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@xxxxxxx> Cc: Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Rong Tao <rtoax@xxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Zhangfei Gao <zhangfei.gao@xxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: linux-doc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: linux-hardening@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Acked-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@xxxxxxxxxxxx> --- v2: - rewrite 2.Process.rst to be postive and link to new section. - fix typos and phrasing (Thorsten) - add missing "::" for block quotes - add Greg's Ack v1: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230510183423.never.877-kees@xxxxxxxxxx --- Documentation/process/2.Process.rst | 7 +++--- Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst index 6a919cffcbfd..9ab58a0d4fac 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst @@ -434,9 +434,10 @@ There are a few hints which can help with linux-kernel survival: questions. Some developers can get impatient with people who clearly have not done their homework. -- Avoid top-posting (the practice of putting your answer above the quoted - text you are responding to). It makes your response harder to read and - makes a poor impression. +- Use interleaved ("inline") replies, which makes your response easier to + read. (i.e. avoid top-posting -- the practice of putting your answer above + the quoted text you are responding to.) For more details, see + :ref:`Documentation/process/submittingpatches.rst <interleaved_replies>`. - Ask on the correct mailing list. Linux-kernel may be the general meeting point, but it is not the best place to find developers from all diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst index 486875fd73c0..efac910e2659 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst @@ -331,6 +331,31 @@ explaining difference against previous submission (see See Documentation/process/email-clients.rst for recommendations on email clients and mailing list etiquette. +.. _interleaved_replies: + +Use trimmed interleaved replies in email discussions +---------------------------------------------------- +Top-posting is strongly discouraged in Linux kernel development +discussions. 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 responses 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
