Re: [PATCH] scsi: remove extra white space at the end of the line

[Bart Van Assche <Bart.VanAssche@wdc.com>]

On Thu, 2017-12-21 at 10:40 +0800, Jason Yan wrote:
> My editor always try to remove the extra white space at the end of the
> line when I make some changes. I'm tired of adjusting them manually.
> Can we remove them in mainline?

Hello Jason,

I think this means that your editor has been misconfigured. Any kernel code
changes should be the result of a deliberate action by a human. Configuring an
editor to apply any changes automatically to existing code is wrong.

There are several reasons why most kernel maintainers ignore patches like this
one silently:
* Whitespace changes make it harder than necessary to backport patches to
  distro kernels. Before a patch that came later than the whitespace changes
  can be backported, the whitespace change has to be backported. Additionally,
  if a whitespace change touches many source files, the order in which to
  backport patches becomes really important.
* Before a kernel developer posts a patch that fixes a bug she or he has to
  verify the change history (git log -p) to figure out which patch introduced
  the bug. Patches that only change coding style pollute the change history.
* Accepting a patch that only changes whitespace would open the floodgates for
  other kernel coding style change patches. If a patch that only changes
  whitespace would get accepted it will become hard to keep other kernel
  coding style change patches out. A few examples of recently posted coding
  style patches that do not change any functionality are:
  - scsi_dh: fix format of struct members
    (https://marc.info/?l=linux-scsi&m=151344115716122&w=2).
  - PS3: Adjustments for six function implementations
    (https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-kernel-janitors/msg38252.html).

See also https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Developer%27s_FAQ#How_not_to_start.

Thanks,

Bart.