Making sure a bug tracker is up to date is not an easy task. For
example, a first version of a patch fixing a tracked issue can be sent a
long time after having created the issue. But also, it can take some
time to have this patch accepted upstream in its final form. When it is
done, someone -- probably not the person who accepted the patch -- has
to remember about closing the corresponding issue.
This task of closing and tracking the patch can be done automatically by
bug trackers like GitLab [1], GitHub [2] and hopefully soon [3]
bugzilla.kernel.org when the appropriated tag is used. The two first
ones accept multiple tags but it is probably better to pick one.
According to commit 76f381bb77a0 ("checkpatch: warn when unknown tags are used for links"),
the "Closes" tag seems to have been used in the past by a few people and
it is supported by popular bug trackers. Here is how it has been used in
the past:
$ git log --no-merges --format=email -P --grep='^Closes: http' | \
grep '^Closes: http' | cut -d/ -f3-5 | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn
391 gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/intel
79 github.com/multipath-tcp/mptcp_net-next
8 gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/msm
3 gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/amd
2 gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa
1 patchwork.freedesktop.org/series/73320
1 gitlab.freedesktop.org/lima/linux
1 gitlab.freedesktop.org/drm/nouveau
1 github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/linux
1 bugzilla.netfilter.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1579
1 bugzilla.netfilter.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1543
1 bugzilla.netfilter.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1436
1 bugzilla.netfilter.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1427
1 bugs.debian.org/625804
Likely here, the "Closes" tag was only properly used with GitLab and
GitHub. We can also see that it has been used quite a few times (and
still used recently) and this is then not a "random tag that makes no
sense" like it was the case with "BugLink" recently [4]. It has also
been misused but that was a long time ago, when it was common to use
many different random tags.
checkpatch.pl script should then stop complaining about this "Closes"
tag. As suggested by Thorsten [5], if this tag is accepted, it should
first be described in the documentation. This is what is done here in
this patch.
To avoid confusion, the "Closes" can be used with any public links. No
need to check if the underlying bug tracker supports automations.
Having this tag with any kind of public bug reports allows bots like
regzbot to clearly identify patches fixing a specific bug and avoid
false-positives, e.g. patches mentioning it is related to an issue but
not fixing it.
Note that thanks to this "Closes" tag, the mentioned bug trackers can
also locate where a patch has been applied in different branches and
repositories. If only the "Link" tag is used, the tracking can also be
done but the ticket will not be closed and a manual operation will be
needed. Also, these bug trackers have some safeguards: the closure is
only done if a commit having the "Closes:" tag is applied in a specific
branch. It will then not be closed if a random commit having the same
tag is published elsewhere. Also in case of closure, a notification is
sent to the owners.
Link: https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issues/managing_issues.html#default-closing-pattern [1]
Link: https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/working-with-advanced-formatting/using-keywords-in-issues-and-pull-requests [2]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-doc/20230315181205.f3av7h6owqzzw64p@meerkat.local/ [3]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAHk-=wgs38ZrfPvy=nOwVkVzjpM3VFU1zobP37Fwd_h9iAD5JQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ [4]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/688cd6cb-90ab-6834-a6f5-97080e39ca8e@xxxxxxxxxxxxx/ [5]
Link: https://github.com/multipath-tcp/mptcp_net-next/issues/373
Suggested-by: Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Konstantin Ryabitsev <konstantin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Matthieu Baerts <matthieu.baerts@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
v3:
- Allow using the "Closes" tag with any bug reports, not only the ones
supporting automations, useful for regzbot, etc. (Thorsten Leemhuis)
v2:
- Add Konstantin's Acked-by: even if the patch has changed a bit, the
concept is still the same, I hope that's OK.
- Mention "public" in "5.Posting.rst" file as well. (Jonathan Corbet)
- Re-phrase the new text from "5.Posting.rst". (Bagas Sanjaya &
Thorsten Leemhuis)
- Clearly mention that private bug trackers and invalid URLs are
forbidden (Linus Torvalds).
---
Documentation/process/5.Posting.rst | 10 ++++++++++
Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst | 10 ++++++++++
2 files changed, 20 insertions(+)
diff --git a/Documentation/process/5.Posting.rst b/Documentation/process/5.Posting.rst
index 7a670a075ab6..c755ca795f15 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/5.Posting.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/5.Posting.rst
@@ -217,6 +217,16 @@ latest public review posting of the patch; often this is automatically done
by tools like b4 or a git hook like the one described in
'Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst'.
+Similarly, there is also the "Closes:" tag that can be used to mark any
+kind of public bug report as closed. For example::
+
+ Closes: https://example.com/issues/1234
+
+Some bug trackers have the ability to close issues automatically when a
+commit with such a tag is applied. Some bots monitoring mailing lists can
+also track such tags and take certain actions. Private bug trackers and
+invalid URLs are forbidden.
+
A third kind of tag is used to document who was involved in the development of
the patch. Each of these uses this format::
diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
index 69ce64e03c70..b0ea03f18bad 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
@@ -134,6 +134,16 @@ resources. In addition to giving a URL to a mailing list archive or bug,
summarize the relevant points of the discussion that led to the
patch as submitted.
+It might be interesting to use the 'Closes:' tag to mark any kind of public
+bug report as closed. For example::
+
+ Closes: https://example.com/issues/1234
+
+Some bug trackers have the ability to close issues automatically when a
+commit with such a tag is applied. Some bots monitoring mailing lists can
+also track such tags and take certain actions. Private bug trackers and
+invalid URLs are forbidden.
+
If your patch fixes a bug in a specific commit, e.g. you found an issue using
``git bisect``, please use the 'Fixes:' tag with the first 12 characters of
the SHA-1 ID, and the one line summary. Do not split the tag across multiple
--
2.39.2
