Re: Please create the email alias do-not-apply-to-stable@kernel.org -> /dev/null

[Konstantin Ryabitsev <konstantin@linuxfoundation.org>]

On Wed, Apr 17, 2024 at 09:48:18AM +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
> Hi kernel.org helpdesk!
> 
> Could you please create the email alias
> do-not-apply-to-stable@kernel.org which redirects all mail to /dev/null,
> just like stable@kernel.org does?
> 
> That's an idea GregKH brought up a few days ago here:
> https://lore.kernel.org/all/2024041123-earthling-primarily-4656@gregkh/
> 
> To quote:
> 
> > How about:
> > 	cc: <do-not-apply-to-stable@kernel.org> # Reason goes here, and must be present
> > 
> > and we can make that address be routed to /dev/null just like
> > <stable@kernel.org> is?

That would make it into actual commits and probably irk maintainers and 
Linus, no? I also don't really love the idea of overloading email 
addresses with additional semantics. Using Cc: stable kinda makes sense, 
even if it's not a real email address (but it could become at some 
point), but this feels different.

In general, I feel this information belongs in the patch basement (the 
place where change-id, base-commit, etc goes). E.g.:

    stable-autosel: ignore
    [This fix requires a feature that is only present in mainline]

This allows passing along structured information that can be parsed by 
automated tooling without putting it into the commit.

> There was some discussion about using something shorter, but in the end
> there was no strong opposition and the thread ended a a few days ago.

I feel this is a significant change to the workflow, so I would like the 
workflows list to have another go at this topic. :)

-K