Linus Torvalds Reacts to Poorly-Executed Pull Requests for Linux 6.3

Linux Torvalds does not tolerate mistakes that directly hamper the Linux Kernel development workflow.

For example, Last year, when he announced the release candidate for Linux Kernel 6.1, he included a stern message aimed at the developers for submitting code at the last minute.

This time around, a similar thing happened again.

Linus Advises Explaining the Merges

Seeing that the merge window for Linux Kernel 6.3 is open right now while looking at the pull requests made by developers, Linus came across a one-liner commit that mentioned “Merge branch 'for-linus/hardening' intofor-next/hardening”.

While the request was merged, and it may have been a fix for Linux 6.2 cycle, Linus Torvalds was not happy to see it the way it was.

Here's what Linus Torvalds said in response to the pull request:

And that one-liner shortlog part is literally the whole commit message.

I've said this before, and apparently I need to say this again: if you cannot be bothered to explain *WHY* a merge exists, then that merge is buggy garbage by definition.

This really should be a rule that every single developer should take to heart. I'm not just putting random words together in a random order.

I repeat: if you cannot explain a merge, then JUST DON'T DO IT.

It's really that simple. There is absolutely *NEVER* an excuse for merges without explaining why those merges exist.

Yeah, he is really mad. He continued to emphasize that this pull request may not justify itself at all, mostly because of the lack of explanation for it:

In this case, I really think that merge should not have existed at all, and the lack of explanation is because there *IS* no explanation for it.

But if there was a reason for it, then just state it, dammit, and make that merge commit look sensible.

Because right now it just looks entirely pointless. And I literally *detest* pointless merges. They only make the history look worse and harder to read.

Considering maintaining/developing the Linux Kernel one of the most important tasks in the software industry, Linus Torvalds just wants to see things go ahead in the proper way.

What can you learn from this?: If you are a developer contributing to the Linux Kernel, you should remember that this is a considerable undertaking that requires significant effort.

Of course, the developer involved may be more competent than we can imagine. But Linus Torvalds sure does not mistakes slide away. 😊

If you are going to be involved in any of these and submit a pull request in the future, I would suggest you do prior research to know what you should/should not do.

via: Phoronix