linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH net-next v2] tg3: Remove residual error handling in tg3

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Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2024 08:25:39 -0700
From: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@...nel.org>
To: Nikita Kiryushin <kiryushin@...ud.ru>
Cc: Michael Chan <mchan@...adcom.com>, Pavan Chebbi
 <pavan.chebbi@...adcom.com>, "David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>, Eric
 Dumazet <edumazet@...gle.com>, Paolo Abeni <pabeni@...hat.com>, "Rafael J.
 Wysocki" <rjw@...ysocki.net>, netdev@...r.kernel.org,
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, lvc-project@...uxtesting.org, Michael Chan
 <michael.chan@...adcom.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH net-next v2] tg3: Remove residual error handling in
 tg3_suspend

On Fri, 29 Mar 2024 14:51:18 +0300 Nikita Kiryushin wrote:
> > How is deleting dead code a fix?  
> Originally, that was intended as a fix of a potential problematic case, that
> tg3_power_down_prepare() could change in the future, returning a
> non-zero status (which would make the removed code not dead, but undead).
> But than, as patch evolved, it became a straight up dead code removal.
> Probably, I should have removed the "fixes" line at that point, but
> I think it still useful as a reference point to know, after which commit this patch
> becomes relevant (to know, if it should be back-ported to some version or not,
> for example).As I guess from the guide, patches "Fixes:" tag has some special treatment in the development cycle, but what would be more appropriate in that case?

You can quote the commit where code became irrelevant by saying
something like:

This came became unreachable in commit c866b7eac073 ("tg3: Do not use
legacy PCI power management").

Fixes tag are often used to indicate that something is a bug fix.
Backporters are unlikely to care about this particular change,
let's not waste their time.