linux-kernel - Re: [GIT PULL] mtd: Changes for v6.6-rc1

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <CAHk-=wgUntc0u-6WQ9U3OmNHTqB=cZQoWcTOXaipB+gixV5NPA@mail.gmail.com>
Date:   Sat, 2 Sep 2023 11:59:55 -0700
From:   Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:     Miquel Raynal <miquel.raynal@...tlin.com>
Cc:     linux-mtd@...ts.infradead.org, Richard Weinberger <richard@....at>,
        Tudor Ambarus <Tudor.Ambarus@...aro.org>,
        Vignesh Raghavendra <vigneshr@...com>,
        Frieder Schrempf <frieder.schrempf@...tron.de>,
        Michael Walle <michael@...le.cc>,
        Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@...nel.org>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [GIT PULL] mtd: Changes for v6.6-rc1

On Fri, 1 Sept 2023 at 09:42, Miquel Raynal <miquel.raynal@...tlin.com> wrote:
>
> Core MTD changes:
> * Use refcount to prevent corruption
> * Call external _get and _put in right order
> * Fix use-after-free in mtd release
> * Explicitly include correct DT includes
> * Clean refcounting with MTD_PARTITIONED_MASTER
> * mtdblock: make warning messages ratelimited
> * dt-bindings: Add SEAMA partition bindings

Ok, so the above list isa fairly reasonable, but then:

> MTD device driver changes:
> * spear_smi: Use helper function devm_clk_get_enabled()
> * maps: fix -Wvoid-pointer-to-enum-cast warning
> * docg3: Remove unnecessary (void*) conversions
> * physmap-core, spear_smi, st_spi_fsm, lpddr2_nvm, lantiq-flash, plat-ram:
>   - Use devm_platform_get_and_ioremap_resource()
[...]

This is not a "summary of changes". The above is basically just a
re-organized shortlog.

What I want a merge message to be is to be an _overview_ of what the
merge brings in, and it's why I ask peopel to summarize what they have
worked on in the pull request.

But when the "summary" is just a list of every single detail, it's no
longer a summary. It doesn't give an overview of what has changed.
It's not useful to an outsider as a way to see "this is what the merge
brings in".

End result: I might as well just use "git shortlog", and it would
probably be about as readable as this is. In fact, I get the strong
feeling that this was auto-generated from something very much akin to
"git shortlog", just edited to combine multiple commits that just did
the same thing to several drivers.

Please - this is meant for *humans*. If it is just another form of
"git shortlog", then the automated version is *better*, because I can
use "git shortlog" to look at one particular driver (or a particular
set of drivers), so having a static version of "git shortlog" that has
been slightly munged to another format is actually _inferior_.

No, what the merge message should be is a general overview of "this is
the big picture". Not just a list of every single change, just by
sub-area.

For example, you list "Use devm_platform_get_and_ioremap_resource" not
just for individual drivers (nobody cares!), you do it *twice*,
because you've split up MTD drivers from raw NAND controller drivers.

And then you separately list "Use helper function
devm_clk_get_optional_enabled" from that list too, _and_ you then list
"Use devm_platform_ioremap_resource_byname()" for the brcm nand
driver.

Not to mention individually lising "Fix alignment with open
parenthesis" and "Fix the spacing" and "Fix wrong indentation" and
"Fix a typo" for the Qcom driver.

See why I'm frustrated? This has been going on for some time, but it's
gett9ing *worse*. This is absolutely ridiculous. I could try to make a
summary of it all, but honestly, now it feels like just complete
wasted time.

So I pulled this, looked at the "summary" in the fag, and decided that
it's just not worth it, and unpulled it.

Please give me a *summary* of what has changed. A list of *important&
things. Not a list of pointless typo fixes.

               Linus