From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-1.web.codeaurora.org [10.30.226.201]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 024E5290F; Mon, 28 Jul 2025 05:10:02 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1753679403; cv=none; b=mRRyD2FeEUohJ6oZnZ9neYKfrUJWOdCYtx2AqYnuARlx62WdqmmX005vJVRe93GizOLD8yhfU7KBwwgVSkHCA+TIUy1sOyhZ4gHZpATq/Yg3vhCf8imKHFqnwqhfgEp7SknsBxrp7hM2i43OtuRYdYZ1+CF16sTgSTJ32Qkm+vo= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1753679403; c=relaxed/simple; bh=2qEe6DqAuEUqbVXL+xo0D0mEXM1k79M9L758DOFS5aw=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:Message-ID:References:MIME-Version: Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To; b=YSXvXtczsMBrxTjccI0cQZGgeV59oOexdaK/O9tqBTL9To1wHbV4iRIC0Y0gKd66wuYhSBg5qzBLuRYMvJDeZZOKiduHR+kDBNSBW6Lv2Orydtptm12lGu7qYdXXh4zLp0WhBug3EhyaPS0wRrA8FKTVv7E8+l3Kz+YsHiLbn7k= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=nv6Z2STG; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="nv6Z2STG" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id C74D2C4CEE7; Mon, 28 Jul 2025 05:10:02 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=kernel.org; s=k20201202; t=1753679402; bh=2qEe6DqAuEUqbVXL+xo0D0mEXM1k79M9L758DOFS5aw=; h=Date:From:To:Cc:Subject:References:In-Reply-To:From; b=nv6Z2STGtW51o60x6gB7Ql5l7l59w88DNxhywbVhtsG3/+4zdOTJV9U6l2Blgn/oS o5Nxi2Yy+ucZLF20ZyYXHlZ8xbOlnrDcnaPK6SNIJPfjJGcL9KIJfkJ23loHVi5JcI /0jKLMW/aHvju+djmNq29WCMTJC0BURAl/Uxi6OSwqFp3xaFokaOmmxeT7mAr3QcNc 8j8kTiiVKrOs38oSVF85isktsZuWqXFhukCHW+lGipvT4nkIquaaJZG5jk7iKIwIyF 8FcnY5cXcGK1zgcOypvpKlb6itqjJuX7MBDXwaEE3HUkyFSsL370f+08jw6D/qBJah a3Cu7DjVO3HsA== Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2025 22:10:02 -0700 From: Kees Cook To: Sasha Levin Cc: corbet@lwn.net, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, workflows@vger.kernel.org, josh@joshtriplett.org, konstantin@linuxfoundation.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, rostedt@goodmis.org Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/4] agents: add core development references Message-ID: <202507272203.BECE244@keescook> References: <20250727195802.2222764-1-sashal@kernel.org> <20250727195802.2222764-3-sashal@kernel.org> <202507271937.EC44B39@keescook> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: On Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 01:00:37AM -0400, Sasha Levin wrote: > > If an Agent needs the above list, then so does a human. Everything above > > should already be discoverable by the Agent. If it's not, then we need a > > better summary document _for humans_ that reads like the above. > > Why would an agent read those docs unless we tell it to? When I typed "/init" in claude, it found the references in the Makefile and other files to stuff in Documentation/ and read it. Hence my suggestion to add this in a place that is human (and agent) discoverable, like Makefile, which any sane agent is going to read to look for a "help" target, etc. Any agent that doesn't understand how to figure out what _kind_ of codebase it's working on isn't an agent that is going to deal well with the Linux tree. > Similarily, why would a human read those docs unless we tell it to? :) We do, though. But this is my point: if we _lack_ a good entry point for humans, then we need to solve _that_ problem. > Just like with humans, the better context and background you give them > the better of a result you'll get out of it. Both the top of Makefile and the bottom of "make help" refer to reading the README file. I think *that* is where all these kinds of changes should go, and it should be suitable for human consumption. Honestly, README is extremely vague right now: $ cat README Linux kernel ============ There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first. In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or ``make pdfdocs``. The formatted documentation can also be read online at: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/ There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory, several of them using the reStructuredText markup notation. Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel. "There are several guides..." and "There are various text files in ..." is hardly the right language for a human either. And why is doc building in the README? That's, frankly, esoteric for anyone who needs to read the README. Let's fix up the README into something nice for everyone, and any decent agent should already be reading it anyway. -Kees -- Kees Cook