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2584f521 | 1 | Everything you ever wanted to know about Linux -stable releases. |
fc185d95 | 2 | |
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3 | Rules on what kind of patches are accepted, and which ones are not, into the |
4 | "-stable" tree: | |
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5 | |
6 | - It must be obviously correct and tested. | |
84eb8d06 | 7 | - It cannot be bigger than 100 lines, with context. |
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8 | - It must fix only one thing. |
9 | - It must fix a real bug that bothers people (not a, "This could be a | |
e48e9909 | 10 | problem..." type thing). |
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11 | - It must fix a problem that causes a build error (but not for things |
12 | marked CONFIG_BROKEN), an oops, a hang, data corruption, a real | |
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13 | security issue, or some "oh, that's not good" issue. In short, something |
14 | critical. | |
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15 | - Serious issues as reported by a user of a distribution kernel may also |
16 | be considered if they fix a notable performance or interactivity issue. | |
17 | As these fixes are not as obvious and have a higher risk of a subtle | |
18 | regression they should only be submitted by a distribution kernel | |
19 | maintainer and include an addendum linking to a bugzilla entry if it | |
20 | exists and additional information on the user-visible impact. | |
79cd80a1 | 21 | - New device IDs and quirks are also accepted. |
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22 | - No "theoretical race condition" issues, unless an explanation of how the |
23 | race can be exploited is also provided. | |
84eb8d06 | 24 | - It cannot contain any "trivial" fixes in it (spelling changes, |
e48e9909 | 25 | whitespace cleanups, etc). |
e48e9909 | 26 | - It must follow the Documentation/SubmittingPatches rules. |
959fb1c5 | 27 | - It or an equivalent fix must already exist in Linus' tree (upstream). |
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28 | |
29 | ||
30 | Procedure for submitting patches to the -stable tree: | |
31 | ||
32 | - Send the patch, after verifying that it follows the above rules, to | |
5fa22429 | 33 | stable@vger.kernel.org. You must note the upstream commit ID in the |
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34 | changelog of your submission, as well as the kernel version you wish |
35 | it to be applied to. | |
959fb1c5 | 36 | - To have the patch automatically included in the stable tree, add the tag |
5fa22429 | 37 | Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org |
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38 | in the sign-off area. Once the patch is merged it will be applied to |
39 | the stable tree without anything else needing to be done by the author | |
40 | or subsystem maintainer. | |
41 | - If the patch requires other patches as prerequisites which can be | |
42 | cherry-picked than this can be specified in the following format in | |
43 | the sign-off area: | |
44 | ||
2584f521 PG |
45 | Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x: a1f84a3: sched: Check for idle |
46 | Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x: 1b9508f: sched: Rate-limit newidle | |
47 | Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x: fd21073: sched: Fix affinity logic | |
48 | Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x | |
8e9b9362 SAS |
49 | Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu> |
50 | ||
51 | The tag sequence has the meaning of: | |
52 | git cherry-pick a1f84a3 | |
53 | git cherry-pick 1b9508f | |
54 | git cherry-pick fd21073 | |
55 | git cherry-pick <this commit> | |
56 | ||
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57 | - The sender will receive an ACK when the patch has been accepted into the |
58 | queue, or a NAK if the patch is rejected. This response might take a few | |
59 | days, according to the developer's schedules. | |
60 | - If accepted, the patch will be added to the -stable queue, for review by | |
46cdf871 | 61 | other developers and by the relevant subsystem maintainer. |
fc185d95 | 62 | - Security patches should not be sent to this alias, but instead to the |
e48e9909 | 63 | documented security@kernel.org address. |
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64 | |
65 | ||
66 | Review cycle: | |
67 | ||
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68 | - When the -stable maintainers decide for a review cycle, the patches will be |
69 | sent to the review committee, and the maintainer of the affected area of | |
70 | the patch (unless the submitter is the maintainer of the area) and CC: to | |
71 | the linux-kernel mailing list. | |
72 | - The review committee has 48 hours in which to ACK or NAK the patch. | |
fc185d95 | 73 | - If the patch is rejected by a member of the committee, or linux-kernel |
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74 | members object to the patch, bringing up issues that the maintainers and |
75 | members did not realize, the patch will be dropped from the queue. | |
76 | - At the end of the review cycle, the ACKed patches will be added to the | |
77 | latest -stable release, and a new -stable release will happen. | |
78 | - Security patches will be accepted into the -stable tree directly from the | |
79 | security kernel team, and not go through the normal review cycle. | |
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80 | Contact the kernel security team for more details on this procedure. |
81 | ||
2584f521 PG |
82 | Trees: |
83 | ||
84 | - The queues of patches, for both completed versions and in progress | |
85 | versions can be found at: | |
86 | http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue.git | |
87 | - The finalized and tagged releases of all stable kernels can be found | |
88 | in separate branches per version at: | |
89 | http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git | |
90 | ||
fc185d95 | 91 | |
5d3f083d | 92 | Review committee: |
fc185d95 | 93 | |
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94 | - This is made up of a number of kernel developers who have volunteered for |
95 | this task, and a few that haven't. |