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authorKees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>2023-05-11 21:41:35 +0300
committerJonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>2023-05-19 18:28:39 +0300
commit329ac9af902e441bae13803a4d7126aaf5984188 (patch)
tree658f5c0d539272f1e2090646411087101b647b7a /Documentation/process
parentd6534e3c86668211fc6945017396c0c0d9e7daa4 (diff)
downloadlinux-329ac9af902e441bae13803a4d7126aaf5984188.tar.xz
docs: submitting-patches: Discuss interleaved replies
Top-posting has been strongly discouraged in Linux development, but this was actually not written anywhere in the common documentation about sending patches and replying to reviews. Add a section about trimming and interleaved replies. Acked-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> Reviewed-by: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230511184131.gonna.399-kees@kernel.org
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/2.Process.rst7
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst25
2 files changed, 29 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
index 6a919cffcbfd..9ab58a0d4fac 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
@@ -434,9 +434,10 @@ There are a few hints which can help with linux-kernel survival:
questions. Some developers can get impatient with people who clearly
have not done their homework.
-- Avoid top-posting (the practice of putting your answer above the quoted
- text you are responding to). It makes your response harder to read and
- makes a poor impression.
+- Use interleaved ("inline") replies, which makes your response easier to
+ read. (i.e. avoid top-posting -- the practice of putting your answer above
+ the quoted text you are responding to.) For more details, see
+ :ref:`Documentation/process/submittingpatches.rst <interleaved_replies>`.
- Ask on the correct mailing list. Linux-kernel may be the general meeting
point, but it is not the best place to find developers from all
diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
index 486875fd73c0..efac910e2659 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
@@ -331,6 +331,31 @@ explaining difference against previous submission (see
See Documentation/process/email-clients.rst for recommendations on email
clients and mailing list etiquette.
+.. _interleaved_replies:
+
+Use trimmed interleaved replies in email discussions
+----------------------------------------------------
+Top-posting is strongly discouraged in Linux kernel development
+discussions. Interleaved (or "inline") replies make conversations much
+easier to follow. For more details see:
+https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
+
+As is frequently quoted on the mailing list::
+
+ A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_post
+ Q: Were do I find info about this thing called top-posting?
+ A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
+ Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
+ A: Top-posting.
+ Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
+
+Similarly, please trim all unneeded quotations that aren't relevant
+to your reply. This makes responses easier to find, and saves time and
+space. For more details see: http://daringfireball.net/2007/07/on_top ::
+
+ A: No.
+ Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
+
.. _resend_reminders:
Don't get discouraged - or impatient