From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1750986AbVJBGVp (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 02:21:45 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1750987AbVJBGVp (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 02:21:45 -0400 Received: from omx2-ext.sgi.com ([192.48.171.19]:19645 "EHLO omx2.sgi.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750985AbVJBGVp (ORCPT ); Sun, 2 Oct 2005 02:21:45 -0400 Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2005 23:21:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul Jackson To: Linus Torvalds Cc: Andrew Morton , Jeff Garzik , Paul Jackson , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, "Randy.Dunlap" Message-Id: <20051002062135.32334.32895.sendpatchset@jackhammer.engr.sgi.com> Subject: [PATCH] Document from line in patch format Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Document more details of patch format such as the "from" line used to specify the patch author, and provide more references for patch guidelines. Signed-off-by: Paul Jackson Index: 2.6.14-rc2-mm2/Documentation/SubmittingPatches =================================================================== --- 2.6.14-rc2-mm2.orig/Documentation/SubmittingPatches +++ 2.6.14-rc2-mm2/Documentation/SubmittingPatches @@ -301,8 +301,47 @@ now, but you can do this to mark interna point out some special detail about the sign-off. +12) The canonical patch format -12) More references for submitting patches +The canonical patch subject line is: + + Subject: [PATCH 001/123] [:] + +The canonical patch message body contains the following: + + The first line of the body contains a "from" line specifying + the author of the patch: + + From: Original Author + + If the "from" line is missing, then the author of the patch will + be recorded in the source code revision history as whomever is + listed in the last "Signed-off-by:" line in the message when Linus + receives it. + + The "from" line is followed by an empty line and then the body + of the explanation. + + After the body of the explanation comes the "Signed-off-by:" + lines, and then a simple "---" line, and below that comes the + diffstat of the patch and then the patch itself. The "---" line + and diffstat are optional, but helpful to readers of non-trivial + patches. + +The Subject line format makes it very easy to sort the emails +alphabetically by subject line - pretty much any email reader will +support that - since because the sequence number is zero-padded, +the numerical and alphabetic sort is the same. + +See further details on how to phrase the "" in +the "Subject:" line in Andrew Morton's "The perfect patch", +referenced below. + +See more details on the proper patch format in the following +references. + + +13) More references for submitting patches Andrew Morton, "The perfect patch" (tpp). @@ -310,6 +349,14 @@ Andrew Morton, "The perfect patch" (tpp) Jeff Garzik, "Linux kernel patch submission format." +Jeff Garzik, "How to piss off a kernel subsystem maintainer" + + +Kernel Documentation/CodingStyle + + +Linus Torvald's mail on the canonical patch format: + ----------------------------------- -- I won't rest till it's the best ... Programmer, Linux Scalability Paul Jackson 1.650.933.1373