[PATCH] coding-assistants: simplify attribution

[PATCH] coding-assistants: simplify attribution

[Jonathan Corbet]

As suggested by Christian, I have applied his patch to a branch and
simplified the changelog, see below.

I'm nervous about applying it still because I don't think it's my role
to set this sort of policy; I really want to feel that there is a
consensus behind it.  So there's some additional CCs here because I
would like to hear from some folks:

- This policy document originally came out of the TAB; is the TAB (on
  CC) OK with this change?

- At least one maintainer (on CC) have said that they currently strip
  Assisted-by tags out of patches before applying them, a practice that
  would seem to undermine the whole policy.  Would this change be
  sufficient to end that practice?

Thanks,

jon

From c31aa376a355e3b84b9e87ae1dbe19b394d4c82c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 17:54:48 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] coding-assistants: simplify attribution

The requirement to identify specific models used in the Assisted-by tag
provides free advertising to proprietary software companies while adding
little or no useful information.  Change the requirement to simply:

  Assisted-by: LLM

to capture the fact that an LLM was used without tracking which one.

Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) <brauner@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Jori Koolstra <jkoolstra@xs4all.nl>
Message-ID: <20260701-work-coding-assistants-v1-1-a20a94d1d606@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
---
 Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst | 8 ++------
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst b/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
index 899f4459c52d..fe34f3e7e828 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
@@ -43,12 +43,8 @@ When AI tools contribute to kernel development, proper attribution
 helps track the evolving role of AI in the development process.
 Contributions should include an Assisted-by tag in the following format::
 
-  Assisted-by: AGENT_NAME:MODEL_VERSION [TOOL1] [TOOL2]
+  Assisted-by: LLM [TOOL1] [TOOL2]
 
-Where:
-
-* ``AGENT_NAME`` is the name of the AI tool or framework
-* ``MODEL_VERSION`` is the specific model version used
 * ``[TOOL1] [TOOL2]`` are optional specialized analysis tools used
   (e.g., coccinelle, sparse, smatch, clang-tidy)
 
@@ -56,4 +52,4 @@ Basic development tools (git, gcc, make, editors) should not be listed.
 
 Example::
 
-  Assisted-by: Claude:claude-3-opus coccinelle sparse
+  Assisted-by: LLM coccinelle sparse
-- 
2.55.0

Re: [PATCH] coding-assistants: simplify attribution

[Konstantin Ryabitsev]

On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 02:34:40PM -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> -  Assisted-by: Claude:claude-3-opus coccinelle sparse
> +  Assisted-by: LLM coccinelle sparse

I've been playing with this a bit, and it's pretty easy to teach the agent to
add a few tag-like notes as to how exactly it was used, e.g.:

    https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/b4/b4.git/commit/?id=018b87444d32eb2ffee7cb25f0785e54aa35f7bf

This has:

| Assisted-by: LLM [design, codegen, tests]

It tells us a bit more about *how* the LLM was used, without introducing the
advertisement or pinning exact models.

This format should allow for multiple tool usage:

| Assisted-by: LLM [triage, tests], coccinelle

I don't suggest this is included in this version, but it *is* fairly
straightforward to add to AGENTS.md and tells reviewers just how exactly the
LLM was used.

-K

Re: [PATCH] coding-assistants: simplify attribution

[Mauro Carvalho Chehab]

On Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:48:03 -0400
Konstantin Ryabitsev <mricon@kernel.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 22, 2026 at 02:34:40PM -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> > -  Assisted-by: Claude:claude-3-opus coccinelle sparse
> > +  Assisted-by: LLM coccinelle sparse  
> 
> I've been playing with this a bit, and it's pretty easy to teach the agent to
> add a few tag-like notes as to how exactly it was used, e.g.:
> 
>     https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/b4/b4.git/commit/?id=018b87444d32eb2ffee7cb25f0785e54aa35f7bf
> 
> This has:
> 
> | Assisted-by: LLM [design, codegen, tests]
> 
> It tells us a bit more about *how* the LLM was used, without introducing the
> advertisement or pinning exact models.
> 
> This format should allow for multiple tool usage:
> 
> | Assisted-by: LLM [triage, tests], coccinelle
> 
> I don't suggest this is included in this version, but it *is* fairly
> straightforward to add to AGENTS.md and tells reviewers just how exactly the
> LLM was used.

I'm fine with either way.

Reviewed-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>

Regards,
Mauro

Re: [tech-board] [PATCH] coding-assistants: simplify attribution

[David Hildenbrand (Arm)]

On 7/22/26 22:34, Jonathan Corbet via groups.linuxfoundation.org wrote:
> As suggested by Christian, I have applied his patch to a branch and
> simplified the changelog, see below.
> 
> I'm nervous about applying it still because I don't think it's my role
> to set this sort of policy; I really want to feel that there is a
> consensus behind it.  So there's some additional CCs here because I
> would like to hear from some folks:
> 
> - This policy document originally came out of the TAB; is the TAB (on
>   CC) OK with this change?
> 
> - At least one maintainer (on CC) have said that they currently strip
>   Assisted-by tags out of patches before applying them, a practice that
>   would seem to undermine the whole policy.  Would this change be
>   sufficient to end that practice?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> jon
> 
> From c31aa376a355e3b84b9e87ae1dbe19b394d4c82c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
> Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 17:54:48 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH] coding-assistants: simplify attribution
> 
> The requirement to identify specific models used in the Assisted-by tag
> provides free advertising to proprietary software companies while adding
> little or no useful information.  Change the requirement to simply:
> 
>   Assisted-by: LLM
> 
> to capture the fact that an LLM was used without tracking which one.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner (Amutable) <brauner@kernel.org>
> Reviewed-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
> Reviewed-by: Jeff Layton <jlayton@kernel.org>
> Reviewed-by: Jori Koolstra <jkoolstra@xs4all.nl>
> Message-ID: <20260701-work-coding-assistants-v1-1-a20a94d1d606@kernel.org>
> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
> ---
>  Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst | 8 ++------
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst b/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
> index 899f4459c52d..fe34f3e7e828 100644
> --- a/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst
> @@ -43,12 +43,8 @@ When AI tools contribute to kernel development, proper attribution
>  helps track the evolving role of AI in the development process.
>  Contributions should include an Assisted-by tag in the following format::
>  
> -  Assisted-by: AGENT_NAME:MODEL_VERSION [TOOL1] [TOOL2]
> +  Assisted-by: LLM [TOOL1] [TOOL2]
>  
> -Where:
> -
> -* ``AGENT_NAME`` is the name of the AI tool or framework
> -* ``MODEL_VERSION`` is the specific model version used
>  * ``[TOOL1] [TOOL2]`` are optional specialized analysis tools used
>    (e.g., coccinelle, sparse, smatch, clang-tidy)
>  
> @@ -56,4 +52,4 @@ Basic development tools (git, gcc, make, editors) should not be listed.
>  
>  Example::
>  
> -  Assisted-by: Claude:claude-3-opus coccinelle sparse
> +  Assisted-by: LLM coccinelle sparse

LGTM

Reviewed-by: David Hildenbrand (arm) <david@kernel.org>

-- 
Cheers,

David