Re: [PATCH v2] Introduce a description of a new optional tag for Backports

[Jan Beulich <jbeulich@xxxxxxxx>]

On 10.04.2020 18:49, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
> Create a new document under docs/process to describe our special tags.
> For now, only add the new backport tag.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Stefano Stabellini <stefano.stabellini@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Acked-by: Ian Jackson <ian.jackson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Acked-by: Wei Liu <wl@xxxxxxx>
> CC: jbeulich@xxxxxxxx
> CC: george.dunlap@xxxxxxxxxx
> CC: julien@xxxxxxx
> CC: lars.kurth@xxxxxxxxxx
> CC: andrew.cooper3@xxxxxxxxxx
> CC: konrad.wilk@xxxxxxxxxx
> 
> ---
> 
> This is the original thread: https://marc.info/?l=xen-devel&m=157324027614941
> 
> The backport tag was agreed upon.

Well, sort of.

> George requested the file to be
> renamed to something more generic, where we could add more information
> later.
> 
> I kept the original content and acked-by. I renamed the file to
> tags.pandoc.
> ---
>  docs/process/tags.pandoc | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 23 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 docs/process/tags.pandoc
> 
> diff --git a/docs/process/tags.pandoc b/docs/process/tags.pandoc
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..e570efdcc8
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/docs/process/tags.pandoc
> @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
> +Backport Tag
> +------------
> +
> +A backport tag is an optional tag in the commit message to request a
> +given commit to be backported to the stable trees:

Insert "fully maintained"?

> +    Backport: all
> +
> +It marks a commit for being a candidate for backports to all relevant
> +trees.

I'm unconvinced of the utility of this form - what "all" resolves to
changes over time. There's almost always a first version where a
particular issue was introduced. If we want this to be generally
useful, imo we shouldn't limit the scope of the tag to the upstream
maintained stable trees.

> +    Backport: 4.9+
> +
> +It marks a commit for being a candidate for backports to all stable
> +trees from 4.9 onward.
> +
> +Maintainers request the Backport tag to be added on commit.
> +Contributors are also welcome to mark their patches with the Backport
> +tag when they deem appropriate. Maintainers will request for it to be
> +removed when that is not the case.
> +
> +Please note that the Backport tag is a **request** for backport, which
> +will still need to be evaluated by the stable tree maintainers.

Now that we see more widespread use of the Fixes: tag, with there
being effectively some overlap between the information conveyed I
think there should be some mention of this. Not the least there's the
risk of the Backport: one to become stale when a flaky commit gets
backported - the Fixes: tag doesn't have this issue.

Jan