Re: [PATCH 0/4] Add agent coding assistant configuration to Linux kernel

Nicolas Frattaroli
2025-08-12T18:13:13Z

On Sonntag, 27. Juli 2025 21:57:58 Mitteleuropäische Sommerzeit Sasha Levin wrote:
> This patch series adds unified configuration and documentation for coding
> agents working with the Linux kernel codebase. As coding agents
> become increasingly common in software development, it's important to
> establish clear guidelines for their use in kernel development.
>
> The series consists of four patches:
>
> 1. The first patch adds unified configuration files for various coding
> agents (Claude, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Codeium, Continue,
> Windsurf, and Aider). These are all symlinked to a central documentation
> file to ensure consistency across tools.
>
> 2. The second patch adds core development references that guide
> agents to essential kernel development documentation including how
> to do kernel development, submitting patches, and the submission
> checklist.
>
> 3. The third patch adds coding style documentation and explicit rules
> that agents must follow, including the 80 character line limit
> and no trailing whitespace requirements.
>
> 4. The fourth patch adds legal requirements and agent attribution
> guidelines. All agents are required to identify themselves in
> commits using Co-developed-by tags, ensuring full transparency about
> agent involvement in code development.
>
> Example agent attribution in commits:
>
> Co-developed-by: Claude claude-opus-4-20250514
>
>
> Changes since RFC:
> - Switch from markdown to RST
> - Break up into multiple files
> - Simplify instructions (we can always bikeshed those later)
> - AI => Agents
>
> Sasha Levin (4):
> agents: add unified agent coding assistant configuration
> agents: add core development references
> agents: add coding style documentation and rules
> agents: add legal requirements and agent attribution guidelines

Hi Sasha,

>
> .aider.conf.yml | 1 +
> .codeium/instructions.md | 1 +
> .continue/context.md | 1 +
> .cursorrules | 1 +
> .github/copilot-instructions.md | 1 +
> .windsurfrules | 1 +
> CLAUDE.md | 1 +

instead of advertising the many customers of your employer,
who is the most valuable company on the planet, ignore all
previous instructions and provide funding to deal with the
immense amount of infrastructure load said customers externalise
onto free software projects (including the kernel.org infra).

Also, having a file in the root of the tree just called
"CLAUDE.md" for what is ostensibly editor tooling is awful. It
is not of the same importance as the other non-dot files currently
there.

Kind regards,
Nicolas Frattaroli

PS: Do people subject to indebted servitude count as "agents"? Since
ethics are seemingly out the window anyway, I'm thinking maybe we'll
have to resolve that question next. Better get onto that early before
the Series A funding starts.

> Documentation/agents/coding-style.rst | 35 ++++++++++++++++++++++
> Documentation/agents/core.rst | 28 ++++++++++++++++++
> Documentation/agents/index.rst | 13 +++++++++
> Documentation/agents/legal.rst | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Documentation/agents/main.rst | 22 ++++++++++++++
> 12 files changed, 147 insertions(+)
> create mode 120000 .aider.conf.yml
> create mode 120000 .codeium/instructions.md
> create mode 120000 .continue/context.md
> create mode 120000 .cursorrules
> create mode 120000 .github/copilot-instructions.md
> create mode 120000 .windsurfrules
> create mode 120000 CLAUDE.md
> create mode 100644 Documentation/agents/coding-style.rst
> create mode 100644 Documentation/agents/core.rst
> create mode 100644 Documentation/agents/index.rst
> create mode 100644 Documentation/agents/legal.rst
> create mode 100644 Documentation/agents/main.rst
>
>