Re: [PATCH] devtools: add Co-developed-by to commit log check

[Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net>]

12/03/2026 21:10, Stephen Hemminger:
> On Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:56:25 +0100
> Thomas Monjalon <thomas@monjalon.net> wrote:
> 
> > 12/03/2026 19:54, Stephen Hemminger:
> > > Add Co-developed-by to the recognized tag pattern and tag
> > > sequence order in check-git-log.sh.  
> > 
> > Why using such tag? Signed-off-by is not enough?
> 
> 
> The tags were inherited from the kernel development process.
> 
> Signed-off-by is the DCO (Developer Certificate of Origin) attestation. 
> It says "I certify that I have the right to submit this code under the project's license.
> 
> Co-developed-by explicitly marks someone as a co-author of the patch. 
> Without it, there's only one author recorded in the git metadata.
> 
> I just wanted check-git-log.sh to be quiet if it was used.
> 
> The Co-developed-by is new, and probably came about because some people
> need/want to have their contributions recorded in the git statistics.
> Silly corporate overlords count contributions and it matters to them...
> 
> PS: If DPDK was exactly following the kernel process, every time a patch was merged into a sub-tree
> it would get a Signed-off-by from a maintainer. Because the maintainer is validating that
> the submitter had the correct rights.

True, but in DPDK we use SoB as an author or co-author mark
and it is well in line with the DCO.

I know that we had some exceptions asking for Co-developed-by
because of a corporate ask, and I am on the side of being flexible.
But making it a part of our official process could make things confused
I think.