From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.remote-ip=100.103.45.18 ARC-Seal: i=1; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc20261015; a=rsa-sha256; cv=none; t=1794610983; b=a/GGO87o6rAdx6HwWSYnE9gyzVKvKZhVsR4SVS319cv87EgWOe5shdv4ln1PKXrfmbxQ VSZslYUlmcIyyooqWuwPkUM+DGZs5Qh3HwkDMBypp8Q6uK11t4b11/JGP5WJVjEtJg2Ji zuIZt4qtqINr9M5NsC7WziFcmQthWK3kPHm9NjuMm9D+T7oAdM6Ql4mKqHBtgKYFtwUw8 6iVfFlsiwg3TabdJvWBMeljyG31Mk96eGZfi/Q75MPcQxDXWhBju2w1++7VRMbqrcF4Ev 5bdhvW0yqIGO0/XQgbbjyMnCEt4nvvkMGioPGjQeUA4xWC9Yixh/vHV6n9NOA8iam9g== ARC-Message-Signature: i=1; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc20261015; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; t=1794610983; h=Received:DKIM-Signature:From:Subject:Date:Message-Id:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:X-B4-Tracking:X-Change-ID:To: Cc:X-Mailer:X-Developer-Signature:X-Developer-Key; bh=AVSytBLebuCaadnUQmEtb0ClDlSDOFCjAcfWpAknlkY=; b=mwy4KdHagk5LvcUbrK5DcoFBqCs/G31cXc5trqZ5UCOdYALgyFe7fBQpFto814oGI88q 2wY46PsKY1njawVpPQ0/s733F809DRhEgsDneG0yeAm3UauxytAsTmQA1wXjHG51JBoU6 ci5w3XHjbskc3NMqsw3iT/SC74o5hqumby7h7e2p6bp/NgcHkn5dtzsX1kGk8Lcn45Njj lAM+xGZAeKMpcfkVz69BaFdABFcI8XaTbitk3hbH74oc/Vpc6G4M1aCmf0o5ICOw7WHC1 VCojmLxmNx+xcHQARKLDz9k6l4rcX6Q6zKfbgU+7Ej/k4eyxQUE7ZhzGlhEyzOgFq5Q== ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass header.d=linuxfoundation.org header.i=@linuxfoundation.org header.a=rsa-sha256 header.s=korg header.b=xgY7mcsV; arc=none smtp.remote-ip=100.103.45.18 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (quasi.space.kernel.org [100.103.45.18]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature ECDSA (prime256v1)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 44745606A330; Fri, 13 Nov 2026 23:03:02 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=linuxfoundation.org header.i=@linuxfoundation.org header.a=rsa-sha256 header.s=korg header.b=xgY7mcsV Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 70C601F000C4; Fri, 13 Nov 2026 23:03:01 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=linuxfoundation.org; s=korg; t=1794610982; bh=AVSytBLebuCaadnUQmEtb0ClDlSDOFCjAcfWpAknlkY=; h=From:Subject:Date:To:Cc; b=xgY7mcsV24M1V6dNmf4fmwF1qGuIsFqLRlxbey/5C6wbTqQ0RUdaCGWmgXe1sDoaT nytDkoHSguAH1TRAzhmewKdo6F2wzS0xPobE56i6sEfPincnsom13bpYUu/BnoVJ0W WxFXh203eRJ81Et9PprL+f1wf1gdhCL9iyIW7otc= From: Konstantin Ryabitsev Subject: [PATCH v3 0/2] get_maintainer: stop sending every patch to LKML Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2026 18:02:44 -0500 Message-Id: <20261113-get-maintainer-the-rest-fallback-v3-0-36ee5a3e8d13@linuxfoundation.org> X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: List-Owner: Precedence: list MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-B4-Tracking: v=1; b=H4sIAAAAAAAA/5WOQW7DIBBFr4JmnakAE4y8yj2qLsZmbNO6UAG2U kW+e+Rk00UX7fJLT+/9GxTOgQt04gaZt1BCitCJ5iRgmClOjMFDJ0BLbZWUDieu+EkhVgqRM9a ZMXOpONKy9DR8oLXnMzuyxnkDJwFfmcdwfSRe3567rP07D/XwHsQcSk35+/FhUwf3j9ymUGHrt fWyb4kac1lCXK9jWqOnGlJ8SXmCI7zpH2ot/6DWKFFZTUymbYxzv6v3fb8Dhql3+UcBAAA= X-Change-ID: 20261008-get-maintainer-the-rest-fallback-6655e8a648d4 To: Joe Perches , Jonathan Corbet , Shuah Khan , Randy Dunlap Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, users@kernel.org, Federico Vaga , Akira Yokosawa , Carlos Bilbao , Avadhut Naik , Alex Shi , Yanteng Si , Dongliang Mu , Chen-Yu Yeh , Weijie Yuan , workflows@vger.kernel.org, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, Konstantin