[PATCH] docs: netdev: refine 15-patch limit

[PATCH] docs: netdev: refine 15-patch limit

[Simon Horman]

The 15 patch limit is intended by the maintainers to cover
all outstanding patches on the mailing list, not just those
in a single patchset. Document this practice accordingly.

Signed-off-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
---
 Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst | 8 ++++++++
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst b/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst
index 989192421cc9db6c93c816f2dfb7afbe48dd25fc..d98d2f46129eb0eaf55e5106d50b214ddc7bfb67 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst
@@ -363,6 +363,14 @@ just do it. As a result, a sequence of smaller series gets merged quicker and
 with better review coverage. Re-posting large series also increases the mailing
 list traffic.
 
+Limit patches outstanding on mailing list
+-----------------------------------------
+
+Avoid having more than 15 patches, across all series, outstanding for
+review on the mailing list. This limit is intended to focus developer
+effort on testing patches before upstream review. Aiding the quality of
+upstream submissions, and easing the load on reviewers.
+
 .. _rcs:
 
 Local variable ordering ("reverse xmas tree", "RCS")

Re: [PATCH] docs: netdev: refine 15-patch limit

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 17:47:15 +0000 Simon Horman wrote:
> +Limit patches outstanding on mailing list
> +-----------------------------------------
> +
> +Avoid having more than 15 patches, across all series, outstanding for
> +review on the mailing list. This limit is intended to focus developer
> +effort on testing patches before upstream review. Aiding the quality of
> +upstream submissions, and easing the load on reviewers.

Thanks for adding this.

In practice I think the limit is also per tree (net vs net-next)
to avoid head of line blocking fixes.

Re: [PATCH] docs: netdev: refine 15-patch limit

[Simon Horman]

On Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 05:34:54PM -0800, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 17:47:15 +0000 Simon Horman wrote:
> > +Limit patches outstanding on mailing list
> > +-----------------------------------------
> > +
> > +Avoid having more than 15 patches, across all series, outstanding for
> > +review on the mailing list. This limit is intended to focus developer
> > +effort on testing patches before upstream review. Aiding the quality of
> > +upstream submissions, and easing the load on reviewers.
> 
> Thanks for adding this.
> 
> In practice I think the limit is also per tree (net vs net-next)
> to avoid head of line blocking fixes.

Thanks Jakub,

In v2 I'll update the wording to state that the limit is per-tree.