Re: Contributing to documentation

[Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>]

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Hi rajesh,

On Fri, Dec 22, 2023 at 02:27:21PM +0530, rajesh wrote:
> Hi Alejandor,
> 
> Thanks for the help so far. So I think I can contribute to two issues now.

Thanks a lot for helping with the bugzilla bugs!

> However going through the kernel patch videos, I am not sure how to
> apply the patches to man pages.

First of all, you should clone the git repository, and cd(1) into it:

	$ git clone https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git
	$ cd man-pages/

I assume you know how to use git, do you?  After cloning that repo,
you'll be able to read the README and CONTRIBUTING files.

Assuming you want to modify mount_namespaces(7), you should edit the
file <./man7/mount_namespaces.7>.

Assuming you know how to use the basics of git(1) to do a commit, then
you can produce a patch with

	$ git format-patch -1 HEAD -o ./patches/ \
	                   --to alx@kernel.org \
	                   --cc linux-man@vger.kernel.org

This will produce a file inside the ./patches/ directory, which you need
to send via email.  You can send it with any mail client to start, and
I can help you refine that.  Most mail clients mess the patch (they
usually mess the whitespace), so it can't be applied with git(1), so you
can configure git-send-email(1) to send it, which will respect the
patch.  mutt(1) or neomutt(1) will by default also respect it, but
git-send-email(1) is probably easier to configure for a start.  Check
this:
<https://git-scm.com/docs/git-send-email#_use_gmail_as_the_smtp_server>


> Attachment is a no no.

What do you mean?  I can accept attachments if you want to send a patch
as an attachment.

> I went through many links but not clear on what's process for patching
> man pages.

Here's the contributing guide we have:
<https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/tree/CONTRIBUTING>

Although you may want to ask for clarification on some things that are
not specified there.

> Can you point me to some link or share some notes please?  I have
> setup git, mutt, and have downloaded the latest stable kernel version.

The Linux man-pages project is different from the Linux kernel project,
and the code is in different repositories.  You don't need the kernel
for contributing to the manual pages.  The guidelines for contributing
are mostly the same, though.

I've CCed the <linux-man@vger.kernel.org> mailing list, to which all
contributions to the project should be sent, as per the contributing
guide I've linked above.

> Kind regards,
> Rajesh

Have a lovely day,
Alex

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
Looking for a remote C programming job at the moment.

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