Linux kernel mirror (for testing) git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
kernel os linux

docs: netdev: document the existence of the mail bot

We had a good run, but after 4 weeks of use we heard someone
asking about pw-bot commands. Let's explain its existence
in the docs. It's not a complete documentation but hopefully
it's enough for the casual contributor. The project and scope
are in flux so the details would likely become out of date,
if we were to document more in depth.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20230522140057.GB18381@nucnuc.mle/
Reviewed-by: Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <simon.horman@corigine.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230522230903.1853151-1-kuba@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>

+26 -7
+26 -7
Documentation/process/maintainer-netdev.rst
··· 127 127 Updating patch status 128 128 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 129 129 130 - It may be tempting to help the maintainers and update the state of your 131 - own patches when you post a new version or spot a bug. Please **do not** 132 - do that. 133 - Interfering with the patch status on patchwork will only cause confusion. Leave 134 - it to the maintainer to figure out what is the most recent and current 135 - version that should be applied. If there is any doubt, the maintainer 136 - will reply and ask what should be done. 130 + Contributors and reviewers do not have the permissions to update patch 131 + state directly in patchwork. Patchwork doesn't expose much information 132 + about the history of the state of patches, therefore having multiple 133 + people update the state leads to confusion. 134 + 135 + Instead of delegating patchwork permissions netdev uses a simple mail 136 + bot which looks for special commands/lines within the emails sent to 137 + the mailing list. For example to mark a series as Changes Requested 138 + one needs to send the following line anywhere in the email thread:: 139 + 140 + pw-bot: changes-requested 141 + 142 + As a result the bot will set the entire series to Changes Requested. 143 + This may be useful when author discovers a bug in their own series 144 + and wants to prevent it from getting applied. 145 + 146 + The use of the bot is entirely optional, if in doubt ignore its existence 147 + completely. Maintainers will classify and update the state of the patches 148 + themselves. No email should ever be sent to the list with the main purpose 149 + of communicating with the bot, the bot commands should be seen as metadata. 150 + 151 + The use of the bot is restricted to authors of the patches (the ``From:`` 152 + header on patch submission and command must match!), maintainers themselves 153 + and a handful of senior reviewers. Bot records its activity here: 154 + 155 + https://patchwork.hopto.org/pw-bot.html 137 156 138 157 Review timelines 139 158 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~