Re: [PATCH v3 2/7] docs: submitting-patches: say which commit a Fixes tag names

[Sasha Levin]

On Sat, Oct 17, 2026 at 10:07:36AM +0200, Thorsten Leemhuis wrote:
>How about this instead:
>
>"""
>Name the commit that introduced the bug in the first place; hence, when
>using ``git blame`` to find it, ensure to not settle on changes that
>just moved the code. If the bug was introduced by more than one commit,
>add Fixes: tags for each. If some change according to ``git bisect``
>exposed a formerly hidden bug, add a Fixes: tag for that change, too. Do
>not add tags for commits that are only suspected.
>"""
[...]
>* After thinking about our recent discussion some more, I think the
>Fixes: tag for a change that exposed a bug should be mandatory.

Agreed. It also matches handling-regressions.rst, which already asks for
a Fixes: tag on the commit causing a regression.

I'd keep one word from v3: "separately". "Introduced by more than one
commit" also reads as a bug that only appeared once several commits came
together, where the tag belongs on the one that completed it. Tagging
all of them would send the fix to trees that have only some of them.

So v4 will have:

  Name the commit that introduced the bug. When using ``git blame`` to
  find it, do not settle on a commit that only moved the code. If a later
  commit exposed an older bug, add a Fixes: tag for that commit too. If
  the same bug was introduced separately by more than one commit, add a
  Fixes: tag for each. Do not add tags for commits that are only
  suspected. The Fixes: tags tell the stable team which trees need the
  fix: those that contain one of the tagged commits. Trees that contain
  none of them do not need it.

-- 
Thanks,
Sasha