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Date:   Thu, 11 May 2023 11:37:45 -0700
From:   Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
To:     Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>
Cc:     Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
        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: Re: [PATCH] docs: submitting-patches: Discuss interleaved replies
Message-ID: <202305111135.D65457C24@keescook>
References: <20230510183423.never.877-kees@kernel.org>
 <6c1f853b-b051-c390-267e-1ea1741e8537@leemhuis.info>
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On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 11:21:36AM +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> On 10.05.23 20:34, Kees Cook wrote:
> > 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.
> 
> Thx for doing this.
> 
> > [...]
> > ---
> >  Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst | 23 ++++++++++++++++++++
> >  1 file changed, 23 insertions(+)
> 
> For some reason we have duplicate code^w documentation for this, hence
> I'd say the same or a similar text should also be added to one of the
> filed in Documentation/process/[0-9].*rst ; from a quick
> Documentation/process/6.Followthrough.rst might be the best one.
> 
> Maybe in fact the text should move there and submitting-patches.rst
> should have a much shorter version, as it's meant to be the terser of
> the two docs about this.

Hm, The place where it is mentioned is even shorter, so I kind of like
it in submittingpatches. But, I'm open to whatever seems best. I just
want to have a URL to point people at, and I'm usually pointing to
places in submittingpatches. :)

> 
> > 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
> 
> s/discusions/discussions/

Agh, thanks. Fixed.

> 
> > +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
> 
> Nitpicking, feel free to ignore: maybe "s/replies/responses/" or
> something like that, as at least my stupid brain accidentally thought of
> the email reply (as whole) when reading this for the first time.

Yeah, that is more readable. Fixed.

> > +space. For more details see: http://daringfireball.net/2007/07/on_top
> > [...]
> 
> Ciao, Thorsten

Thanks!

-- 
Kees Cook