From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-1.web.codeaurora.org [10.30.226.201]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id DB8E243E4BB for ; Fri, 27 Feb 2026 19:53:10 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1772221990; cv=none; b=d7PZovC5VCoXj3vD3I54kWIu4z6sGGnQtkRYpHbpxqf7d2O/UkTI/jhuYQfZRZIszj42f5eZnqELiN5t3EMCOBckdtkW5K+eBX4Frb2BFD27KRSuxOYCUjWB1Oe9oZxXnegaT3cwfJ1i+OGnIVWCblI5UQNjMBzVl24XlXWo7Oc= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1772221990; c=relaxed/simple; bh=0aq3X6MZeJbicD4gZmtgPYahp9kwdjtOB6pjrI0Za3c=; h=Date:From:To:Subject:Message-ID:MIME-Version:Content-Type: Content-Disposition; b=Yj5G73Vf3CBTs87BrT6RloiN/eE4XDS5hMlMKpzqIaeeWp9+5EeDaWq+LSjS48DmFcy5lm0TQKg/I0iAryTqPEwWdjt4dmDVKDLdhKku3vmeNrDrii4C6Onewo5gjkjtM3IeKtQvGvOIznGRZI3YkzfoWyjd6fFX5+u6BnLLdCY= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=HBRXS2F7; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="HBRXS2F7" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) id 96E62C19423; Fri, 27 Feb 2026 19:53:10 +0000 (UTC) Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 64D83C116C6; Fri, 27 Feb 2026 19:53:10 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=kernel.org; s=k20201202; t=1772221990; bh=0aq3X6MZeJbicD4gZmtgPYahp9kwdjtOB6pjrI0Za3c=; h=Date:From:To:Subject:From; b=HBRXS2F7gIxj5b0cE+h+/RJRQZlC8207W0mZBz5gOkTwb4yHEsBl+ZtLXgP+lHQ8w lHPh4Xa9YQ2FkcW4h+XgIaFa6BizBxdZX3b9VGHTFnbBnZ+1I9NfoxKcphnFdB2g3e icBfG6LXekfVXSPp05veSiBVOjpLiccVCd3fLkYUvpzWg+ion/GTQtT7ITMGbXPnTQ UtHq4PR5ZCpj0JF4MQGM4eUdi2x8g7y1xNkAv3fVgUt/f9o+mPRlGzvSqvBsQdPtXQ r2SwVl0ycoaWftygIVQ64/kQ8V9ARUDXkNaWhBfe04470wGxOLyu96cDSxufls9evs lDVW/Xvx943Tw== Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:53:07 -0500 From: Konstantin Ryabitsev To: users@kernel.org, tools@kernel.org Subject: b4 review available in master Message-ID: <20260227-imported-aromatic-guppy-ad3dca@lemur> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: tools@linux.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Hi, all: TLDR: "b4 review" is a terminal UI that hopes to streamline a lot of maintainer duties. A getting-started guide with screencasts is here: https://b4.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/reviewer/getting-started.html It's available from b4 master pending initial testing and will be generally available in b4-0.15. Longread: I've been working on "b4 review" for a while, with a few false-starts, a lot of despair, and then a whole new direction that seemed to have finally worked. So, the usual. :) I am finally feeling confident enough to release the code as initial technology preview, with the primary goal to get some direct feedback. The goal of the UI was to work alongside your usual email client, allowing you to use it for as much or as little as you like. The feature only exists in b4 master branch, so if you want to try it, you'll need to be comfortable running b4 from checkout. It also requires having a valid email server configured with git for sending outgoing mail. If you're already using "b4 ty" then you're good to go. The only new dependency introduced is python-textual. I say this with a bit of tongue-in-cheek, because textual pulls in a ton of other dependencies, but it's usually already installed on many modern distros anyway. You can do the following things: - Track incoming patch series from lore using a message-id, URL, change-id, or by piping a message from your mail client (e.g. via mutt integration) - TUI-based tracking list with series lifecycle management (new, reviewing, replied, taken, thanked, archived, waiting) - Split-pane review interface with patch list and syntax-highlighted diff view - Quick trailer addition (Reviewed-by, Acked-by, Tested-by) with a single keypress - Inline diff commenting via $EDITOR — comments are automatically formatted as proper quoted-reply emails for the mailing list - Preview emails to inspect exactly what will be sent before sending - Fetch and display follow-up messages from other reviewers directly in the diff view - Range-diff between series revisions without leaving the TUI - Automatic discovery of older and newer revisions when tracking a series - Revision upgrade that preserves your review comments on unchanged patches - Three merge strategies for applying series: merge commit, linear (git-am), and cherry-pick - Thank-you note generation listing each applied commit with its hash (and more reliably than b4 ty, since we keep track of applied series instead of guessing) - AI-assisted review using an external agent (Claude Code, Gemini CLI, OpenAI Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot CLI) — agent findings are private to the maintainer and can then be selectively incorporated into the review - Patchwork integration: browse series, view CI check results, track series directly from Patchwork, and automatically synchronise Patchwork state as you work Watch the screencasts in the link above if you're curious and please try it out. I'm sure there is a ton of corner cases that are not properly handled right now, so the more feedback I receive, the better. If you want to play with LLM reviews, you will need to specifically configure your agent. See docs for that. If you don't have a subscription available, I am told that there is a program for OSS maintainers available: https://claude.com/contact-sales/claude-for-oss If you know of a similar program offered by other LLM providers, I'll be happy to know about it. I've tested claude, gemini-cli and codex. (I did test using ollama-based agents a while back, but the results were a very mixed bag -- there is usually not enough context available to these models to perform a useful code review, but ymmv.) Best regards, -- KR