[PATCH v2 0/2] checkpatch: add new check PLACEHOLDER_USE

[PATCH v2 0/2] checkpatch: add new check PLACEHOLDER_USE

[Onur Özkan]

Changes in v2:
  - The check is documented in Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst file.
  - Used ERROR instead of WARN on detection.

Onur Özkan (2):
  checkpatch: detect unhandled placeholders in cover letters
  checkpatch: document new check PLACEHOLDER_USE

 Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst | 10 ++++++++++
 scripts/checkpatch.pl                  |  7 +++++++
 2 files changed, 17 insertions(+)

-- 
2.51.0

[PATCH v2 1/2] checkpatch: detect unhandled placeholders in cover letters

[Onur Özkan]

Adds a new check PLACEHOLDER_USE to detect unhandled placeholders.
This prevents sending patch series with incomplete patches (mostly
in cover letters) containing auto generated subject or blurb lines.

These placeholders can be seen on mailing lists. With this change,
checkpatch will emit an error when such text is found.

Signed-off-by: Onur Özkan <work@onurozkan.dev>
---
 scripts/checkpatch.pl | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index e722dd6fa8ef..965faee71935 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -3340,6 +3340,13 @@ sub process {
 			}
 		}
 
+# Check for auto-generated unhandled placeholder text (mostly for cover letters)
+		if (($in_commit_log || $in_header_lines) &&
+		    $rawline =~ /(?:SUBJECT|BLURB) HERE/) {
+			ERROR("PLACEHOLDER_USE",
+			      "Placeholder text detected\n" . $herecurr);
+		}
+
 # Check for git id commit length and improperly formed commit descriptions
 # A correctly formed commit description is:
 #    commit <SHA-1 hash length 12+ chars> ("Complete commit subject")
-- 
2.51.0

[PATCH v2 2/2] checkpatch: document new check PLACEHOLDER_USE

[Onur Özkan]

Adds documentation for the new check PLACEHOLDER_USE
in checkpatch.

Signed-off-by: Onur Özkan <work@onurozkan.dev>
---
 Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst | 10 ++++++++++
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
index d5c47e560324..4dccd1036870 100644
--- a/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
+++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
@@ -1245,6 +1245,16 @@ Others
     The patch file does not appear to be in unified-diff format.  Please
     regenerate the patch file before sending it to the maintainer.
 
+  **PLACEHOLDER_USE**
+    Detects unhandled placeholder text left in cover letters or commit headers/logs.
+    Common placeholders include lines like::
+
+      *** SUBJECT HERE ***
+      *** BLURB HERE ***
+
+    These typically come from autogenerated templates. Replace them with a proper
+    subject and description before sending.
+
   **PRINTF_0XDECIMAL**
     Prefixing 0x with decimal output is defective and should be corrected.
 
-- 
2.51.0

Re: [PATCH v2 0/2] checkpatch: add new check PLACEHOLDER_USE

[Onur Özkan]

On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 20:37:23 +0300
Onur Özkan <work@onurozkan.dev> wrote:

> Changes in v2:
>   - The check is documented in Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
> file.
>   - Used ERROR instead of WARN on detection.
> 
> Onur Özkan (2):
>   checkpatch: detect unhandled placeholders in cover letters
>   checkpatch: document new check PLACEHOLDER_USE
> 
>  Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst | 10 ++++++++++
>  scripts/checkpatch.pl                  |  7 +++++++
>  2 files changed, 17 insertions(+)
> 

A friendly ping on this patch. It's been over two weeks with no
feedback, would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

Regards,
Onur

Re: [PATCH v2 0/2] checkpatch: add new check PLACEHOLDER_USE

[Joe Perches]

On Wed, 2025-09-17 at 20:37 +0300, Onur Özkan wrote:
> Changes in v2:
>   - The check is documented in Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst file.
>   - Used ERROR instead of WARN on detection.
> 
> Onur Özkan (2):
>   checkpatch: detect unhandled placeholders in cover letters
>   checkpatch: document new check PLACEHOLDER_USE
> 
>  Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst | 10 ++++++++++
>  scripts/checkpatch.pl                  |  7 +++++++
>  2 files changed, 17 insertions(+)

Acked-by: Joe Perches <joe@perches.com>