Re: [PATCH v4 2/4] workflow: process/changes.rst: expand and cleanup list

Jonathan Corbet
2026-03-23T18:28:15Z

> On Tue, 2026-03-17 at 09:04 -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
>> Manuel Ebner <manuelebner@airmail.cc> writes:
>> > remove footnote for sphinx
>> >  in the paragraph before the list it says:
>> >  "Also, not all tools are necessary on all systems;
>> >  obviously, if you don't have any PC Card hardware, for example,
>> >  you probably needn't concern yourself with pcmciautils."
>
> i understand this paragraph like this:
> most or all tools can be optional, depending on the specific use case.
> e.g. quota-tools is optional for people compiling the kernel.
> that's why i removed the optional markings.
>
> and pcmciautils, the example in the the file, is not marked as optional in changes.rst:
>
> ====================== =============== ========================================
> Program Minimal version Command to check the version
> ====================== =============== ========================================
> [...]
> pcmciautils 004 pccardctl -V

The markings can certainly be done in a more thoughtful way; I don't see
that as an argument for simply removing them, though.

>> > remove "(optional)" for the same reason as above
>>
>> Here you have lost some information - now the document doesn't say
>> *which* tools are optional.  That is, I think, not ideal.
>
> that's true.
> my question is: what are the tools optional for?
> or what is the criteria for "optional"?

Well, that would be an awfully nice addition to the documentation, but I
wouldn't require that to get your current changes in :)

Thanks,

jon