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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/development-process')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/development-process/5.Posting | 31 |
1 files changed, 28 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/development-process/5.Posting b/Documentation/development-process/5.Posting index dd48132a74dd..f622c1e9f0f9 100644 --- a/Documentation/development-process/5.Posting +++ b/Documentation/development-process/5.Posting @@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ which takes quite a bit of time and thought after the "real work" has been done. When done properly, though, it is time well spent. -5.4: PATCH FORMATTING +5.4: PATCH FORMATTING AND CHANGELOGS So now you have a perfect series of patches for posting, but the work is not done quite yet. Each patch needs to be formatted into a message which @@ -146,8 +146,33 @@ that end, each patch will be composed of the following: - One or more tag lines, with, at a minimum, one Signed-off-by: line from the author of the patch. Tags will be described in more detail below. -The above three items should, normally, be the text used when committing -the change to a revision control system. They are followed by: +The items above, together, form the changelog for the patch. Writing good +changelogs is a crucial but often-neglected art; it's worth spending +another moment discussing this issue. When writing a changelog, you should +bear in mind that a number of different people will be reading your words. +These include subsystem maintainers and reviewers who need to decide +whether the patch should be included, distributors and other maintainers +trying to decide whether a patch should be backported to other kernels, bug +hunters wondering whether the patch is responsible for a problem they are +chasing, users who want to know how the kernel has changed, and more. A +good changelog conveys the needed information to all of these people in the +most direct and concise way possible. + +To that end, the summary line should describe the effects of and motivation +for the change as well as possible given the one-line constraint. The +detailed description can then amplify on those topics and provide any +needed additional information. If the patch fixes a bug, cite the commit +which introduced the bug if possible. If a problem is associated with +specific log or compiler output, include that output to help others +searching for a solution to the same problem. If the change is meant to +support other changes coming in later patch, say so. If internal APIs are +changed, detail those changes and how other developers should respond. In +general, the more you can put yourself into the shoes of everybody who will +be reading your changelog, the better that changelog (and the kernel as a +whole) will be. + +Needless to say, the changelog should be the text used when committing the +change to a revision control system. It will be followed by: - The patch itself, in the unified ("-u") patch format. Using the "-p" option to diff will associate function names with changes, making the |