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 055C0348C7D; Thu, 24 Sep 2026 15:44:57 +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=1790264700; cv=none; b=Q+5s4Mmp9Rv+J+3b4G69cuweNHKz44IRqeBVcXWgN1qKyT+41yIA7JRC2ImGxYuRsEiKiREs03DEEdEdLGZYepwP/HVhVI/s5WOFN/HBHlaDY5dIanbxJC+qLO/B9Xl9CAXjQNllQax/wRzTvyNYQpTfMvg9656XaNyj7MJU9rc= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1790264700; c=relaxed/simple; bh=/h6FDCqEvu2VcdIuCvaYqPR84F3tAsFoiRPMwYVYuD8=; h=Date:From:To:CC:Subject:In-Reply-To:References:Message-ID: MIME-Version:Content-Type; b=T2c55uaJ3qezAMCtSrq4hNTLqNTvuy/ee42I9b0F8vopScB996SmcxPjubLyc29C6s6JLmUHbDxDcZ9uzHwlzkFynuWB6qROxhIQFp6GYuWygJE5KDgFIhk0x72Alz0WFX+4uJrort1IIC9lX/XluH3XiKJidBwABI5u71kbXko= 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=PLOicbZc; dkim=permerror (0-bit key) header.d=mainlining.org header.i=@mainlining.org header.b=f05ZGD3L; 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="PLOicbZc"; dkim=permerror (0-bit key) header.d=mainlining.org header.i=@mainlining.org header.b="f05ZGD3L" DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; s=202507r; d=mainlining.org; c=relaxed/relaxed; h=Message-ID:Subject:To:From:Date; t=1790264690; bh=YebRGxiOOFdyOaA1jNvEHuU n5lpo0MnD1Vo5lFRxTwk=; b=PLOicbZcRRZLFULfhrnocmrz+Ns8EE+lwePeB+YtE6knaTCjZi f13trMXBWP+metR6HkrMnC4YfyT4Oi37DkgE4NWztMvvZTQAwrrx0ZoSSLdcPYR8G5Equis0zfD ySIQADorhzttM/rKJCQYOlt+u2gCHCLohrIUeSo9yDLfrE9fmVxoo2p9UkvTAcxhkc7O7RZL/13 5D00akbfcJOgAMIkLTSYg1hLemyeeSUG7GpT7zgdVI3sfDD/c1BViUzoTnXVKiuaIm34u2aPyaA Dc0r5KvkvTVVGHUcUzOJ5TKYFpX3YmEMTA3jhYp4liwseX51FbmdzvnAz6/hTKsfeKg==; DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=ed25519-sha256; s=202507e; d=mainlining.org; c=relaxed/relaxed; h=Message-ID:Subject:To:From:Date; t=1790264690; bh=YebRGxiOOFdyOaA1jNvEHuU n5lpo0MnD1Vo5lFRxTwk=; b=f05ZGD3LEsFLDi+b5ZR+E643VUsXO6LjGwWcujHxs74btemuQi TFDb1DJbTzTU+0AMx07RqY+sZOEIf+zKleBQ==; Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:44:52 +0100 From: Bradley Morgan To: Sasha Levin 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: References: <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 16:20:15 BST, Sasha Levin wrote: >On Thu, Sep 24, 2026 at 04:08:08PM +0100, Bradley Morgan wrote: >> 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? > >Could you help me understand what you meant here? I'm aware some agents >use a >notion of "memories", but I don't think they standardized on it in any >way, nor >how we could incorporate them here? > They use MEMORY.md sometimes. >And as far as I'm aware, nothing is free here - those "memories" still use >tokens. Not as much. > > --- Thanks! "I'm not a very positive person" - Linus torvalds