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u-boot-usb/next

GIT PULL Marek Vasut 9 participants 58 messages Oct 7, 2012 – Oct 15, 2012

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#0 lore raw

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx into next
(2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

for you to fetch changes up to f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

----------------------------------------------------------------
Lucas Stach (7):
usb: lowlevel interface change to support multiple controllers
usb: ehci: rework to take advantage of new lowlevel interface
usb: add support for multiple usb controllers
tegra20: port to new ehci interface
usb: ehci: don't print debug output
usb: ulpi: add indicator configuration function
tegra20: add USB ULPI init code

Lukasz Dalek (5):
usbether: Fixed bug when using with PXA25X chips
usbether: Define CONFIG_USB_ETH_{CDC,SUBSET}
usbether: Removed DEV_CONFIG_{CDC,SUBSET}
pxa25x: Add support for USB ethernet gadget usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h

 README                                        |    3 +
 arch/arm/cpu/arm920t/s3c24x0/usb_ohci.c       |    4 +-
 arch/arm/cpu/armv7/tegra20/usb.c              |  168 ++++--
 arch/arm/include/asm/arch-tegra20/usb.h       |   33 +-
 arch/arm/include/asm/ehci-omap.h              |   10 +-
 arch/mips/cpu/mips32/au1x00/au1x00_usb_ohci.c |    4 +-
 arch/powerpc/cpu/mpc5xxx/usb_ohci.c           |    4 +-
 arch/powerpc/cpu/ppc4xx/usb_ohci.c            |    4 +-
 arch/sparc/cpu/leon3/usb_uhci.c               |    4 +-
 arch/sparc/lib/bootm.c                        |    2 +-
 board/htkw/mcx/mcx.c                          |    6 +-
 board/mpl/common/usb_uhci.c                   |    4 +-
 board/technexion/twister/twister.c            |    6 +-
 board/teejet/mt_ventoux/mt_ventoux.c          |    6 +-
 board/ti/beagle/beagle.c                      |    6 +-
 board/ti/panda/panda.c                        |    6 +-
 common/cmd_usb.c                              |   16 +-
 common/usb.c                                  |  108 ++--
 common/usb_hub.c                              |    2 +-
 common/usb_storage.c                          |    2 +-
 drivers/usb/eth/usb_ether.c                   |    2 +-
 drivers/usb/gadget/Makefile                   |    1 +
 drivers/usb/gadget/ether.c                    |   69 +--
 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.c               | 2059 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.h               |  162 ++++++
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-armada100.c             |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-atmel.c                 |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-core.h                  |   29 --
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-exynos.c                |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-fsl.c                   |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-hcd.c                   |  126 ++---
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-ixp4xx.c                |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-marvell.c               |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mpc512x.c               |   25 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mx5.c                   |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mx6.c                   |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mxc.c                   |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mxs.c                   |   20 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-omap.c                  |   10 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-pci.c                   |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-ppc4xx.c                |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-tegra.c                 |   14 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-vct.c                   |    9 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci.h                       |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/isp116x-hcd.c                |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ohci-hcd.c                   |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/r8a66597-hcd.c               |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/sl811-hcd.c                  |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/musb/musb_hcd.c                   |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/ulpi/ulpi.c                       |   32 +-
 include/usb.h                                 |   21 +-
 include/usb/mv_udc.h                          |    2 +-
 include/usb/ulpi.h                            |   13 +-
 53 files changed, 2779 insertions(+), 382 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.c
 create mode 100644 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.h
 delete mode 100644 drivers/usb/host/ehci-core.h
#1 lore raw
Quoted 85 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx into next
(2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

for you to fetch changes up to f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

----------------------------------------------------------------
Lucas Stach (7):
usb: lowlevel interface change to support multiple controllers
usb: ehci: rework to take advantage of new lowlevel interface
usb: add support for multiple usb controllers
tegra20: port to new ehci interface
usb: ehci: don't print debug output
usb: ulpi: add indicator configuration function
tegra20: add USB ULPI init code

