Re: [PATCH b4] config: accept prep-pre-flight-checks from .b4-config

[Matthieu Baerts <matttbe@kernel.org>]

On 10/07/2026 18:04, Clément Le Goffic wrote:
> Hi Mathieu,
> 
> On 7/10/26 5:51 PM, Matthieu Baerts wrote:
>> Hi Clément,
>>
>> On 10/07/2026 17:14, Clément Le Goffic wrote:
>>> The .b4-config file is a convenient way to share project-level b4
>>> configuration among contributors via version control.  However, only
>>> keys matching a set of glob patterns are currently accepted from it
>>> (see wtglobs in _setup_main_config).
>>>
>>> The prep-pre-flight-checks key, which controls which pre-flight
>>> checks are enabled or disabled before sending a series, is not
>>> matched by any of the existing patterns.  The closest glob,
>>> 'prep-*-check-cmd', only matches keys ending in '-check-cmd', not
>>> '-checks'.  As a result, setting prep-pre-flight-checks in
>>> .b4-config has no effect: the value is silently dropped and the
>>> default 'enable-all' is used instead.
>>>
>>> Add 'prep-pre-flight-checks' to the wtglobs list so it can be set
>>> from .b4-config, allowing projects to disable checks (e.g.
>>> needs-checking, needs-auto-to-cc) that are not relevant to their
>>> workflow and share that decision via version control.
>> I don't remember if it was present in this list for security reasons --
>> similar to *-check-cmd at some points [1] -- but I do remember a bug
>> report with the same patch [2] which has never been applied.
>>
>> On my side, I think it would be useful to be able to use
>> "disable-needs-auto-to-cc" on some specific dev tree of a
>> "sub-subsystem". On these dev branches, no need to add extra reviewers
>> from the "parent" subsystem.
>>
>> We could then have this config:
>>
>>      [b4]
>>          send-series-to = <dev ML>
>>          prep-pre-flight-checks = disable-needs-auto-to-cc
>>          send-prefixes = <specific dev prefix>
>>
>> [1] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/b4/b4.git/commit/?id=a1360385
>> [2] https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=219705
> 
> 
> This is actually what this patch allows.
> My usecase is to use b4 in a project unrelated to kernel process and
> internals and I wanted to be able to use and push a .b4-config file with:
> "prep-pre-flight-checks = disable-needs-auto-to-cc, disable-needs-checking"
> in it so the pre-flight-checks doesn't fire for this project and for
> everyone.
> Note that disable all should also work here, not tested.
> 
> It should fix the bugzilla bug though.

I don't know, but I guess no, otherwise Konstantin would have applied
the original bug attached to this bug report:

https://msgid.link/a8bc0958-6c46-4622-96ef-b1e55c15f30f@cherry.de

> Should I add a Fixes trailer or something like that?
Better to wait for Konstantin's feedback before sending a new version ;)

Cheers,
Matt
-- 
Sponsored by the NGI0 Core fund.