Message-ID: <8caf1c23-54e7-6357-29b0-4f7ddf8f16d2@sladewatkins.net>
Date:   Tue, 28 Feb 2023 21:05:16 -0500
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Subject: Re: AUTOSEL process
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To:     Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
        Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
Cc:     Amir Goldstein <amir73il@gmail.com>,
        Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, stable@vger.kernel.org,
        viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk, linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org
References: <Y/y70zJj4kjOVfXa@sashalap> <Y/zswi91axMN8OsA@sol.localdomain>
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 <Y/136zpJSWx96YEe@sol.localdomain>
 <CAOQ4uxietbePiWgw8aOZiZ+YT=5vYVdPH=ChnBkU_KCaHGv+1w@mail.gmail.com>
 <Y/3lV0P9h+FxmjyF@kroah.com>
From:   Slade Watkins <srw@sladewatkins.net>
In-Reply-To: <Y/3lV0P9h+FxmjyF@kroah.com>
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On 2/28/23 06:28, Greg KH wrote:
>> But just so you know, as a maintainer, you have the option to request that
>> patches to your subsystem will not be selected by AUTOSEL and run your
>> own process to select, test and submit fixes to stable trees.
> 
> Yes, and simply put, that's the answer for any subsystem or maintainer
> that does not want their patches picked using the AUTOSEL tool.
> 
> The problem that the AUTOSEL tool is solving is real, we have whole
> major subsystems where no patches are ever marked as "for stable" and so
> real bugfixes are never backported properly.

Yeah, I agree.

And I'm throwing this out here [after having time to think about it due to an
internet outage], but, would Cc'ing the patch's relevant subsystems on AUTOSEL
emails help? This was sort of mentioned in this email[1] from Eric, and I
think it _could_ help? I don't know, just something that crossed my mind earlier.

> 
> In an ideal world, all maintainers would properly mark their patches for
> stable backporting (as documented for the past 15+ years, with a cc:
> stable tag, NOT a Fixes: tag), but we do not live in that world, and
> hence, the need for the AUTOSEL work.

(I wish we did... Oh well.)

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/stable/Y%2Fzswi91axMN8OsA@sol.localdomain/

-- Slade