Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] Documentation/MyFirstContribution: recommend shallow threading

From: Tuomas Ahola <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2026 13:01:45 +0300

Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]> wrote:

> The "MyFirstContribution" document recommends the use of deep threading:
> every cover letter of subsequent iterations shall be linked to the cover
> letter of the preceding version. The result of this is that eventually,
> threads with many versions are getting nested so deep that it becomes
> hard to follow.
> 
> Adapt the recommendation to instead propose shallow threading: instead
> of linking the cover letter to the previous cover letter, the user is
> supposed to always link it to the first cover letter. This still makes
> it easy to follow the iterations, but has the benefit of nesting to a
> much shallower level.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]>
> ---
>  Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc | 4 ++--
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
> index b9fdefce02..069020196c 100644
> --- a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
> +++ b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
> @@ -1227,8 +1227,8 @@ Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
>  
>  Your Message-ID is `<[email-masked]>`. This example will be used
>  below as well; make sure to replace it with the correct Message-ID for your
> -**previous cover letter** - that is, if you're sending v2, use the Message-ID
> -from v1; if you're sending v3, use the Message-ID from v2.
> +**first cover letter** - that is, for any subsequent version that you send,
> +always use the Message-ID from v1.
>  
>  While you're looking at the email, you should also note who is CC'd, as it's
>  common practice in the mailing list to keep all CCs on a thread. You can add
> 
> -- 
> 2.54.0.1064.gd145956f57.dirty

If we adapt this change to the guidance, let's fix also other places of the
document that talk about replying to the previous cover letter.

-----8<-----

diff --git a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
index 069020196c..bf64a211bd 100644
--- a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
@@ -790,7 +790,7 @@ We can note a few things:
   v3", etc. in place of "PATCH". For example, "[PATCH v2 1/3]" would be the first of
   three patches in the second iteration. Each iteration is sent with a new cover
   letter (like "[PATCH v2 0/3]" above), itself a reply to the cover letter of the
-  previous iteration (more on that below).
+  first iteration (more on that below).
 
 NOTE: A single-patch topic is sent with "[PATCH]", "[PATCH v2]", etc. without
 _i_/_n_ numbering (in the above thread overview, no single-patch topic appears,
@@ -1214,7 +1214,7 @@ between your last version and now, if it's something significant. You do not
 need the exact same body in your second cover letter; focus on explaining to
 reviewers the changes you've made that may not be as visible.
 
-You will also need to go and find the Message-ID of your previous cover letter.
+You will also need to go and find the Message-ID of your original cover letter.
 You can either note it when you send the first series, from the output of `git
 send-email`, or you can look it up on the
 https://lore.kernel.org/git[mailing list]. Find your cover letter in the