Subject: Re: linux-next: manual merge of the wireless-next tree with Linus' tree

From: Kalle Valo <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2022 15:40:03 +0300

Jakub Kicinski <[email-masked]> writes:

> On Thu, 20 Oct 2022 04:14:40 +1100 Stephen Rothwell wrote:
>> > Dunno if this is a glitch or real problem. But it reminds me - I see
>> > there is direct wireless -> wireless-next merge without going via
>> > Linus's tree. I think you may have mentioned it to us, but not sure
>> > if I said this clearly - let's try to avoid such merges. Linus certainly
>> > doesn't like when we do net -> net-next merges without sending net to
>> > him first and forwarding. I'm not 100% sure why (maybe Steven knows)
>> > - whether it's an aesthetic thing or avoiding real issues thing, but
>> > either way it's _a_ thing :S  
>> 
>> Has Linus really complained about you merging the net tree into the
>> net-next tree?
>
> I can't find that exchange right now. Maybe it was about merging
> back his tree into ours without submitting a PR. Hm.

So yes, we merged wireless into wireless-next in commit dfd2d876b3fd
("Merge remote-tracking branch 'wireless/main' into wireless-next"). But
that's only in wireless-next right now, we will send a pull request to
net-next soon.

My understanding is that Linus does not like excessive or pointless
merge requests, and his recent email[1] says similar. But in our case I
think the merge is justified, otherwise we would have conflicts between
trees, which means more work for everyone involved with tree merges and
most likely even bugs if the merge resolutions are difficult.

And we were not planning to do this often, maybe something like once per
cycle and only then there's a strong reason for the merge. Naturally we
would document that in the merge, just like Linus prefers. Thoughts?

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/CAHk-=[email-masked]/

-- 
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/list/

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches