[PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[Yoann Congal]

From: Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr>

To workaround issues with list.openembedded.org rewriting "From:" email
header, users are encouraged to put a "From:" header inside the mail
body. When using the suggested git-send-email workflow, users may use the
global git configs format.from=true and format.forceInBodyFrom=true:

man git-config:
> format.from
>    Provides the default value for the --from option to
>    format-patch. Accepts a boolean value, or a name and email
>    address. If false, format-patch defaults to --no-from, using
>    commit authors directly in the "From:" field of patch mails.
>    If true, format-patch defaults to --from, using your committer
>    identity in the "From:" field of patch mails and including a
>    "From:" field in the body of the patch mail if different. If
>    set to a non-boolean value, format-patch uses that value
>    instead of your committer identity. Defaults to false.
>
> format.forceInBodyFrom
>    Provides the default value for the --[no-]force-in-body-from
>    option to format-patch. Defaults to false.

With this configuration, devtool generated patches look like:
|From 4457b9d7805551e6b35efa25f998b63901d4bf86 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
|From: Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr>
|Subject: [PATCH] Add a new line
|
|From: Original Author <author@example.org>
|
|[rest of the patch]
Notice the duplicated "From:" header.

To fix the double "From:" header, use the --no-from option for
git-format-patch to override this configuration and generate only one
"From: Original Author <...>" header.

Note: The "format.from" configuration is in git since v2.10 (in 2016),
and the --no-from option before that.

Signed-off-by: Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr>
---
 meta/lib/oe/patch.py | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/patch.py b/meta/lib/oe/patch.py
index 1d50e83ab7a..0a201afe0ad 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/patch.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/patch.py
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ class GitApplyTree(PatchTree):
         patches = []
         try:
             for name, rev in startcommits.items():
-                cmd = ["git", "format-patch", "--no-signature", "--no-numbered", rev, "-o", tempdir]
+                cmd = ["git", "format-patch", "--no-from", "--no-signature", "--no-numbered", rev, "-o", tempdir]
                 if paths:
                     cmd.append('--')
                     cmd.extend(paths)

Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[Alexander Kanavin]

On Fri, 10 Jul 2026 at 20:52, Yoann Congal via lists.openembedded.org
<yoann.congal=smile.fr@lists.openembedded.org> wrote:
> With this configuration, devtool generated patches look like:
> |From 4457b9d7805551e6b35efa25f998b63901d4bf86 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> |From: Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr>
> |Subject: [PATCH] Add a new line
> |
> |From: Original Author <author@example.org>
> |
> |[rest of the patch]
> Notice the duplicated "From:" header.
>
> To fix the double "From:" header, use the --no-from option for
> git-format-patch to override this configuration and generate only one
> "From: Original Author <...>" header.

I don't understand. Why is the above problematic and why does it need fixing?

Alex

Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[Yoann Congal]

On Mon Jul 13, 2026 at 2:59 PM CEST, Alexander Kanavin wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Jul 2026 at 20:52, Yoann Congal via lists.openembedded.org
> <yoann.congal=smile.fr@lists.openembedded.org> wrote:
>> With this configuration, devtool generated patches look like:
>> |From 4457b9d7805551e6b35efa25f998b63901d4bf86 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
>> |From: Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr>
>> |Subject: [PATCH] Add a new line
>> |
>> |From: Original Author <author@example.org>
>> |
>> |[rest of the patch]
>> Notice the duplicated "From:" header.
>>
>> To fix the double "From:" header, use the --no-from option for
>> git-format-patch to override this configuration and generate only one
>> "From: Original Author <...>" header.
>
> I don't understand. Why is the above problematic and why does it need fixing?
>
> Alex

Hello Alex,

I really don't like this double "From:" header and I manually remove it
every time I (re)generate a patch with devtool.

I admit this is a matter of taste and that the problem only appears in
my configuration (it seems).

