Re: [PATCH v3.1415] Documentation: add documentation summary for rc-series and merge window

Linus Torvalds
2009-06-23T19:12:22Z

On Tue, 23 Jun 2009, Jake Edge wrote:

> On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:52:02 +0200 Krzysztof Halasa wrote:
>
> > Perhaps it's just me :-) but I think we're trying to codify the rules
> > way too much. The general rules (merge window = new features etc) are
> > obviously ok but why do we need strict details like intrusive vs
> > non-intrusive etc? People should just use a common sense and good
> > judgement and, if in doubt in some particular case, ask. We are unable
> > to describe all situations in a single text file.
>
> Me2 :)

Well, I do agree that documenting the rules and making them inflexible
shouldn't be the primary goal.

But the fact is, "common sense" hasn't worked very well. I consistently
get pull requests from maintainers that have well-meaning "fix bugs" in
them, and that cause a lot of totally pointless churn.

In fact, this whole discussion has shown one thing: people still think
that "bug fix" somehow automatically means that it's appropriate after the
merge window. That's simply not so.

Linus