Re: [PATCH 00/18] use semicolons rather than commas to separate statements

Joe Perches
2020-10-03T19:43:27Z

On Sat, 2020-10-03 at 15:31 -0400, Konstantin Ryabitsev wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 09:18:51PM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
> > > > There seems to be some mismatch between b4's use of the
> > > > cover letter to a patch series and what maintainers that
> > > > apply a subset of the patches in the patch series.
> > > >
> > > > The merge description shows the entire patch series as
> > > > applied, but the actual merge is only a subset of the
> > > > series.
> > > >
> > > > Can this be improved in b4?
> > >
> > > So, the following logic should be applied:
> > >
> > > - if the entire series was applied, reply to 0/n
> > > - if a subset only is applied, reply to each n/n of the patch that was
> > > cherry-picked out of the series
> > >
> > > Is that an accurate summary?
> >
> > That sounds good.
>
> I'm worried that this can get unwieldy for series of 50 patches where 49
> got applied. Would the following be better:
>
> -----
> From: ...
> To: ...
> Subject: Re: [PATCH 00/18] use semicolons...
>
> On Sun...
> > These patches...
> >
> > [...]
>
> A subset of these patches was applied to
>
> https://...
>
> Thanks!
>
> [5/18] regmap: debugfs:
> commit:
>
> (etc)
> -----
>
> In other words, we:
>
> - specifically say that it's a subset
> - instead of just enumerating the number of patches that were applied,
> as is currently the case ([1/1]) we list the exact numbers out of the
> posted series (e.g. [5/18])
>
> I think this is a better solution than potentially flooding everyone
> with 49 emails.

I think it would be better to reply individually as
the likelihood that the maintainer skips just a few
patches of a large series is relatively low.

It's more likely for a treewide or multi-subsystem
patch set for a maintainer to apply just a single one
or a selected few of the patches and individual
replies make it much easier to determine which ones
were applied.

thanks, Joe