Re: [PATCH v4] docs: Clarify the usage and sign-off requirements for Co-developed-by

From: Sean Christopherson
Date: Fri Mar 22 2019 - 13:13:48 EST


On Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 10:03:07AM -0700, Joe Perches wrote:
> On Fri, 2019-03-22 at 08:57 -0700, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> > The documentation for Co-developed-by is a bit light on details, e.g. it
> > doesn't explicitly state that:
> >
> > - Multiple Co-developed-by tags are perfectly acceptable
> > - Co-developed-by and Signed-off-by must be paired together
> > - SOB ordering should still follow standard sign-off procedure
> >
> > Lack of explicit direction has resulted in developers taking a variety
> > of approaches, often lacking any intent whatsoever, e.g. scattering SOBs
> > willy-nilly, collecting them all at the end or the beginning, etc...
> > Tweak the wording to make it clear that multiple co-authors are allowed,
> > and document the expectation that standard sign-off procedures are to
> > be followed.
> >
> > The use of "original author" has also led to confusion as many patches
> > don't have just one "original" author, e.g. when multiple developers
> > are involved from the genesis of the patch. Remove all usage of
> > "original" and instead call out that Co-developed-by is simply a way to
> > provide attribution in addition to the From tag, i.e. neither tag is
> > intended to imply anything with regard to who did what.
> >
> > Provide examples to (hopefully) eliminate any ambiguity.
>
> Please add the checkpatch bit to this at the same time.

Doh, spaced on that. I'll wait for additional feedback before sending v5.