Re: [PATCH v1 2/4] docs: stable-kernel-rules: mention "no semi-automatic backport"

[Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>]

On 11.04.24 09:40, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 11, 2024 at 08:59:39AM +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>> On 11.04.24 07:29, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
>>> On Thu, Apr 11, 2024 at 07:25:04AM +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>>>> Some developers deliberately steer clear of 'Fixes:' tags to prevent
>>>> changes from being backported semi-automatically by the stable team.
>>>> That somewhat undermines the reason for the existence of the Fixes: tag,
>>>> hence point out there is an alternative to reach the same effect.
> [...]
>>> I do not understand, why are you saying "cc: stable" here if you do NOT
>>> want it backported?
>> Because the only alternative the developers have to make the stable team
>> not pick a single patch[1] is to deliberately omit a Fixes: tag even if
>> the patch normally should have one. Like it was done here:
>> https://lore.kernel.org/all/cover.1712226175.git.antony.antony@secunet.com/
> That feels odd, but ok I now see the need for this for some minor set of
> changes (i.e. this has rarely come up in the past 15+ years)
> 
> [...]
>> E.g. 'ignore for the AUTOSEL and the "Fixes tag only" tools'. That was
>> the best term I came up with.
> 
> Thinking about it more, I think we need to be much more explicit, and
> provide the reason why.
> 
> 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?

Totally fine with me, but that feels somewhat long and hard to type. How
about just 'no-stable@kernel.org' (or 'nostable@kernel.org')?

Ciao, Thorsten