On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 04:48:16PM -0700, Jonathan Corbet wrote: Awesome comments Jon, I knew there would be more to writing docs than first met the eye. > On Wed, 15 Nov 2017 09:54:21 +1100 > "Tobin C. Harding" <me@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > There is currently no documentation on how to create a pull request for > > Linus. > > > > Anyway, this actually came up at the kernel summit / maintainer > > meeting a few weeks ago, in that "how do I make a good pull request > > to Linus" is something we need to document. > > > > Here's what I do, and it seems to work well, so maybe we should turn > > it into the start of the documentation for how to do it. > > > > Create document from email thread on LKML (referenced in document). > > > > Signed-off-by: Tobin C. Harding <me@xxxxxxxx> > > --- > > > > Is it rude to send this during the merge window? Can resend after it closes if > > it makes life easier. > > I can handle patches during the merge window. That said, while I welcome > this effort and think it's a good start, there's a few things I'll > quibble about: > > - Much of this was actually written by Greg, I believe, and some by Linus. > That deserves credit in the changelog, if nowhere else. Yeah, I struggled for ages with the tense, Greg's stuff is obviously written as him. But I didn't want to paraphrase and present it as if I'd written it. After your comments I'm still unsure of the _best_ way to present this material with a good flow but still giving credit where credit is due? I didn't seem right to add their names to the document (thereby presenting myself as them). I did not think of the changelog - I'll go that path for v2. > - Putting it in Documentation/process as RST is good. But it should be > added to index.rst and made part of the docs build. I suspect you > haven't run it through sphinx at all yet, right? Some things are > unlikely to format the way you think they might. My bad, I knew I would botch some of the RST stuff, didn't think to run it through sphinx (I tend to view kernel docs as the raw files ;) > Finally, I see this as being the first installment in what, I hope, will > someday be a nice "how to be a kernel maintainer" manual. I wouldn't > insist on it before taking a patch like this, but if you could see > through to organizing it as a chapter in a bigger sub-book, that would be > great. Happy to do so. I'm no way qualified to produce much of the text but perhaps can assist in getting things moving. > Finally finally... Dan Williams [CC'd] has plans for doing some > maintainer-level documentation. He may have thoughts on how this fits > into what he's scheming, and I'd suggest copying him on the next > iteration. Let's liaise on this Dan (if you want to). > Finally finally finally...some specific comments on the text. Some of > them might be read to suggest a major expansion of the work you've done; > please see that as me saying "that would be nice". Doing all of this is > not a precondition to getting this document added! There is no rush to get merged, let's get it into shape first :) > > +Submitting Pull Requests to Linus: a guide for maintainers > > +========================================================== > > + > > +This document is aimed at kernel maintainers. It describes a method for creating > > +a pull request to be sent to Linus. > > Limiting text widths to, say, 75 columns when possible is preferable. Word > has it some maintainers are still reading the docs on their adm3a > terminals. Got it. (idea for next doc 'column widths howto' - your canonical guide to column widths (includes git brief, commit log, email, source code, and docs). I'm kidding. 75 it is. > Most maintainers push directly to Linus, so that's an obvious best focus, > but pull requests happen at other levels too. One would hope that this > information would be applicable at all levels, so it might be nice to > describe it as such. Oh, Greg had this, I stripped it out. Back in on next spin. > > +Configure Git > > +------------- > > "Configure Git to use your private key" > > We are, of course, missing the whole discussion on why one would want a > keypair, how to create it, how to get it into the web of trust, etc. All > fodder for a separate chapter in our shiny new maintainer book :) But it > is worth saying at least that this is about making Git use your key so you > can sign tags for pull requests. Funny you should say that, I'm trying to get into the web of trust so perhaps I can help with that document (as I work out how to do it). > > +Since you _usually_ would use the same key for the same project, just set it > > +once with > > If you end a line like that with "::", the following indented section will > be formatted as code by sphinx. That's almost always what you want. > > > + git config user.signingkey "keyname" cool. > > + > > +and if you use the same key for everything, just add "--global". > > + > > +Or just edit your .git/config or ~/.gitconfig file by hand, it's designed to be > > +human-readable and writable, and not some garbage like XML: > > + > > + [torvalds@i7 ~]$ head -4 .gitconfig > > + [user] > > + name = Linus Torvalds > > + email = torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > + signingkey = torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > + > > +You may need to tell git to use gpg2 > > + > > + [gpg] > > + program = /path/to/gpg2 > > + > > +You may also like to tell gpg which tty to use (add to shell rc file) > > + > > + export GPG_TTY=$(tty) > > + > > + > > +Branch, Tag, Push > > +----------------- > > + > > +Next, put your changes on a branch, hopefully one named in a semi-useful way (I > > +use 'char-misc-next' for my char/misc driver patches to be merged into > > +linux-next). That is the branch you wish to tag and have Linus pull from. > > Management of patches and branches would, of course, make for another nice > chapter. Not maintainer specific though, right? > > +Name the tag with something useful that you can understand if you run across it > > +in a few weeks, and something that will be "unique". Continuing the example of > > Greg likes to put quotes in weird places, but we don't need to preserve > that :) Git will force the tag to be "unique", so we can just say unique. He also adds two spaces in between sentences, that threw me. He is correct though, I intend on imitating. > > +the char-misc tree, for the patches to be sent to Linus for the 4.15-rc1 merge > > +window, I would name the tag 'char-misc-4.15-rc1': > > + > > + git tag -s char-misc-4.15-rc1 char-misc-next > > + > > +that will create a signed tag called 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' based on the last > > +commit in the char-misc-next branch, and sign it with your gpg key (configured > > +above). > > + > > +When you run the above command, git will drop you into an editor and ask you to > > +describe the tag. In this case, you are describing a pull request, so outline > > +what is contained here, why it should be merged, and what, if any, testing has > > +happened to it. All of this information will end up in the tag itself, and then > > +in the merge commit that Linus makes, so write it up well, as it will be in the > > +kernel tree for forever. > > s/for// > > Sphinx will format the following indented text differently, which may not > be what you want. I think you should really introduce it with "Linus said > this:" perhaps with a link to the list archive. Ok, perhaps there are examples currently in tree of how best to quote. I'll dig around. > > + Anyway, at least to me, the important part is the *message*. I want to > > + understand what I'm pulling, and why I should pull it. I also want to > > + use that message as the message for the merge, so it should not just > > + make sense to me, but make sense as a historical record too. > > + > > + Note that if there is something odd about the pull request, that > > + should very much be in the explanation. If you're touching files that > > + you don't maintain, explain _why_. I will see it in the diffstat > > + anyway, and if you didn't mention it, I'll just be extra suspicious. > > + And when you send me new stuff after the merge window (or even > > + bug-fixes, but ones that look scary), explain not just what they do > > + and why they do it, but explain the _timing_. What happened that this > > + didn't go through the merge window.. > > + > > + I will take both what you write in the email pull request _and_ in the > > + signed tag, so depending on your workflow, you can either describe > > + your work in the signed tag (which will also automatically make it > > + into the pull request email), or you can make the signed tag just a > > + placeholder with nothing interesting in it, and describe the work > > + later when you actually send me the pull request. > > + > > + And yes, I will edit the message. Partly because I tend to do just > > + trivial formatting (the whole indentation and quoting etc), but partly > > + because part of the message may make sense for me at pull time > > + (describing the conflicts and your personal issues for sending it > > + right now), but may not make sense in the context of a merge commit > > + message, so I will try to make it all make sense. I will also fix any > > + speeling mistaeks and bad grammar I notice, particularly for > > + non-native speakers (but also for native ones ;^). But I may miss > > + some, or even add some. > > + > > + Linus > > + > > +An example pull request of mine might look like: > > Here's a change of voice back to Greg. Be careful about appearing to put > one person's words into another's mouth. Agreed. (commented on above). > Here you definitely want the :: treatment, or sphinx will whine about the > strange (to it) indents. > > > + Char/Misc patches for 4.15-rc1 > > + > > + Here is the big char/misc patch set for the 4.15-rc1 merge > > + window. Contained in here is