Re: Full subsystem codebase scan for identifying pre-existing issues?

[Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>]

On Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:43:26 -0400 Derek Barbosa <debarbos@redhat.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> > Currently, they're flagged on patch reviews, which can be
> > a bit frustrating for contributors who didn't introduce the problem,
> > and adds a bit of noise for maintainers/reviewers looking at the
> > Sashiko report.
> 
> Unfortunately, you aren't the first to report a problem with these.
> 
> Currently, in the 11th stage instruction in the code, pre-existing issues are
> propagated in the report like so:
> 
> <snip>
> 
> CRITICAL RULE: If a finding is flagged as pre-existing (`\"preexisting\":
> true`), you MUST explicitly state in your inline comment that this issue is
> pre-existing and was not introduced by the patch under review. Use phrasing like
> \"This isn't a bug introduced by this patch, but...\" or \"This is a
> pre-existing issue, but...\" to start the comment.
> 
> </snip>
> 
> Instead of them replying inline with "This isn't a bug introduced by this patch,
> but by..." or "This is a pre-existing issue, but does..." how would you like to
> see this information presented/conveyed?
> 
> I created an issue here [2]
>
> [2] https://github.com/sashiko-dev/sashiko/issues/381

"To a separate section" is OK.

I wouldn't want to lose the pre-existing issue reporting.  I don't see
that an author is obligated to address these things (although they
often do).  But I like to see that the pre-existing things are brought
to the official maintainer's attention.


And yes, it's all very disorganized and error-prone.  How nice would it
be for Maintainer to think "hm, I have a few hours to spare - what bug
reports are there against my stuff".  Then click on a link.