Re: [Ksummit-discuss] [CORE TOPIC] Recruitment (Reviewers, Testers, Maintainers, Hobbyists)

[Guenter Roeck <linux@roeck-us.net>]

On 07/20/2015 03:32 PM, Greg KH wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 03:12:51PM -0700, Guenter Roeck wrote:
>> On 07/20/2015 01:30 PM, Greg KH wrote:
>>
>>>> If there really is a problem that some maintainer is getting inundated
>>>> with patches addressing unimportant cosmetic issues, could it be a good
>>>> idea to:
>>>>
>>>> * Fix the code and get it over with,
>>>> * Drop the code from the kernel, if no one uses it, or
>>>> * Put a comment in the file saying that the file is no longer being
>>>> actively developed and only bug fixes will be accepted.
>>>
>>> I agree with this.  If your subsystem is constantly getting hit with
>>> coding style cleanups that you don't want (i.e. SCSI), put something in
>>> the top of the file that says "don't clean up the style".
>>>
>>
>> How about a cleanup tag in MAINTAINERS ? Then checkpatch could warn
>> if it is used on a file tagged as do-not-clean, and every maintainer
>> could set preferences as desired.
>>
>> Something like
>>
>> C: yes
>> C: limited (prior to functional changes only)
>> C: no
>>
>> Either limited or yes could be the default.
>>
>> The "Obsolete" status presumably implies that cleanups are not desired,
>> and checkpatch could issue a warning if it is run on an obsolete file
>> or subsystem.
>
> Ugh, let's stop trying to add more flags to MAINTAINERS that no one will
> notice and will get out of date and be a pain to maintain over time.
>
It would be noticed since checkpatch would use it. And maintainers would
have interest to keep it up to date, especially those who dislike cleanup
patches.

> Is this really such a major issue?  If you don't want cleanup patches,
> just politely refuse them and point people at drivers/staging/ where I
> will gladly take them.  It's not tough at all.
>
It isn't tough or an issue for me, but I don't normally refuse cleanup
patches either.

> Or better yet, take Julia's advice, and just fix up your subsystem to
> not need these patches at all.  That should take all of an afternoon's
> worth of effort at most, drivers/scsi/ notwithstanding, that beast is
> horrid...
>

Yes, that is what I am doing once in a while, if I need a timeout from other
work. Since I don't mind cleanup patches, so I would set the tag to 'yes'
for all files where I am listed as maintainer. But other maintainers do
actively reject cleanup patches, sometimes with less then friendly words.

Without a tag, the result is to discourage cleanup patches in general,
or what I would call the lowest common denominator. While I understand
and accept that other maintainers dislike cleanup patches, I don't see
why I should have to suffer the consequences.

Guenter