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

Documentation/process: use scripts/get_maintainer.pl on patches

Explain that, when collecting list of people to Cc the patch,
scripts/get_maintainer.pl should be used on patches, not on the
directories. The behavior is quite different, because with "-f" on
a directory, the maintainers of individual files will not be shown.

Signed-off-by: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20220427185645.677039-1-krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>

authored by

Krzysztof Kozlowski and committed by
Jonathan Corbet
f1a69399 0327b8b3

+12 -9
+3 -2
Documentation/doc-guide/contributing.rst
··· 79 79 present since that comment was added in 2016 — a full four years. Fixing 80 80 it was a matter of adding the missing asterisks. A quick look at the 81 81 history for that file showed what the normal format for subject lines is, 82 - and ``scripts/get_maintainer.pl`` told me who should receive it. The 83 - resulting patch looked like this:: 82 + and ``scripts/get_maintainer.pl`` told me who should receive it (pass paths to 83 + your patches as arguments to scripts/get_maintainer.pl). The resulting patch 84 + looked like this:: 84 85 85 86 [PATCH] PM / devfreq: Fix two malformed kerneldoc comments 86 87
+5 -4
Documentation/process/3.Early-stage.rst
··· 154 154 This script will return the current maintainer(s) for a given file or 155 155 directory when given the "-f" option. If passed a patch on the 156 156 command line, it will list the maintainers who should probably receive 157 - copies of the patch. There are a number of options regulating how hard 158 - get_maintainer.pl will search for maintainers; please be careful about 159 - using the more aggressive options as you may end up including developers 160 - who have no real interest in the code you are modifying. 157 + copies of the patch. This is the preferred way (unlike "-f" option) to get the 158 + list of people to Cc for your patches. There are a number of options 159 + regulating how hard get_maintainer.pl will search for maintainers; please be 160 + careful about using the more aggressive options as you may end up including 161 + developers who have no real interest in the code you are modifying. 161 162 162 163 If all else fails, talking to Andrew Morton can be an effective way to 163 164 track down a maintainer for a specific piece of code.
+4 -3
Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
··· 227 227 You should always copy the appropriate subsystem maintainer(s) on any patch 228 228 to code that they maintain; look through the MAINTAINERS file and the 229 229 source code revision history to see who those maintainers are. The 230 - script scripts/get_maintainer.pl can be very useful at this step. If you 231 - cannot find a maintainer for the subsystem you are working on, Andrew 232 - Morton (akpm@linux-foundation.org) serves as a maintainer of last resort. 230 + script scripts/get_maintainer.pl can be very useful at this step (pass paths to 231 + your patches as arguments to scripts/get_maintainer.pl). If you cannot find a 232 + maintainer for the subsystem you are working on, Andrew Morton 233 + (akpm@linux-foundation.org) serves as a maintainer of last resort. 233 234 234 235 You should also normally choose at least one mailing list to receive a copy 235 236 of your patch set. linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org should be used by default