linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] checkpatch: warn on unhandled placeholders in cover letters

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Message-ID: <9a84b9a3adf08aa468252fddfdbb0d9a8506fd46.camel@perches.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2025 08:43:16 -0700
From: Joe Perches <joe@...ches.com>
To: Onur Özkan <work@...rozkan.dev>, 
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc: apw@...onical.com, dwaipayanray1@...il.com, lukas.bulwahn@...il.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH] checkpatch: warn on unhandled placeholders in cover
 letters

On Wed, 2025-09-17 at 17:01 +0300, Onur Özkan wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 14:49:09 +0300
> Onur Özkan <work@...rozkan.dev> wrote:
> 
> > Adds a new check to detect unhandled placeholders in cover letters.
> > This prevents sending patch series with incomplete cover letters
> > containing auto generated subject or blurb lines such as:
> > 
> >     *** SUBJECT HERE ***
> >     *** BLURB HERE ***
[]
> > diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
[]
> > @@ -3339,6 +3339,15 @@ sub process {
> >  				$fixed[$fixlinenr] =~ s/^/ /;
> >  			}
> >  		}
> > +# Check for unhandled placeholder text in cover letters
> > +		if ($filename =~ /cover-letter\.patch$/) {

Probably don't need this $filename test but do need
some test and code like

		if (($in_commit_log || $in_header_lines) &&
		    $rawline =~ /(?:SUBJECT|BLURB) HERE/) {
			ERROR("PLACEHOLDER_USE",
			      "Placeholder text detected\n" . $herecurr);
		}

> > +			if ($rawline =~ /^\+Subject:.*\*\*\* SUBJECT
> > HERE \*\*\*/ ||
> > +				$rawline =~ /^\+\*\*\* BLURB HERE
> > \*\*\*/) {
> > +				my $placeholder = $1 || $2;

$placeholder isn't useful.

> > +				WARN("COVER_LETTER_PLACEHOLDER",

s/WARN/ERROR/

> > +					 "Incomplete cover letter:
> > placeholder text detected\n" . $herecurr);
> > +			}
> > +		}
[]
> I wasn't aware of the checkpatch documentation in
> "Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst" file. I guess
> COVER_LETTER_PLACEHOLDER needs to be documented there?

yes.