Lukasz Dalek (5):
usbether: Fixed bug when using with PXA25X chips
usbether: Define CONFIG_USB_ETH_{CDC,SUBSET}
usbether: Removed DEV_CONFIG_{CDC,SUBSET}
pxa25x: Add support for USB ethernet gadget usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h

 README                                        |    3 +
 arch/arm/cpu/arm920t/s3c24x0/usb_ohci.c       |    4 +-
 arch/arm/cpu/armv7/tegra20/usb.c              |  168 ++++--
 arch/arm/include/asm/arch-tegra20/usb.h       |   33 +-
 arch/arm/include/asm/ehci-omap.h              |   10 +-
 arch/mips/cpu/mips32/au1x00/au1x00_usb_ohci.c |    4 +-
 arch/powerpc/cpu/mpc5xxx/usb_ohci.c           |    4 +-
 arch/powerpc/cpu/ppc4xx/usb_ohci.c            |    4 +-
 arch/sparc/cpu/leon3/usb_uhci.c               |    4 +-
 arch/sparc/lib/bootm.c                        |    2 +-
 board/htkw/mcx/mcx.c                          |    6 +-
 board/mpl/common/usb_uhci.c                   |    4 +-
 board/technexion/twister/twister.c            |    6 +-
 board/teejet/mt_ventoux/mt_ventoux.c          |    6 +-
 board/ti/beagle/beagle.c                      |    6 +-
 board/ti/panda/panda.c                        |    6 +-
 common/cmd_usb.c                              |   16 +-
 common/usb.c                                  |  108 ++--
 common/usb_hub.c                              |    2 +-
 common/usb_storage.c                          |    2 +-
 drivers/usb/eth/usb_ether.c                   |    2 +-
 drivers/usb/gadget/Makefile                   |    1 +
 drivers/usb/gadget/ether.c                    |   69 +--
 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.c               | 2059 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.h               |  162 ++++++
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-armada100.c             |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-atmel.c                 |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-core.h                  |   29 --
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-exynos.c                |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-fsl.c                   |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-hcd.c                   |  126 ++---
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-ixp4xx.c                |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-marvell.c               |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mpc512x.c               |   25 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mx5.c                   |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mx6.c                   |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mxc.c                   |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-mxs.c                   |   20 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-omap.c                  |   10 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-pci.c                   |   15 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-ppc4xx.c                |   11 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-tegra.c                 |   14 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci-vct.c                   |    9 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ehci.h                       |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/isp116x-hcd.c                |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/ohci-hcd.c                   |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/r8a66597-hcd.c               |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/host/sl811-hcd.c                  |    4 +-
 drivers/usb/musb/musb_hcd.c                   |    4 +-
Quoted 8 lines
 drivers/usb/ulpi/ulpi.c                       |   32 +-
 include/usb.h                                 |   21 +-
 include/usb/mv_udc.h                          |    2 +-
 include/usb/ulpi.h                            |   13 +-
 53 files changed, 2779 insertions(+), 382 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.c
 create mode 100644 drivers/usb/gadget/pxa25x_udc.h
 delete mode 100644 drivers/usb/host/ehci-core.h

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Signature · 8 lines
Tom
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#2 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model (was: Re: [PULL] u-boot-usb/next)

Quoted 17 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 15 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

It would be awesome if U-Boot could adopt something more similar to the Linux kernel's git usage model, namely:

* All downstream branches are based off some known stable point in the master branch (e.g. 2012.10-rc1). Before these branches are merged into any other branch, they can be rebased if absolutely needed, but preferably not.

* Once a downstream branch is merged upwards, the downstream branch doesn't merge upstream back down into the downstream branch, but either:

a) Keeps adding to the existing branch so that incremental pull requests can be sent.

Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

* When a branch is merged from a repo to a parent repo, it's always a git merge --no-ff; never a rebase or fast-forward.