Ryabitsev , Petr Pavlu X-Mailer: b4 0.17-dev-ce4c1 X-Developer-Signature: v=1; a=openpgp-sha256; l=3085; i=konstantin@linuxfoundation.org; h=from:subject:message-id; bh=V8WYeTMsfFzpEBDEJ+2MXQFiTHPfN2pGO7TZK4m3ga8=; b=owGbwMvMwCW27YjM47CUmTmMp9WSGLK+T1c+w5CwZO2LqtuFPzQLNAP1lvv6c/VucVFd85xrd VVMg3dBRykLgxgXg6yYIkvZvthNQYUPPeTSe0xh5rAygQxh4OIUgImoSjIy3PgrtI511WsGpvNT BBveTNIUTGHdMJNloY/e81QPH/G3Zxj+R1wJvpd1wux74IvFLDHKgue2/GJYkl3jGjtL00fgXdV 5FgA= X-Developer-Key: i=konstantin@linuxfoundation.org; a=openpgp; fpr=DE0E66E32F1FDD0902666B96E63EDCA9329DD07E LKML has become mostly a firehose of patches that are already going to a subsystem list. The reason is THE REST: it matches every file in the tree, so get_maintainer.pl adds linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org to every single patch. During the week of Oct 1-7, 2026: - LKML carried 13,641 messages (~1,950/day), 90% of which were also sent to at least one other list; - with ~2,100 subscribers, that is about 29 million deliveries per week for LKML alone. This problem is becoming urgent and untenable. The increased volume of patches sent using AI tooling has resulted in dramatically higher delivery queues and if this change is not implemented, we will have to start force-unsubscribing addresses that do not show any developer activity or use similar drastic measures. This issue came up during the 2026 Maintainer Summit and the consensus was that "always include linux-kernel for every patch" was never the intent. This series makes THE REST a fallback as initially intended: it is only added for a file when no other matching MAINTAINERS section provides a mailing list that get_maintainer.pl would actually output for it. Patch 2 updates submitting-patches.rst, which currently tells submitters to send every patch to LKML. Several v1 reviewers asked for a catch-all list that would keep carrying every patch for those who want to follow all kernel development. That is a worthwhile discussion, but it is separate from this series, which only restores THE REST to its original role. Translation maintainers are Cc'd because the it_IT, ja_JP, sp_SP, zh_CN and zh_TW versions of submitting-patches.rst carry the same "send every patch to LKML" advice and will need a follow-up update once the English text is settled. --- Changes in v3: - Rebased on v7.4-rc2 - Update the cover to specify that this is urgent - Link to v2: https://patch.msgid.link/20261020-get-maintainer-the-rest-fallback-v2-0-162aea473488@linuxfoundation.org Changes in v2: - Don't count subscribers-only lists (or moderated lists with --no-moderated) as a destination, since get_maintainer.pl doesn't output them; v1 sent patches to e.g. fs/squashfs/ to no list at all - Add submitting-patches.rst update describing LKML as the list of last resort (Petr Pavlu) - Rebase on v7.3 - Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20261008-get-maintainer-the-rest-fallback-v1-1-7d26d0b7aa34@linuxfoundation.org --- Konstantin Ryabitsev (2): get_maintainer: only use THE REST as a fallback docs: submitting-patches: make LKML a list of last resort again Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst | 9 ++++-- scripts/get_maintainer.pl | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) --- base-commit: 7475ea8b58616b33c04afb976cf0fbaad9dd63fb base-tree: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git master change-id: 20261008-get-maintainer-the-rest-fallback-6655e8a648d4 Best regards, -- Konstantin Ryabitsev