Re: Proposal: Linux Kernel Patch Management System

From: David S. Miller (davem@redhat.com)
Date: Wed Sep 13 2000 - 04:27:07 EST


   Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000 02:15:58 -0700
   From: Daniel Quinlan <quinlan@transmeta.com>

   Here is a proposal to improve the kernel development process.

This sounds like a really nice idea. If this helps Linus handle the
load better and makes the process more smooth, I'm all for it.

However, speaking maybe for myself alone, just providing a

rsync torvalds@penguin.transmeta.com:/home/torvalds/src/linux \
        ftp.kernel.org:/pub/linux/kernel/LIVE/linux

would be the real helper for people like me whose only real issue
now is bothering Linus all the time to make pre-patches so I can send
him known clean diffs.

I don't want to sift through a log file on some web site etc. to find
out what he's applied. Very simply, (drumroll please) I want to run
diff. :-) With a whole "his tree vs. my tree" diff I also can
immediately spot all sorts of problems, bugs, and conflicts that might
otherwise go undetected until a later time. It seems to me that one
of the purposes of this log+patch_archive is to be able to know what
is in his tree. Why be so indirect about this? Just show us exactly
what is there in a unified format, ie. the live sources themselves.

With the "apply log" and patch application checker robot setup, there
will always be a period of limbo where it's really difficult to put
together a clean diff against a tree which really represents the
current state of affairs in Linus's live sources. An rsync type setup
would allow me to send a clean patch at just about any time.

True, if Linus does not accept out of band patches, this is unlikely
to be a real problem except for the issue how much indirection happens
here to produce "a tree near-exact to Linus's". But Linus actually
writes code too, is he going to be required to submit his patches to
this site? I hope not :-)

This kind of sillyness is why I think the live rsync, or some
equivalent, is what is really needed at least for high bandwidth
patch submitters like myself.

Later,
David S. Miller
davem@redhat.com
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