Re: [PATCH] Documentation: remove the requirement for LLM attribution

[Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>]

On Thu, 2026-07-02 at 17:53 +0300, Laurent Pinchart wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 02, 2026 at 10:32:48AM -0400, Jeff Layton wrote:
> > We've had this requirement in place in the Documentation for several
> > months, but it's becoming clear that the signal to noise ratio from this
> > is quite low.
> > 
> > 1/ It's not universally followed. While many people do try to attribute
> > the LLMs in good faith, not everyone does for various reasons.
> > 
> > 2/ It basically serves as free advertising for proprietary LLM companies.
> > 
> > 3/ It's not clear why we want to collect this info in the first place.
> > 
> > Given that the data this provides is flawed at best and is being
> > collected for a purpose that isn't clear, let's just kill the
> > requirement for these tags from the kernel at large.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>
> > ---
> > Christian had proposed watering down the LLM attribution, but I think
> > it's not productive to try and track this until we have a clearer sense
> > of what we want to do with this information and how to make it more
> > reliable.
> > ---
> >  Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst  | 22 ----------------------
> >  Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst | 10 ----------
> 
> You're missing scripts/checkpatch.pl.
> 
> >  2 files changed, 32 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst b/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
> > index 899f4459c52d..c4cc0917fc92 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
> > +++ b/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
> > @@ -35,25 +35,3 @@ is responsible for:
> >  * Ensuring compliance with licensing requirements
> >  * Adding their own Signed-off-by tag to certify the DCO
> >  * Taking full responsibility for the contribution
> > -
> > -Attribution
> > -===========
> > -
> > -When AI tools contribute to kernel development, proper attribution
> > -helps track the evolving role of AI in the development process.
> > -Contributions should include an Assisted-by tag in the following format::
> > -
> > -  Assisted-by: AGENT_NAME:MODEL_VERSION [TOOL1] [TOOL2]
> > -
> > -Where:
> > -
> > -* ``AGENT_NAME`` is the name of the AI tool or framework
> > -* ``MODEL_VERSION`` is the specific model version used
> > -* ``[TOOL1] [TOOL2]`` are optional specialized analysis tools used
> > -  (e.g., coccinelle, sparse, smatch, clang-tidy)
> > -
> > -Basic development tools (git, gcc, make, editors) should not be listed.
> > -
> > -Example::
> > -
> > -  Assisted-by: Claude:claude-3-opus coccinelle sparse
> 
> Documentation/process/generated-content.rst still clearly requests
> contributors to disclose usage of code-generation tools. Even if we drop
> the Assisted-by tag, I think it is useful to mention the requirement
> here (probably including a link to generated-content.rst).
> 

Fair point. Maybe we should keep the Attribution section then, and give
it some brief text like:

"Contributions developed with LLM help should also follow the
guidelines outlined in the generated-content document."

With a link to generated-content.rst?


> > diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
> > index cc6a1f73d7f2..b74c38aa9770 100644
> > --- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
> > +++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
> > @@ -634,16 +634,6 @@ bugzilla.kernel.org is a public place in this sense, but email addresses
> >  used there are private; so do not expose them in tags, unless the person
> >  used them in earlier contributions.
> >  
> > -Using Assisted-by:
> > -------------------
> > -
> > -If you used any sort of advanced coding tool in the creation of your patch,
> > -you need to acknowledge that use by adding an Assisted-by tag.  Failure to
> > -do so may impede the acceptance of your work.  Please see
> > -Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst for details regarding the
> > -acknowledgment of coding assistants.
> > -
> > -
> >  .. _the_canonical_patch_format:
> >  
> >  The canonical patch format
> > 
> > ---
> > base-commit: 665159e246749578d4e4bfe106ee3b74edcdab18
> > change-id: 20260702-aidoc-7e18f221d63a

-- 
Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>