linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/3] checkpatch: warn about novice phrases in commit messages

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Message-ID: <51648015c2032c0b6fc9b10c6420cf73c4a93846.camel@perches.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:58:11 -0700
From: Joe Perches <joe@...ches.com>
To: Ignacio Peña <ignacio.pena87@...il.com>, Andy
 Whitcroft <apw@...onical.com>
Cc: Dwaipayan Ray <dwaipayanray1@...il.com>, Lukas Bulwahn	
 <lukas.bulwahn@...il.com>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Greg Kroah-Hartman
	 <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/3] checkpatch: warn about novice phrases in commit
 messages

On Mon, 2025-07-21 at 12:24 -0400, Ignacio Peña wrote:
> Add detection for common phrases used by newcomers that make patches
> look less professional, such as "please apply" or "please consider".
[]
> diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
[]
> @@ -3266,6 +3266,26 @@ sub process {
>  			     "A patch subject line should describe the change not the tool that found it\n" . $herecurr);
>  		}
>  
> +
> +# Check for novice phrases in commit message
> +		if ($in_commit_log && !$non_utf8_charset) {

why !$non_utf8_charset?

> +			my @novice_phrases = (
> +				qr/please\s+(apply|merge|consider|review)/i,
> +				qr/hope\s+this\s+helps/i,
> +				qr/my\s+first\s+(patch|contribution)/i,
> +				qr/(newbie|beginner)\s+here/i,
> +				qr/not\s+sure\s+if\s+(this\s+is\s+)?correct/i,
> +				qr/sorry\s+(if|for)/i,
> +			);

No capture groups - use (?:..)
				
> +			foreach my $phrase (@novice_phrases) {
> +				if ($line =~ /$phrase/) {
> +					WARN("COMMIT_MESSAGE_NOVICE",
> +					     "Avoid apologetic or uncertain language - be direct and professional\n" . $herecurr);
> +					last;
> +				}
> +			}
> +		}

And this could like use a single search rather than a list like:

			my $novice_phrases = qr{(?xi:
				please\s+(?:apply|merge|consider|review) |
				hope\s+this\s+helps |
				my\s+first\s+(?:patch|contribution) |
				(?:newbie|beginner)\s+here |
				not\s+sure\s+if\s+(?:this\s+is\s+)?correct |
				sorry\s+(?:if|for)
			)};

			if ($line =~ /\b$novice_phrase\b/) {
				WARN("COMMIT_MESSAGE_NOVICE",
				     "Avoid apologetic or uncertain language - be direct\n" . $herecurr);
			}

IMO professional is unnecessary.