Re: [PATCH 1/2] MAINTAINERS: document the branch in git T: entries

[Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzk@kernel.org>]

On 24/09/2026 10:22, Krzysztof Kozlowski wrote:
> On 24/09/2026 05:35, Matthias Goergens wrote:
>> T: entries have named a branch after the repository URL since commit
>> a1aa5a770dc3 ("MAINTAINERS: update hwmon subsystem git trees"), and
>> 109 of the 846 git T: lines do so today.  Commit 083bf9c56d06
>> ("get_maintainer: add more --self-test options") taught
>> get_maintainer.pl to parse that optional branch and check it with git
>> ls-remote.  The preamble, however, still describes T: as it did after
>> commit 50306fb5398f ("[PATCH] Clarify T: field in MAINTAINERS"), as
>> "tree type and location", and does not mention the branch.
>>
>> Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst sends contributors to the
>> T: entry to find the tree to prepare patches against.  When
>> development happens on a branch other than the repository's HEAD, a
>> branch-less entry points them at the wrong tree; on 2026-09-24, 173 of
>> the 273 repositories named without a branch had a HEAD that mainline
>> already contained.
>>
>> Document the existing practice and say when to name a branch.
>>
>> Suggested-by: Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>
>> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/arSMwd1bGO1vrif-@mit.edu/
>> Signed-off-by: Matthias Goergens <matthias.goergens@gmail.com>
>> ---
>> Ted, as I said in my reply on the ext4 patch
>> (https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260924033200.3615554-1-matthias.goergens@gmail.com/),
>> I'm sending only a few of the per-tree T: patches for now, and would
>> value your view before sending the rest.
>>
>>  MAINTAINERS | 2 ++
>>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
>> index cc3cae2e378b..6edc17d66b44 100644
>> --- a/MAINTAINERS
>> +++ b/MAINTAINERS
>> @@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ Descriptions of section entries and preferred order
>>         See Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst for details.
>>  	T: *SCM* tree type and location.
>>  	   Type is one of: git, hg, quilt, stgit, topgit
>> +	   A git entry may name a branch after the URL; name one when
>> +	   development does not happen on the repository's HEAD.
> 
> What is repository's HEAD? The one ref in remotes/origin/HEAD? Pointing
> almost always to the master branch? I think no one works on master
> branch, because that mirrors origin/master. So basically this would
> expect EVERY tree entry to be renamed... and then - which branch - since
> almost all of us have more than one (at least fixes and for-next).
> Basically the DEFAULT is that you do not work on master.
> 
> If you disagree, please point me where is the HEAD:
> https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/krzk/linux.git/
> (and all branches are active, meaning nothing is stalled or some wip-dev
> work)
> 
> I don't think this change in that form and naming is useful for developers.
> 
> What contributors need is the branch feeding next, because this is the
> base for them.
> 

Also, people could explain their branches in ABOUT page...
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/krzk/linux.git/about/

Best regards,
Krzysztof