Re: Kernel development collaboration platform wish list

["Rafael J. Wysocki" <rjw@rjwysocki.net>]

On Friday, September 13, 2019 1:13:16 PM CEST Jani Nikula wrote:
> On Fri, 13 Sep 2019, "Rafael J. Wysocki" <rjw@rjwysocki.net> wrote:
> > Hi All,
> >
> > During the Maintainers Summit session yesterday I started to create a wish list
> > for the new kernel development collaboration platform to be created (and to
> > replace the multiple pieces of tooling in use today).  I also asked Bjorn,
> > Jiri, Greg and Shuah for input and here's the reslut:
> >
> > 1. Compatible with e-mail
> >
> >   (a) E-mail send to it stored and included automatically; appears as part of
> >       the normal flow.
> >
> >   (b) Automatic e-mail responses
> >       If e-mail is sent to it, the sender will get all responses to it in the
> >       given thread by e-mail.
> >
> > 2. History tracking
> >
> >   (a) Should be able to track revisions of a given patch series (or patch) down
> >       to the initial submission.
> >
> > 3. Integration with git
> >
> >   (a) Should be able to create git commits from patches (or patch series)
> >       tracked by it if pointed to a git branch (either locally or remotely).
> 
> As I wrote in [1], I think git send-email and am are a lossy method of
> transmission, and reliably regenerating commits from patches, with the
> right baselines, as well as tracking various patch and patch series
> versions, is very difficult.

Assuming that git is used to generate patches in the first place.

Some people use different methods, like quilt, however.

> I think we should have a git push based mechanism to contribute, which
> would in turn send the patches to the right lists and maintainers for
> review.

Alternatively, one could point the change submission mechanism to a
git branch exposed from somewhere and a tree to merge it on top of.

> Maintainers could, at their choosing, still use the emailed
> patches (which would all be sent using the same pipeline, without the
> typical issues) and their exact existing workflows, or switch to using
> the commits from a branch directly.
> 
> There are more contributors than maintainers by several orders of
> magnitude. It would make the maintainers' lives so much easier if the
> patches came in the same way, every time.

I guess you mean a consistent view of all patches regardless of the source.

If so, then I agree, that should be one of the goals.

> When we have technical issues
> with patches, as maintainers, the problems rarely are in the receiving
> end. IMO solving *all* the other items in this email would become much
> easier if had this first.
> 
> BR,
> Jani.
> 
> 
> [1] http://lore.kernel.org/r/87lfv3w3v6.fsf@intel.com
> 
> 
> >
> >   (b) Link tags pointing back to it should be added automatically to git
> >       commits created from patches tracked by it.
> >
> > 4. Distributed
> >
> >   (a) Support for running offline.
> >
> >   (b) Support for batch updates.
> >
> >   (c) CL-frendly.
> >
> > 5. Patchwork-like features
> >
> >   (a) Delegation support.
> >
> >   (b) Support for bundles and patch series manipulation.
> >
> >   (c) Smart mbox (download all selected patches).
> >
> > 6. Easy to set up (especially for local installations)
> >
> > 7. Bug tracking support
> >
> > I guess there are more items to be added to this list, so please extend it if
> > you have any ideas and we'll see where this goes. :-)
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Rafael
> >
> >
> >
> >
> 
>