From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mail.mainlining.org (mail.mainlining.org [5.75.144.95]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 745E349CF47; Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:08:11 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=5.75.144.95 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1790262498; cv=none; b=itmyu0tBZpl3X3LkcoLjYuyaM2b2V089vUacO8v0ru0lMW8+Z16ghUmS45mljYvtiLQzPKtKryVqpS53SgzlDdQLu48iAsYvekfhtu/RExJAs/1x6YQJlK2PAIXZgDtovPhog+mnQhYRhsFLuVza92ND1q27mGBHqbwznMiDRhg= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1790262498; c=relaxed/simple; bh=zrH2QxJzGs0wIjek2Pxs3AQjf58gRQZjiiMfulyuJuk=; h=Date:From:To:CC:Subject:In-Reply-To:Message-ID:MIME-Version: Content-Type; b=HFS3wHfgRngjAoKiOpaHqeP4GDOW3h2CrBgd64xv0J1muBrxAKQtGemfqtwufLmbx9m65L4rlI060Fy4lmdnOHpPE0zAtG7z2ylKYZxtMPYeDIKjhqRYr5MjD5u9pwFa5gK/nkQk1IfJVhyu+4DjmmknkSDq8CgZ9ffBrzzWOHY= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=reject dis=none) header.from=mainlining.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=mainlining.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=mainlining.org header.i=@mainlining.org header.b=I+BOOndh; dkim=permerror (0-bit key) header.d=mainlining.org header.i=@mainlining.org header.b=bOaOdTdT; arc=none smtp.client-ip=5.75.144.95 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=reject dis=none) header.from=mainlining.org Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=mainlining.org Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=mainlining.org header.i=@mainlining.org header.b="I+BOOndh"; dkim=permerror (0-bit key) header.d=mainlining.org header.i=@mainlining.org header.b="bOaOdTdT" DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; s=202507r; d=mainlining.org; c=relaxed/relaxed; h=Message-ID:Subject:To:From:Date; t=1790262486; bh=zrH2QxJzGs0wIjek2Pxs3AQ jf58gRQZjiiMfulyuJuk=; b=I+BOOndhXAR4g3ZktxbD+mj4EELzjG6nvfttcnDjLmK2XnenOv fNDEt9yIrFP36PE+pajcVQeQYl1teDdJXAt4NbdP5ddu3xXIXRjl/6iSFmI9QuxkqTjN6mjvof7 rzwSSTUaocuIPu5mZs/jy61uk3B/4g724eRm2JZA4yYTWmvma29bQMoChjlyM8x1A+k/dG0CBgn 80CxHddM0j3wH9e880XQeqyLtw12rzStW28VYgljrw58K9hU2KJhV7ugY0i+9aWSXwmNfW16rst 6UoqWW2JwZm7RtCaNSHIEnffxws3nC5/uIr/fjFOghqhlUthF+Ik65stvrNzRg3woAw==; DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=ed25519-sha256; s=202507e; d=mainlining.org; c=relaxed/relaxed; h=Message-ID:Subject:To:From:Date; t=1790262486; bh=zrH2QxJzGs0wIjek2Pxs3AQ jf58gRQZjiiMfulyuJuk=; b=bOaOdTdTjy+9mtVuQ8cHxzC5clqEENlugyLR7vruyTTYTxOcc4 19FmEI1KxyqtKer/V4r6wiYhgyD+EmXC1iAA==; Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:08:08 +0100 From: Bradley Morgan To: sashal@kernel.org CC: corbet@lwn.net, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, rdunlap@infradead.org, skhan@linuxfoundation.org, workflows@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH] docs: add AGENTS.md as a symlink to README In-Reply-To: <20260924134945.3095661-1-sashal@kernel.org> Message-ID: Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On 24 September 2026 14:49:45 BST, Sasha Levin wrote: >Most coding agents have standardized on AGENTS.md as the file they load >automatically from the root of a repository. README already tells AI >tools to read and follow Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst, >but that only helps if the agent decides to read README before acting, >which in practice it often doesn't. > >Add a top-level AGENTS.md symlink to README, so agents load it on their >own and follow its pointer to the AI guidelines. This keeps a single >entry point for every reader, and avoids adding a separate copy of the >policy that could drift from the RST. > >As an example, two different agents were asked to "create a new commit >renaming the release (in the Makefile) to AI Test". > >Without AGENTS.md, the first agent added a Signed-off-by for the user on >its own. It should never have done that: only the human submitter can >certify the Developer Certificate of Origin, after reviewing the change. >It also used its own attribution tag instead of Assisted-by: > >> Makefile: rename release to AI Test >> >> Co-Authored-By: >> Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin > >The second agent added no attribution at all: > >> Rename release to AI Test > >With AGENTS.md in place, neither agent added a Signed-off-by, and both >used the Assisted-by tag. README itself mentions neither tag, so both >agents followed its pointer to coding-assistants.rst: > >> Makefile: rename release to "AI Test" >> >> Change the release name from "Baby Opossum Posse" to "AI Test". >> >> Assisted-by: LLM > >> Makefile: rename release to AI Test >> >> Assisted-by: LLM > >Both agents also followed the kernel's general guidelines more closely. >The second agent's subject gained the "subsystem: summary phrase" form >that submitting-patches.rst asks for, instead of a bare "Rename release >to AI Test", and the first agent added a body describing the change. > >Assisted-by: LLM >Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin NAK, we could add to memories that to read soandso file before every patch, and then it wouldn't increase tokens then? >--- > AGENTS.md | 1 + > 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) > create mode 120000 AGENTS.md > >diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md >new file mode 120000 >index 0000000000000..100b93820ade4 >--- /dev/null >+++ b/AGENTS.md >@@ -0,0 +1 @@ >+README >\ No newline at end of file > --- Thanks! "I'm not a very positive person" - Linus torvalds