the normal set of new functions > > + added to all of these crazy drivers, as well as the following > > + brand new subsystems: > > + - time_travel_controller: Finally a set of drivers for > > + the latest time travel bus architecture that provides > > + i/o to the CPU before it asked for it, allowing > > + uninterrupted processing > > + - relativity_shifters: due to the affect that the > > + time_travel_controllers have on the overall system, > > + there was a need for a new set of relativity shifter > > + drivers to accommodate the newly formed black holes > > + that would threaten to suck CPUs into them. This > > + subsystem handles this in a way to successfully > > + neutralize the problems. There is a Kconfig option to > > + force these to be enabled when needed, so problems > > + should not occur. > > + > > + All of these patches have been successfully tested in the latest > > + linux-next releases, and the original problems that it found > > + have all been resolved (apologies to anyone living near Canberra > > + for the lack of the Kconfig options in the earlier versions of > > + the linux-next tree creations.) > > + > > + Signed-off-by: Your-name-here <your_email@domain> > > + > > + > > +The tag message format is just like a git commit id. One line at the top for a > > +"summary subject" and be sure to sign-off at the bottom. > > FWIW, I've never formatted tag messages that way, and I'm not sure how many > others do. But perhaps we should all be doing it? Hopefully the patches going in will be reviewed by other maintainers and suggestions will flow :) > > +Now that you have a local signed tag, you need to push it up to where it can be > > +retrieved by Linus: > > + > > + git push origin char-misc-4.15-rc1 > > + > > +pushes the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag to where the 'origin' repo is located. > > + > > + > > +Create Pull Request > > +------------------- > > + > > +The last thing to do is create the pull request message. Git handily will do > > +this for you with the 'git request-pull' command, but it needs a bit of help > > +determining what you want to pull, and what to base the pull against (to show > > +the correct changes to be pulled and the diffstat.) > > + > > +The following command(s) will generate a pull request: > > + > > + $TREE=git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/gregkh/char-misc.git/ > > I don't believe that $ is correct Bad Tobin, no biscuit. (read: cookie) > > + git request-pull master $TREE char-misc-4.15-rc1 > > + > > +This is asking git to compare the difference from the 'char-misc-4.15-rc1' tag > > +location, to the head of the 'master' branch (which in my case points to the > > +last location in Linus's tree that I diverged from, usually a -rc release). > > + > > +Note: please use the git protocol (for justification from Linus see referenced > > +email thread). > > We need a reference to that thread. > > > +If the char-misc-4.15-rc1 tag is not present in the repo that I am asking to be > > +pulled from, git will complain saying it is not there, a handy way to remember > > +to actually push it to a public location. > > + > > +The output of 'git request-pull' will contain the location of the git tree and > > +specific tag to pull from, and the full text description of that tag (which is > > +why you need to provide good information in that tag.) It will also create a > > +diffstat of the pull request, and a shortlog of the individual commits that the > > +pull request will provide. > > + > > + > > +References > > +---------- > > + > > +The thread that this document is based on: > > + > > + https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184 > > Ah, there's that reference. I think it should be at the top before you > first start quoting from it. Perhaps (at start of document) This document was written by Tobin C. Harding (not an experienced maintainer) primarily from emails by Greg Kroah-Hartman and Linus Torvalds. Suggestions and fixes by Jonathan Corbet. Misrepresentation was unintentional but inevitable, please direct abuse to "Tobin C. Harding" <me@xxxxxxxx>. Original email thread https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/14/184 > I think there's something missing here: what do you do with that output > from 'git request-pull'? There should be a little section on emailing it > to the relevant upstream maintainer and how to decide where to copy the > request to. Pull requests should always be copied to a public list so that > others know that the request has been made. Some guidance on subject-line > formatting would be good; as I recall, Linus filters mail that says "git" > or "pull" specially. I might also add something about how to know when the > pull has happened (sign up to the commits list if nothing else). > > Thanks for doing this, Cheers Jon, nice to work with you. Tobin. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-doc" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
