Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1758221Ab3GMRwe (ORCPT ); Sat, 13 Jul 2013 13:52:34 -0400 Received: from mail-pd0-f175.google.com ([209.85.192.175]:42786 "EHLO mail-pd0-f175.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752058Ab3GMRwc (ORCPT ); Sat, 13 Jul 2013 13:52:32 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <1373652854.17876.112.camel@gandalf.local.home> References: <20130711214830.611455274@linuxfoundation.org> <20130712005023.GB31005@thunk.org> <20130712025745.GA24086@tuxdriver.com> <20130712033430.GA3798@kroah.com> <51E03AEE.5010403@zytor.com> <20130712172836.GA7627@kroah.com> <1373651458.17876.103.camel@gandalf.local.home> <1373652854.17876.112.camel@gandalf.local.home> Date: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 19:52:32 +0200 X-Google-Sender-Auth: VJp6QOhxGxvBr6PuD9YR3wvPvz0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [Ksummit-2013-discuss] When to push bug fixes to mainline From: Geert Uytterhoeven To: Steven Rostedt Cc: Linus Torvalds , Greg Kroah-Hartman , "H. Peter Anvin" , stable , Linux Kernel Mailing List , ksummit-2013-discuss@lists.linux-foundation.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 3506 Lines: 70 On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 8:14 PM, Steven Rostedt wrote: > On Fri, 2013-07-12 at 10:59 -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote: >> On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Steven Rostedt wrote: >> > >> > Perhaps just make a separate stable branch, where you cherry-pick the >> > specific patch using the -x option. Adds a "(cherry picked from >> > commit ...)". Then you could have some filter that monitors Linus >> > commits and when a commit matches one of these patches, have it >> > automatically sent to the stable list. >> >> Actually, please don't use -x very much. It doesn't much help, and it >> can get very confusing before things are merged, and people who are on >> one branch don't even see the other "identical" commit. >> > > Actually I was trying to answer HPA's question about how to notify > stable of a patch that wasn't tagged for stable, and one that you need > to remember when its committed by you. > > Say I get a bunch of patches and add them to a branch queued for an -rc > (all fixes for the current release). Then I notice that one of the > patches is a fix for older kernels as well, but it has already been made > public. As to tag it for stable would require a rebase, but its still in > a queue to be sent to you, and others may have based their work on it. > The question now is, how do I remember to notify stable of this patch > when its part of a queue going to you already? > > Is it OK to cherry pick the patch separately, and add the stable tag, > and queue that up to you first? That way the stable automated process > will trigger when you take it. > > Basically, there's been times when branches have been made public before > it is realized that a commit in that branch should go back to older > trees, not just a fix for the current -rc release. Thus, this is not a > question of sending a stable fix to you, but a fix that is already > queued to go to you and later realize it needs to go to older trees as > well. Greg likes it when you send that patch after it is in mainline. > But remembering which patch to send isn't always trivial, and can be > forgotten about. I was giving an answer to that question. > > Having the separate stable branch that will never be pushed to you and > only used as a database of what needs to go to stable for older kernels > is what I was going for. It doesn't need to be a git branch at all. It > could just be a directory of files that was created via a git > format-patch. The git branch has the advantage of allowing git power tools for processing. Say you "cherry-pick -x" all commits for stable to a private branch named "for-stable". Then "git cherry -v linus/master for-stable" will prefix all commits that are already upstream with a minus sign, so you know when to ping stable. Commits prefixed with a plus sign are still pending (or got applied with some mutilation, i.e. you want to double-check). Gr{oetje,eeting}s, Geert -- Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that. -- Linus Torvalds -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/