Re: Patch Question.

[Jesper Juhl <jesper.juhl@gmail.com>]

On 9/22/05, Randy.Dunlap <rdunlap@xenotime.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 21:01:31 -0600 Alejandro Bonilla Beeche wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> >       I have a couple of questions about sending patches. I did read the
> > SubmittingPatches Doc but don't recall this.
> >
> > Can anyone send a patch to LKML to be applied?
>
> Anyone can send a patch.  Whether it gets applied depends on
> several factors.
>
> > How long does it normally take for a patch to be merged?
>
> Depends on who you ask to merge it.  Andrew put patches into
> the -mm patchset within minutes sometimes, depending on how
> busy he is, what else he is doing, etc.
>
> But it varies quite a bit by driver or subsystem maintainer.
>
Also depends on the content of the patch. If it is tricky to read/non
obvious etc it will usually draw some comments before being merged.
Some patches get missed/overlooked completely - in that case it's up
to you to make sure it gets resend after a while (if it draws no
comments and doesn't get merged, then resending it after the next
majoe, -rc or -mm release, updated to apply to that release, is
usually good).
I've personally sent patches that got merged by someone within a few
minutes, but I've also seen patches suddenly get merged that I had
completely forgotten about that some maintainer just picked up from
the list weeks after I had sent it.


> > If a patch is not merged and I get no Replys, what should one do?
>
> Send it to the correct maintainer (driver or subsystem usually).
> If you can't find a correct maintainer, then send it to Andrew
> (akpm@osdl.org).  Maybe put "[RFC]" in the Subject: line to
> get (more) comments on it.
>
Resend the patch and check your To: and Cc: lists. Read the
MAINTAINERS file to find out who to send it to, as well as comments in
the top of the source file. Adding linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org to Cc:
in any case, in addition to other recipients, is usually a good thing
as well.


--
Jesper Juhl <jesper.juhl@gmail.com>
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