Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] Documentation: best practices for using Link trailers

From: "Michael S. Tsirkin" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 19 Jun 2024 04:41:44 -0400

On Tue, Jun 18, 2024 at 12:42:11PM -0400, Konstantin Ryabitsev wrote:
> Based on multiple conversations, most recently on the ksummit mailing
> list [1], add some best practices for using the Link trailer, such as:
> 
> - how to use markdown-like bracketed numbers in the commit message to
> indicate the corresponding link
> - when to use lore.kernel.org vs patch.msgid.link domains
> 
> Cc: [email-masked]
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20240617-arboreal-industrious-hedgehog-5b84ae@meerkat # [1]
> Signed-off-by: Konstantin Ryabitsev <[email-masked]>
> ---
>  Documentation/process/maintainer-tip.rst | 24 ++++++++++++++++++------
>  1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/process/maintainer-tip.rst b/Documentation/process/maintainer-tip.rst
> index 64739968afa6..57ffa553c21e 100644
> --- a/Documentation/process/maintainer-tip.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/process/maintainer-tip.rst
> @@ -375,14 +375,26 @@ following tag ordering scheme:
>     For referring to an email on LKML or other kernel mailing lists,
>     please use the lore.kernel.org redirector URL::
>  
> -     https://lore.kernel.org/r/email-message@id
> +     Link: https://lore.kernel.org/email-message@id
>  
> -   The kernel.org redirector is considered a stable URL, unlike other email
> -   archives.
> +   This URL should be used when referring to relevant mailing list
> +   resources, related patch sets, or other notable discussion threads.
> +   A convenient way to associate Link trailers with the accompanying
> +   message is to use markdown-like bracketed notation, for example::
>  
> -   Maintainers will add a Link tag referencing the email of the patch
> -   submission when they apply a patch to the tip tree. This tag is useful
> -   for later reference and is also used for commit notifications.
> +     A similar approach was attempted before as part of a different
> +     effort [1], but the initial implementation caused too many
> +     regressions [2], so it was backed out and reimplemented.
> +
> +     Link: https://lore.kernel.org/some-msgid@here # [1]
> +     Link: https://bugzilla.example.org/bug/12345  # [2]
> +
> +   When using the ``Link:`` trailer to indicate the provenance of the
> +   patch, you should use the dedicated ``patch.msgid.link`` domain. This
> +   makes it possible for automated tooling to establish which link leads
> +   to the original patch submission. For example::
> +
> +     Link: https://patch.msgid.link/patch-source-msgid@here
>  
>  Please do not use combined tags, e.g. ``Reported-and-tested-by``, as
>  they just complicate automated extraction of tags.

I don't really understand what this is saying.
So when is msgid.link preferable to kernel.org?
And when is kernel.org preferable to msgid?

> -- 
> 2.45.2