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smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.a=rsa-sha256 header.s=k20260515 header.b="Jxi5ovK/"; 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 2D237606A319; Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:55:42 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key, unprotected) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.a=rsa-sha256 header.s=k20260515 header.b=Jxi5ovK/ Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 334971F000C4; Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:55:38 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=kernel.org; s=k20260515; t=1792583742; bh=h1gsuh3+QAkcUVGaGgg3bgmqiOfNnhJ4pLjBIjhtJJg=; h=Date:Subject:To:Cc:References:From:In-Reply-To; b=Jxi5ovK/02eNuyahEQCdyHOorsIkN3Nkq4W1RJkhFr5pWWqySKlIT7N50i8sjdTUK ea7RD+iOIKev49zaWaeztsplr5oNgRn4LofYLCHlzGP/8goIrd3CpZnIJGONCp6z0Y jWZMGkmFoUXCAggGktB15Z7u39953rtQlv3LMrxuB1amXlxp3lwlUqLRVZFCOoo2nl f0HXILOmVgCO9EFyT+29RRwBNoDr6QbfRHdI1OO3au4Mz9RvNa7sIOGSA8AJVLCkQJ 7tC9BOZV7LQD6pP4pOJa2EqeeV4/x3LkAlny3NUfU2xHcqv6phoiAAn6/RpZ5qCNxX tgr96NhY6Fyig== Message-ID: Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2026 13:55:37 +0200 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 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Subject: Re: [PATCH] docs: submitting-patches: Require base tree information To: Eric Biggers Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, workflows@vger.kernel.org, Jonathan Corbet , Shuah Khan , Randy Dunlap , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Konstantin Ryabitsev References: <20261020212235.1143086-1-ebiggers@kernel.org> <363b228a-7e96-481a-b70f-195ba55d025e@kernel.org> <20261021063927.GA31908@sol> <20261021064940.GC31908@sol> From: Krzysztof Kozlowski Content-Language: en-US Autocrypt: addr=krzk@kernel.org; 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charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit On 21/10/2026 08:49, Eric Biggers wrote: > On Wed, Oct 21, 2026 at 08:41:47AM +0200, Krzysztof Kozlowski wrote: >> On 21/10/2026 08:39, Eric Biggers wrote: >>> On Wed, Oct 21, 2026 at 08:26:28AM +0200, Krzysztof Kozlowski wrote: >>>> On 20/10/2026 23:22, Eric Biggers wrote: >>>>> -Make sure that base commit is in an official maintainer/mainline tree >>>>> -and not in some internal, accessible only to you tree - otherwise it >>>>> -would be worthless. >>>>> + If ``git format-patch`` with ``--base=auto`` (or >>>>> + ``format.useAutoBase=true``) can't detect a base commit, e.g. due to >>>>> + the current branch having no upstream tracking branch, it exits with >>>>> + an error. In such cases, pass an explicit base commit to ``--base`` >>>>> + instead. This is also needed if git detects the wrong base commit, >>>>> + such as when the upstream branch has local, unpublished commits. >>>>> + >>>>> +The base commit must be in a well-known public tree, such as the >>>>> +subsystem development branch the patch is targeting. See >>>>> +:ref:`obtain_a_current_source_tree`. Mainline or the latest linux-next >>>>> +can also be acceptable bases, depending on the subsystem. >>>> >>>> I disagree, that's pointlessly too hard requirement. >>>> >>>> For many of my contributions base is obvious and not needed to be >>>> explicitly defined. For all the patches I accept, answer is the same - >>>> base is either obvious or if not and patch does not apply, then the base >>>> does not matter. >>>> >>>> Requiring it is just bureaucracy without actual benefit. >>>> >>>> The only benefit would be if maintainer COULD change its base to apply >>>> some patch with odd base... but this cannot happen. Maintainer base is >>>> fixed - it's the HEAD of his development branch for given category of >>>> commits (e.g. DTS branch for SoC maintainers). >>> >>> There are many use cases for applying patches besides the final patch >>> acceptance, such as review (by anyone, not just a maintainer), testing, >>> CI systems, etc. >>> >>> HEAD of a branch is of course not fixed, and changes every time a patch >>> gets applied. That's especially relevant when wanting to check out an >>> old patch for any reason. Trying to guess a base commit based on the >>> date and patch subject is a waste of time. >> >> All these tools should just work on top of linux-next. Requiring people >> to add base like "next-20261021" or "tip-of-obvious-maintainer-tree" is >> pointless. I understand that base is helping, but helping and requiring >> an obvious information just do not go together. >> >> So again: base has ZERO meaning to the maintainer process. It has >> meaning to tools, so fix the tools to work on known and obvious trees. > > So what is your proposed algorithm to apply an arbitrary patch when Already provided that, so to recap: > there's no base-commit? Including any historical patch (from > months/years ago), patches with dependencies, etc. Dependency is something else, but for every other patch: 1. For testing/CI: you apply on top of next 2. Every other case the maintainer knows where to apply it, because it is his HEAD of next-branch. I am repeating myself, but I really had no single problem of lack of knowledge where to apply a patch as a maintainer or reviewer of some subsystem, thus maybe I do not understand the actual problem you are experiencing. Best regards, Krzysztof