Re: [PATCH 0/4] char-TPM: Adjustments for ten function implementations

[Michael Ellerman]

Mimi Zohar <zohar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> On Tue, 2017-10-17 at 12:11 +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
>> On Tue, 17 Oct 2017, Dan Carpenter wrote:
>> > On Tue, Oct 17, 2017 at 10:56:42AM +0200, Julia Lawall wrote:
>> > > On Tue, 17 Oct 2017, Dan Carpenter wrote:
>> > > > On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 09:35:12PM +0300, Jarkko Sakkinen wrote:
>> > > > >
>> > > > > A minor complaint: all commits are missing "Fixes:" tag.
>> > > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > Fixes is only for bug fixes.  These don't fix any bugs.
>> > >
>> > > 0-day seems to put Fixes for everything.  Should they be removed when the
>> > > old code is undesirable but doesn't actually cause a crash, eg out of date
>> > > API.
>> >
>> > Yeah, I feel like Fixes tags don't belong for API updates and cleanups.
>> 
>> OK, I will remove them from the patches that go through me where they
>> don't seem appropriate.
>
> The "Fixes" tag is an indication that the patch should be backported.

No it's not that strong. It's an indication that the patch fixes another
commit, which may or may not mean it should be backported depending on
the preferences of the backporter. If it *does* need backporting then
the Fixes tag helps identify where it should go.

The doco is actually pretty well worded IMO:

  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst#n183

  If your patch fixes a bug in a specific commit, e.g. you found an issue using
  ``git bisect``, please use the 'Fixes:' tag with the first 12 characters of
  the SHA-1 ID, and the one line summary.

and:

  https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst#n602

  A Fixes: tag indicates that the patch fixes an issue in a previous commit. It
  is used to make it easy to determine where a bug originated, which can help
  review a bug fix. This tag also assists the stable kernel team in determining
  which stable kernel versions should receive your fix. This is the preferred
  method for indicating a bug fixed by the patch. See :ref:`describe_changes`
  for more details.


cheers