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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/SubmittingPatches | 38 |
1 files changed, 31 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches index dcadffcab2dc..0a523c9a5ff4 100644 --- a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches +++ b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches @@ -84,18 +84,42 @@ is another popular alternative. 2) Describe your changes. -Describe the technical detail of the change(s) your patch includes. - -Be as specific as possible. The WORST descriptions possible include -things like "update driver X", "bug fix for driver X", or "this patch -includes updates for subsystem X. Please apply." +Describe your problem. Whether your patch is a one-line bug fix or +5000 lines of a new feature, there must be an underlying problem that +motivated you to do this work. Convince the reviewer that there is a +problem worth fixing and that it makes sense for them to read past the +first paragraph. + +Describe user-visible impact. Straight up crashes and lockups are +pretty convincing, but not all bugs are that blatant. Even if the +problem was spotted during code review, describe the impact you think +it can have on users. Keep in mind that the majority of Linux +installations run kernels from secondary stable trees or +vendor/product-specific trees that cherry-pick only specific patches +from upstream, so include anything that could help route your change +downstream: provoking circumstances, excerpts from dmesg, crash +descriptions, performance regressions, latency spikes, lockups, etc. + +Quantify optimizations and trade-offs. If you claim improvements in +performance, memory consumption, stack footprint, or binary size, +include numbers that back them up. But also describe non-obvious +costs. Optimizations usually aren't free but trade-offs between CPU, +memory, and readability; or, when it comes to heuristics, between +different workloads. Describe the expected downsides of your +optimization so that the reviewer can weigh costs against benefits. + +Once the problem is established, describe what you are actually doing +about it in technical detail. It's important to describe the change +in plain English for the reviewer to verify that the code is behaving +as you intend it to. The maintainer will thank you if you write your patch description in a form which can be easily pulled into Linux's source code management system, git, as a "commit log". See #15, below. -If your description starts to get long, that's a sign that you probably -need to split up your patch. See #3, next. +Solve only one problem per patch. If your description starts to get +long, that's a sign that you probably need to split up your patch. +See #3, next. When you submit or resubmit a patch or patch series, include the complete patch description and justification for it. Don't just |