[RFC PATCH 1/2] SubmittingPatches: Add new section about what to base work on

[Ramkumar Ramachandra <artagnon@gmail.com>]

Add a section 0 explaining which commit to base patches on. Rewrite a
couple of paragraphs about signing off patches to reflect Junio's
updated preferences.

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Signed-off-by: Ramkumar Ramachandra <artagnon@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/SubmittingPatches |   52 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
 1 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
index abc65de..a90155c 100644
--- a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
+++ b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
@@ -53,6 +53,37 @@ But the patch submission requirements are a lot more relaxed
 here on the technical/contents front, because the core GIT is
 thousand times smaller ;-).  So here is only the relevant bits.
 
+(0) Decide what to base your work on.
+
+The general principle is always to base your work on the oldest branch
+that your change is relevant to.
+
+ - A fix for a bug that has been with git from older releases should be
+   included in both the upcoming feature release and the current
+   maintenance release.  Try to base your work on the 'maint' branch.  A
+   work to kill a bug that is in 'master' but not in 'maint' should be
+   based on 'master'.
+
+ - A fix for a bug that is not yet in 'master' is the best bug to kill.
+   If you can find the topic that introduces the regression, base your
+   work on the tip of the topic.  "log --first-parent master..pu" would be
+   a good way to find the tips of topic branches.
+
+ - A new feature should be based on the 'master' branch in general.
+
+ - If your new feature depends on some other topics that are not in
+   'master' yet, and if it relies only on one topic, base your work on the
+   tip of that topic.  If it depends on too many topics that are not in
+   'master', you can privately start working on 'next' or even 'pu' and
+   send out your patches for discussion, but it is possible that your
+   maintainer may ask you to wait and rebase your changes on 'master'
+   after some of the larger topics your topic depends on graduate to
+   'master'.
+
+ - Base corrections and enhancements on a topic that are not in 'master'
+   yet but already merged to 'next' on the tip of the topic.  If the topic
+   has not been merged to 'next', it is Ok to add a note that the patch is
+   a trivial fix and can be squashed into the series.
 
 (1) Make separate commits for logically separate changes.
 
@@ -170,17 +201,16 @@ patch, format it as "multipart/signed", not a text/plain message
 that starts with '-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----'.  That is
 not a text/plain, it's something else.
 
-Note that your maintainer does not necessarily read everything
-on the git mailing list.  If your patch is for discussion first,
-send it "To:" the mailing list, and optionally "cc:" him.  If it
-is trivially correct or after the list reached a consensus, send
-it "To:" the maintainer and optionally "cc:" the list for
-inclusion.
-
-Also note that your maintainer does not actively involve himself in
-maintaining what are in contrib/ hierarchy.  When you send fixes and
-enhancements to them, do not forget to "cc: " the person who primarily
-worked on that hierarchy in contrib/.
+Unless your patch is a very trivial and an obviously correct one,
+first send it with "To:" set to the mailing list, with "cc:" listing
+people who are involved in the area you are touching (the output from
+"git blame $path" and "git shortlog --no-merges $path" would help to
+identify them), to solicit comments and reviews.  After the list
+reached a consensus that it is a good idea to apply the patch, re-send
+it with "To:" set to the maintainer and optionally "cc:" the list for
+inclusion.  Do not forget to add trailers such as "Acked-by:",
+"Reviewed-by:" and "Tested-by:" after your "Signed-off-by:" line as
+necessary.
 
 
 (4) Sign your work
-- 
1.7.0.4