[patch] Documentation/process/howto: Only send regression fixes after -rc1

From: Dan Carpenter
Date: Mon Nov 28 2016 - 09:43:37 EST


The original text was not clear if white space or other harmless patches
should be merged in -rc kernels. The discussion at Kernel Summit said
that we should be more strict about sending regression fixes only.

Signed-off-by: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@xxxxxxxxxx>

diff --git a/Documentation/process/howto.rst b/Documentation/process/howto.rst
index 449ca1f1..1260f60 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/howto.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/howto.rst
@@ -267,15 +267,16 @@ process is as follows:
is using git (the kernel's source management tool, more information
can be found at https://git-scm.com/) but plain patches are also just
fine.
- - After two weeks a -rc1 kernel is released it is now possible to push
- only patches that do not include new features that could affect the
- stability of the whole kernel. Please note that a whole new driver
- (or filesystem) might be accepted after -rc1 because there is no
- risk of causing regressions with such a change as long as the change
- is self-contained and does not affect areas outside of the code that
- is being added. git can be used to send patches to Linus after -rc1
- is released, but the patches need to also be sent to a public
- mailing list for review.
+ - After two weeks a -rc1 kernel is released and the focus is on making the
+ new kernel as rock solid as possible. Most of the patches at this point
+ should fix a regression. Bugs that have always existed are not
+ regressions, so only push these kinds of fixes if they are important.
+ Please note that a whole new driver (or filesystem) might be accepted
+ after -rc1 because there is no risk of causing regressions with such a
+ change as long as the change is self-contained and does not affect areas
+ outside of the code that is being added. git can be used to send
+ patches to Linus after -rc1 is released, but the patches need to also be
+ sent to a public mailing list for review.
- A new -rc is released whenever Linus deems the current git tree to
be in a reasonably sane state adequate for testing. The goal is to
release a new -rc kernel every week.