Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S932089AbVJCA2x (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 20:28:53 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S932090AbVJCA2w (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 20:28:52 -0400 Received: from nproxy.gmail.com ([64.233.182.200]:56697 "EHLO nproxy.gmail.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932089AbVJCA2w convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 20:28:52 -0400 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=beta; d=gmail.com; h=received:message-id:date:from:reply-to:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=Icv8wS3KkVcmIUjtg6EkpbTymU+diEYDni//c79TJTOlcCkjlMhc98wS7Nwskl7F6wgAx0HgbF+TB4hqyXGpHLQQuicPx1h7dpdMIcfUuj7bNPH/AXazHjvnVJowF2l0Km+N6WjBCUVKYhOyHjmeIUF9F3trqfU19DxRNLtsT6w= Message-ID: <2cd57c900510021728w61030c65n1dd965dc224ebdd7@mail.gmail.com> Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 08:28:50 +0800 From: Coywolf Qi Hunt Reply-To: Coywolf Qi Hunt To: Paul Jackson Subject: Re: [PATCHv3] Document from line in patch format Cc: Linus Torvalds , Andrew Morton , Jeff Garzik , "Randy.Dunlap" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Greg KH In-Reply-To: <20051002215222.4444.51101.sendpatchset@jackhammer.engr.sgi.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Disposition: inline References: <20051002215222.4444.51101.sendpatchset@jackhammer.engr.sgi.com> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 4086 Lines: 112 On 10/3/05, Paul Jackson wrote: > Document more details of patch format such as the "from" line > and the "---" marker line, and provide more references for > patch guidelines. > > Signed-off-by: Paul Jackson > > --- > > How's this, Linus? I made "---" mandatory, and buffed > the text some more. > > --- 2.6.14-rc2-mm2.orig/Documentation/SubmittingPatches > +++ 2.6.14-rc2-mm2/Documentation/SubmittingPatches > @@ -301,8 +301,71 @@ now, but you can do this to mark interna > point out some special detail about the sign-off. > > > +12) The canonical patch format > > -12) More references for submitting patches > +The canonical patch subject line is: > + > + Subject: [PATCH 001/123] [:] > + > +The canonical patch message body contains the following: > + > + - A "from" line specifying the patch author. > + > + - An empty line. > + > + - The body of the explanation, which will be copied to the > + permanent changelog to describe this patch. > + > + - The "Signed-off-by:" lines, described above, which will > + also go in the changelog. > + > + - A marker line containing simply "---". > + > + - Any additional comments not suitable for the changelog. > + > + - The actual patch (diff output). > + > +The Subject line format makes it very easy to sort the emails > +alphabetically by subject line - pretty much any email reader will > +support that - since because the sequence number is zero-padded, > +the numerical and alphabetic sort is the same. > + > +See further details on how to phrase the "" in the > +"Subject:" line in Andrew Morton's "The perfect patch", referenced > +below. > + > +The "from" line must be the very first line in the message body, > +and has the form: > + > + From: Original Author > + > +The "from" line specifies who will be credited as the author of the > +patch in the permanent changelog. If the "from" line is missing, > +then the "From:" line from the email header will be used to determine > +the patch author in the changelog. > + > +The explanation body will be committed to the permanent source > +changelog, so should make sense to a competent reader who has long > +since forgotten the immediate details of the discussion that might > +have led to this patch. > + > +The "---" marker line serves the essential purpose of marking for patch > +handling tools where the changelog message ends. As a compatibility > +hack, some of the patch handling tools take lines beginning with > +"diff -" or "Index: " as alternative forms of the "---" marker. > +The recommended form is "---". > + > +One good use for the additional comments after the "---" marker is for > +a diffstat, to show what files have changed, and the number of inserted > +and deleted lines per file. A diffstat is especially useful on bigger > +patches. Other comments relevant only to the moment or the maintainer, > +not suitable for the permanent changelog, should also go here. > + > +See more details on the proper patch format in the following > +references. > + > + > +13) More references for submitting patches > > Andrew Morton, "The perfect patch" (tpp). > > @@ -310,6 +373,14 @@ Andrew Morton, "The perfect patch" (tpp) > Jeff Garzik, "Linux kernel patch submission format." > > > +Greg KH, "How to piss off a kernel subsystem maintainer" > + > + > +Kernel Documentation/CodingStyle > + I guess you mean here. > + > +Linus Torvald's mail on the canonical patch format: > + -- Coywolf Qi Hunt http://sosdg.org/~coywolf/ - 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/