Add configuration variable for sign-off to format-patch

If you regularly create patches which require a Signed-off: line you may want to make it your default to add that line. It also helps you not to forget to add the -s/--signoff switch.

Quoted 3 lines · Heiko Voigt

If you regularly create patches which require a Signed-off: line you may want to make it your default to add that line. It also helps you not to forget to add the -s/--signoff switch.

I personally have no problem with such an option, but it has been argued against before. E.g.:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/32522
http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/51780

There is also some discussion here indicating that it might be accepted:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/103939

I see, it is of course true that you should not just sign off everything without thinking about it.

However I always read through my messages before sending them and it is way easier to delete that line than typing/copying it.

 format.signoff::
     A boolean value which lets you enable the -s/--signoff option of
 -    format-patch by default.
 +    format-patch by default. *Note:* Adding the Signed-off-by: line to a
 +    patch should be a conscious act and means that you certify you have
 +    the rights to submit this work under the same open source license.
 +    Please see the 'SubmittingPatches' document for further discussion.

Documentation/config.txt +0 -0

index ad22cb8..27cb7f1 100644

Quoted 5 lines · Heiko Voigt

Documentation/config.txt +0 -0

index ad22cb8..27cb7f1 100644

Documentation/config.txt format.thread:: · line 723

Quoted 9 lines

Documentation/config.txt +6 -0

@@ -715,6 +715,13 @@ format.thread::
 	A true boolean value is the same as `shallow`, and a false
 	value disables threading.
 
+format.signoff::
+    A boolean value which lets you enable the `-s/--signoff` option of
+    format-patch by default. *Note:* Adding the Signed-off-by: line to a
+    patch should be a conscious act and means that you certify you have
+    the rights to submit this work under the same open source license.
+    Please see the 'SubmittingPatches' document for further discussion.

I have a mixed feeling about this description. The existing description on the --signoff option merely talks about what it does, leaving what it means, and it is quite deliberate. If your project uses S-o-b, it may be useful. If yours doesn't, you simply just don't use it. It does not matter to _us_ as the document writer what that line means to your project.

We do want to make the reader think twice iff S-o-b is used in the reader's project with the same meaning as it means in git and the Linux kernel project, which is what the description you added is about. But should we just assume if anybody uses S-o-b convention in their project they must give it the same meaning as we give it?

The patch looks straightforward enough, and the wording we can update if somebody can come up with a better one, so I'll apply the patch to 'master' and we will go from there.

How about:
"Some projects (notably the Linux kernel and git itself) put special meaning in a 'Signed-off-by' line while other's dont. Please refer to your project's documentation for appropriate behaviour."

Optionally with the following amendment:

"In general, you should refrain from signing off on a patch containing material that you're not sure can be legally spread under the project's license."

Quoted 7 lines · Andreas Ericsson

How about:
"Some projects (notably the Linux kernel and git itself) put special meaning in a 'Signed-off-by' line while other's dont. Please refer to your project's documentation for appropriate behaviour."

Optionally with the following amendment:

Quoted 3 lines

"In general, you should refrain from signing off on a patch containing material that you're not sure can be legally spread under the project's license."

To me, this is at least an improvement over refering to SubmittingPatches (which is targeted to Git contributors) in the documentation (targeted to Git users), yes.

Not sure whether these two sentences should come in the documentation for the config option or the command-line switch.

How about:
"Some projects (notably the Linux kernel and git itself) put special meaning in a 'Signed-off-by' line while other's dont. Please refer to your project's documentation for appropriate behaviour."

Optionally with the following amendment:

"In general, you should refrain from signing off on a patch containing material that you're not sure can be legally spread under the project's license."

If you regularly create patches which require a Signed-off: line you may want to make it your default to add that line. It also helps you not to forget to add the -s/--signoff switch.

Signed-off-by Heiko Voigt <[email protected]>

---

Because it happened to me twice already that I forgot to add the switch.

 Documentation/config.txt           |    4 ++++
 Documentation/git-format-patch.txt |    1 +
 builtin-log.c                      |   23 ++++++++++++++++-------
 3 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

Documentation/config.txt +0 -0

index ad22cb8..ed85536 100644

Can we please make it "formatpatch.signoff" or some such instead? Just plain "format" is a bit too generic for my taste.