From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.remote-ip=100.103.45.18 ARC-Seal: i=1; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc20261015; a=rsa-sha256; cv=none; t=1792564779; b=QzUTOjXgQOyHWRHv0/nTNgUZLKqI8NVTMS8H/vYGYeWPWhD/fI60qQAFbLH8CVopx2M6 c03s6rLiZEwMbL9SSAc/aHultJhzDnbJwtWLWJFGl4W3LdaQBcRtPREqBnTay3rPc8Udu FCA7UMNBieW1D9nSxrym7oNuBcXxfHBMT3CE4DHyIcc6kZkNgLMmf+sLXFgrDlpAzIWCc nArUg9oq24pRcdViXnqjmR+HEuY7y+Exp2djYhOOp9BEm7tEvuK217FoRTK63l1bjCtx/ izVCtx+MZC3C/IPgItoA0bhBoFID+37ZYlxjPzVGQ11IP6yh7D69RXl20uuTS7tzKkQ== ARC-Message-Signature: i=1; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc20261015; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; t=1792564779; h=Received:DKIM-Signature:Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID: References:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To; bh=21b2QNCGShmTQj++SAkaufZOZXmnGGESSq3T3u34PKs=; b=ZFs5G+3uMudtA6roTedcMY1tZVD/5GlofWT0ADb5RE5ib3aN/VtREg3BJsGQSwRQN3Fk Zdy/hMeS1rkKPaaFdcPu01oQ+im4/KNiQdQbHJv1qk/NaIQVE0ZumukLrJ0pEDAmXW04D yeB8H2hUGHEKkix2+SVLE/ouHX0M9HOJacCI+Ux4CF4mjc/kNy1Ij1ypHrlKth+n7wex4 MDrwI5jsLMVYvA1NcDAy6N9i6EoMKBe/UJLa9uiSaTv7C11vsTBYBApRifaRrnC2RcPut pZIyNEQDFIFBWa0NmKxua1VlmPdC3xG3sfa7rstfYZsulz8uv5RTIAswwLvJi8CRmwA== ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.a=rsa-sha256 header.s=k20260515 header.b=XWHIX8wo; 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 13606606A31D; Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:39:38 +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=XWHIX8wo Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 64D871F000C9; Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:39:38 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=kernel.org; s=k20260515; t=1792564778; bh=21b2QNCGShmTQj++SAkaufZOZXmnGGESSq3T3u34PKs=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:In-Reply-To; b=XWHIX8wotz7txdaPPyxzdJHzBbrYBqx6pEVyKfJVPZ0mcssGL9xfPoP9oj9ePTdXm EUgUUZSyUUUjYOelJ5bQcNQhaLKsIN6roW7k9Z10ZgS4OQTQsiHjCnIIsqegCu2cLP etv7YqkyqI+NeK1f+mvHU4QOHhpZ1xTE1S3aVF2V6aqlGX1qxCPMD7Bz78XR7Sbx51 sirS2MOiMOL6vvqfTmbtQFFoYYo9mBgNwvaiUWZuu2wOw6MfTGXxkoj1K5lXEtAfJO C2SMvp3q5aRHfTHzvi5ryOEXExpDDswSXeI6s4tMvqAPvanZkfjc3kn2HxtvdZkzY5 sQh9qSKvLoddg== Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2026 23:39:27 -0700 From: Eric Biggers To: Krzysztof Kozlowski Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, workflows@vger.kernel.org, Jonathan Corbet , Shuah Khan , Randy Dunlap , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Konstantin Ryabitsev Subject: Re: [PATCH] docs: submitting-patches: Require base tree information Message-ID: <20261021063927.GA31908@sol> References: <20261020212235.1143086-1-ebiggers@kernel.org> <363b228a-7e96-481a-b70f-195ba55d025e@kernel.org> X-Mailing-List: workflows@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: List-Owner: Precedence: list MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <363b228a-7e96-481a-b70f-195ba55d025e@kernel.org> 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. - Eric