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From:   Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
To:     Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc:     Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
        Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>,
        Rong Tao <rtoax@foxmail.com>,
        Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com>,
        Zhangfei Gao <zhangfei.gao@foxmail.com>,
        linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-hardening@vger.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] docs: submitting-patches: Discuss interleaved replies
Date:   Wed, 10 May 2023 11:34:26 -0700
Message-Id: <20230510183423.never.877-kees@kernel.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Precedence: bulk

Top-posting has been strongly discouraged in Linux development, but this
was actually not written anywhere in the common documentation about
sending patches and replying to reviews. Add a section about trimming
and interleaved replies.

Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>
Cc: Rong Tao <rtoax@foxmail.com>
Cc: Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com>
Cc: Zhangfei Gao <zhangfei.gao@foxmail.com>
Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-hardening@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
---
 Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst | 23 ++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
index eac7167dce83..3e838da8822f 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
@@ -326,6 +326,29 @@ explaining difference aganst previous submission (see
 See Documentation/process/email-clients.rst for recommendations on email
 clients and mailing list etiquette.
 
+Use trimmed interleaved replies in email discussions
+----------------------------------------------------
+Top-posting is strongly discouraged in Linux kernel development
+discusions. Interleaved (or "inline") replies make conversations much
+easier to follow. For more details see:
+https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
+
+As is frequently quoted on the mailing list:
+
+  A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_post
+  Q: Were do I find info about this thing called top-posting?
+  A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
+  Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
+  A: Top-posting.
+  Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
+
+Similarly, please trim all unneeded quotations that aren't relevant
+to your reply. This makes replies easier to find, and saves time and
+space. For more details see: http://daringfireball.net/2007/07/on_top
+
+  A: No.
+  Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
+
 .. _resend_reminders:
 
 Don't get discouraged - or impatient
-- 
2.34.1