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From: kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com
To: git@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <code@khaugsbakk.name>
Subject: [PATCH 6/6] SubmittingPatches: note that trailer order matters
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:22:49 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <trailer_order_matters.8f9@msgid.xyz> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CV_SubPatches_trailers.8f3@msgid.xyz>

From: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <code@khaugsbakk.name>

It matters where you put the s-o-b; it should be last. You are signing
off on the patch as well as the whole message up to that point.

This also makes it clear who added what:

    Acked-by: The Reviewer <r@example.org>
    Signed-off-by: The Contributor <c@example.org>
    Acked-by: The (Late) Reviewer <late@example.org>
    Signed-off-by: The Maintainer <m@example.org>

The the first ack was added by the contributor and the second one was
added by the maintainer.

Signed-off-by: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <code@khaugsbakk.name>
---
 Documentation/SubmittingPatches | 5 +++++
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
index 3d2e9ecfbb8..2045708bdf5 100644
--- a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
+++ b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
@@ -490,6 +490,11 @@ particular are not used in this project.
 Only capitalize the very first letter of the trailer, i.e. favor
 `Signed-off-by:` over `Signed-Off-By:` and `Acked-by:` over `Acked-By:`.
 
+Note that these trailers should come before your `Signed-off-by:`
+trailer. You are signing off to the patch as well as the message. This
+also makes it clear who added trailers when multiple people have signed
+off on a patch.
+
 [[ai]]
 === Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
 
-- 
2.54.0.22.g9e26862b904


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-06-10 22:25 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-06-10 22:22 [PATCH 0/6] SubmittingPatches: update and flesh out trailer sections kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-06-10 22:22 ` [PATCH 1/6] SubmittingPatches: encourage trailer use for substantial help kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-06-10 22:22 ` [PATCH 2/6] SubmittingPatches: discuss non-ident trailers kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-06-10 22:22 ` [PATCH 3/6] SubmittingPatches: discourage common Linux trailers kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-06-10 22:22 ` [PATCH 4/6] SubmittingPatches: document Based-on-patch-by trailer kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-06-10 22:22 ` [PATCH 5/6] SubmittingPatches: be consistent with trailer markup kristofferhaugsbakk
2026-06-10 22:22 ` kristofferhaugsbakk [this message]
2026-06-10 22:30   ` [PATCH 6/6] SubmittingPatches: note that trailer order matters Junio C Hamano

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