commit tag order vs. "b4 am"

From: Tony Luck
Date: Tue Jan 30 2024 - 17:34:29 EST


Reinette noticed that v14 of my resctrl/SNC patch series[1] did not adhere
to the tag order proscribed in Documentation/process/maintainer-tip.rst
Specifically my "Signed-off-by:" was now the last tag, instead of
appearing before the "Reviewed-by:" and "Tested-by" tags as it had in
v13.

A little digging showed that my tag had been moved to the end by "b4 am"
when I used it to pick up some additonal tags.

An e-mail discussion with Konstantin ensued to determine if this was
a bug. Konstantin said:

This is the intended behaviour, because b4 follows the chain-of-custody
procedure. If we encounter a Signed-off-by trailer matching the identity of
the user preparing the series, we move it to the bottom to indicate that the
chain-of-custody boundary has moved to include the code review trailers
received after the initial submission.

https://lore.kernel.org/tools/20221031165842.vxr4kp6h7qnkc53l@meerkat.local/

Basically, the "Signed-off-by" trailer is special because it indicates that
everything above it is the responsibility of the person doing the sign-off. If
we kept your Signed-off-by in the original spot, then it wouldn't be clear who
collected and applied the trailers.

Question: Do the TIP maintainers agree with Konstantin's opinion that
the Signed-off-by: includes all the tags applied prior? If so, this
should be called out in Documentation/process/maintainer-tip.rst


[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240126223837.21835-1-tony.luck@xxxxxxxxx/