I won't mind is this patch is dropped, but, on the other hand it only
does force the default (--no-from)

Regards,
-- 
Yoann Congal
Smile ECS

Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[Alexander Kanavin]

On Thu, 16 Jul 2026 at 19:08, Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr> wrote:
> >> To fix the double "From:" header, use the --no-from option for
> >> git-format-patch to override this configuration and generate only one
> >> "From: Original Author <...>" header.
> >
> > I don't understand. Why is the above problematic and why does it need fixing?
> >
> I really don't like this double "From:" header and I manually remove it
> every time I (re)generate a patch with devtool.
>
> I admit this is a matter of taste and that the problem only appears in
> my configuration (it seems).
>
> I won't mind is this patch is dropped, but, on the other hand it only
> does force the default (--no-from)

Can you provide a reproducer? What is the sequence of steps where this happens?

Alex

Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[Yoann Congal]

On Thu Jul 16, 2026 at 8:56 PM CEST, Alexander Kanavin wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Jul 2026 at 19:08, Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr> wrote:
>> >> To fix the double "From:" header, use the --no-from option for
>> >> git-format-patch to override this configuration and generate only one
>> >> "From: Original Author <...>" header.
>> >
>> > I don't understand. Why is the above problematic and why does it need fixing?
>> >
>> I really don't like this double "From:" header and I manually remove it
>> every time I (re)generate a patch with devtool.
>>
>> I admit this is a matter of taste and that the problem only appears in
>> my configuration (it seems).
>>
>> I won't mind is this patch is dropped, but, on the other hand it only
>> does force the default (--no-from)
>
> Can you provide a reproducer? What is the sequence of steps where this happens?
>
> Alex

Sure, I can reproduce this from a pristine CROPS:debian-11:
  $ git config --global user.name 'Yoann Congal'
  $ git config --global user.email yoann.congal@smile.fr

  # Config to avoid groups.io "From:" rewrites issues
  $ git config --global format.from true
  $ git config --global format.forceInBodyFrom true

  # Basic poky-master setup with bitbake-setup

  $ devtool modify bash
  $ cd workspace/sources/bash

  # Emulate cherry-picking a commit from the upstream git tree
  $ echo TEST >> README
  $ git commit -a --author 'Original Author <author@example.org>' -s -m "This is a test"

  $ devtool update-recipe bash
  $ head ../../../../layers/openembedded-core/meta/recipes-extended/bash/bash/0001-This-is-a-test.patch
  From 8bbac77f0b749fc62e5ca5d924066d311e29c963 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
  From: Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr>
  Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:31:55 +0000
  Subject: [PATCH] This is a test
  
  From: Original Author <author@example.org>
  
  Signed-off-by: Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr>
  ---
   README | 1 +
  # Notice the double "From:" header above

Here, I usually edit the patch to replace my "From:" with the original
author's one.

Regards,
-- 
Yoann Congal
Smile ECS

Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[Alexander Kanavin]

On Thu, 16 Jul 2026 at 21:36, Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr> wrote:
>   # Config to avoid groups.io "From:" rewrites issues
>   $ git config --global format.from true
>   $ git config --global format.forceInBodyFrom true

Thanks, I was going to say this should not be set globally, but only
for repositories which explicitly use groups.io (e.g. oe-core). Then
devtool managed repos in devtool workspace will not have this problem.
But I see how this can be tedious to set in every bitbake-setup
checkout, and it's for some users easier as a global setting.

So the patch is right, but can you fold this additional discussion
into the commit message?

Alex

Re: [OE-core] [PATCH] lib/oe/patch: avoid duplicated "From:" in generated patches

[Yoann Congal]

On Fri Jul 17, 2026 at 5:27 PM CEST, Alexander Kanavin wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Jul 2026 at 21:36, Yoann Congal <yoann.congal@smile.fr> wrote:
>>   # Config to avoid groups.io "From:" rewrites issues
>>   $ git config --global format.from true
>>   $ git config --global format.forceInBodyFrom true
>
> Thanks, I was going to say this should not be set globally, but only
> for repositories which explicitly use groups.io (e.g. oe-core). Then
> devtool managed repos in devtool workspace will not have this problem.
> But I see how this can be tedious to set in every bitbake-setup
> checkout, and it's for some users easier as a global setting.
>
> So the patch is right, but can you fold this additional discussion
> into the commit message?

Hello,

v2 sent with more context. I hope that'll be enough.

Thanks for the review :)

>
> Alex
-- 
Yoann Congal
Smile ECS