I bought hardware to improve and did one "Tested-by:" of the patch:
> 
> [PATCH v2 0/5] Fixed some coding style issues and spelling
> from Chang Yu <marcus.yu.56@gmail.com>
> 
> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-staging/91c9a0de-76f8-37fb-31b4-4401a6e35d48@gmail.com/T/#t
> 
> Did I do something wrong or was I just unlucky?
> 
> Is 24 hours quick enough response?

Sometimes, yes, it is.  Other times I get to patches quicker than that
as I batch them up and process them once or twice a week.  You just got
unlucky and reviewed it after I had applied the changes, but that was
not the case for your other series you reviewed today.

thanks for the review, it's always appreciated.

greg k-h

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