From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751152AbVJBTE3 (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 15:04:29 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751153AbVJBTE3 (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 15:04:29 -0400 Received: from smtp.osdl.org ([65.172.181.4]:44731 "EHLO smtp.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751152AbVJBTE3 (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 15:04:29 -0400 Date: Sun, 2 Oct 2005 12:04:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Linus Torvalds To: Paul Jackson cc: Andrew Morton , Jeff Garzik , "Randy.Dunlap" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Coywolf Qi Hunt , Greg KH Subject: Re: [PATCHv2] Document from line in patch format In-Reply-To: <20051002163244.17502.15351.sendpatchset@jackhammer.engr.sgi.com> Message-ID: References: <20051002163244.17502.15351.sendpatchset@jackhammer.engr.sgi.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Sun, 2 Oct 2005, Paul Jackson wrote: > > Document more details of patch format such as the "from" line > used to specify the patch author, and provide more references > for patch guidelines. One more issue: I'd really prefer that the "---" not be documented as "optional". Yes, my tools will also notice "diff -" and "Index: " at the start of the line as being markers for where the real patch starts, but that's a hack because people haven't been following the "---" rule. I'd much rather make it clear that the "---" is supposed to be there, to mark where the end of the comments are. Note that after the "---" you can have any amount of explanations that are not to be committed as comments on why. Not just a "diffstat", but in general it's an area for explaining why I should commit it or random notes on the patch. Things that don't necessarily make sense once the patch _is_ committed. For example, a submitter might want to note that he's working on a better patch, but that this patch is the minimal one before a release. Things he wants to tell the maintainer, but that don't necessarily make sense to anybody else. So the _diffstat_ is optional (although much preferred, especially for bigger patches), but the marker of "this is the end of the comments for the changelog" is not. Linus