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Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 13:32:59 +0200
From: Helge Hafting <helge.hafting@aitel.hist.no>
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To: James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@HansenPartnership.com>
CC: ksummit-2008-discuss@lists.linux-foundation.org,
       linux-kernel <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [Ksummit-2008-discuss] Fixing the Kernel Janitors project
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James Bottomley wrote:
[...]
> track down, the last thing I want to see within a million miles of my
> inbox is a white space fixing patch.  The more of these patches we get,
> the worse the problem becomes and the shorter and more inflammatory the
> responses get. We can't go on like this.
> 
This particular problem seems fixable. Put something like this in the 
janitor faq:

"Don't create patches that are whitespace-fixes, or similiar attempts to
make the kernel adhere to the CodingStyle without actually changing the 
working code. The reasons are:
* Any patch disturbs others working on the same file. So change must be
   justified by usefulness above mere pretty formatting.
* The maintainer can run the code through pretty-printing software
   _when it won't disrupt other activity_. Such software will do
   a better cleanup job than you can, and with no human effort at.
Please find something more useful to do than whitespace/style
improvements on existing code."

And if they do this anyway, just reject the patch with a pointer to the 
FAQ entry...

Helge Hafting