* In order to resolve merge conflicts/dependencies between different downstream branches, one of the following happens:

1)

a) The first downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.
b) The second downstream branch creates a new branch starting at an an rc or release in u-boot-master that contains it the required patches.
c) The dependent patches are applied to the second downstream branch.
d) The second downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.

2)

All the patches that would usually be merged through downstream branch 2 actually get ack'd by the maintainer of downstream branch 2 and applied to downstream branch 1 after the patches they depend on. This is simplest, but may cause complications if both branches need to take patches that build on the merged patches they're merged into an rc or release in u-boot/master.

3)

A topic branch is created by one of the downstream maintainers, branched from a u-boot/master rc or release, and containing just the patches that other patches depend on, and this topic branch gets merged into both the two downstream branches for further work.

Yes, this does all take a little bit more thought, planning, and co-ordination, but I think having a simpler and more stable git history is worth it.

#3 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model (was: Re: [PULL] u-boot-usb/next)

Quoted 27 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 17 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 15 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Quoted 8 lines

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

Quoted 50 lines

It would be awesome if U-Boot could adopt something more similar to the Linux kernel's git usage model, namely:

* All downstream branches are based off some known stable point in the master branch (e.g. 2012.10-rc1). Before these branches are merged into any other branch, they can be rebased if absolutely needed, but preferably not.

* Once a downstream branch is merged upwards, the downstream branch doesn't merge upstream back down into the downstream branch, but either:

a) Keeps adding to the existing branch so that incremental pull requests can be sent.

Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

* When a branch is merged from a repo to a parent repo, it's always a git merge --no-ff; never a rebase or fast-forward.

* In order to resolve merge conflicts/dependencies between different downstream branches, one of the following happens:

1)

a) The first downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.
b) The second downstream branch creates a new branch starting at an an rc or release in u-boot-master that contains it the required patches.
c) The dependent patches are applied to the second downstream branch.
d) The second downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.

2)

All the patches that would usually be merged through downstream branch 2 actually get ack'd by the maintainer of downstream branch 2 and applied to downstream branch 1 after the patches they depend on. This is simplest, but may cause complications if both branches need to take patches that build on the merged patches they're merged into an rc or release in u-boot/master.

3)

Quoted 8 lines

A topic branch is created by one of the downstream maintainers, branched from a u-boot/master rc or release, and containing just the patches that other patches depend on, and this topic branch gets merged into both the two downstream branches for further work.

Yes, this does all take a little bit more thought, planning, and co-ordination, but I think having a simpler and more stable git history is worth it.

Interesting. As this is more work on the custodians end, what does everyone else say?

Signature · 8 lines
Tom
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#4 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 39 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 31 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 18 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 16 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx
into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

Quoted 6 lines

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

Quoted 2 lines

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based. Are you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

Instead, I think u-boot/next is just a place where patches get applied, or branches get merged, before u-boot/master is open to accept new patches for the next release. Unless I'm misunderstanding it purpose of course...

Now, having a linux-next style daily merge of u-boot-*/next would be pretty awesome.

Quoted 60 lines
Quoted 60 lines

It would be awesome if U-Boot could adopt something more similar to the Linux kernel's git usage model, namely:

* All downstream branches are based off some known stable point in the master branch (e.g. 2012.10-rc1). Before these branches are merged into any other branch, they can be rebased if absolutely needed, but preferably not.

* Once a downstream branch is merged upwards, the downstream branch doesn't merge upstream back down into the downstream branch, but either:

a) Keeps adding to the existing branch so that incremental pull requests can be sent.

Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

* When a branch is merged from a repo to a parent repo, it's always a git merge --no-ff; never a rebase or fast-forward.

* In order to resolve merge conflicts/dependencies between different downstream branches, one of the following happens:

1)

a) The first downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master. b) The second downstream branch creates a new branch starting at an an rc or release in u-boot-master that contains it the required patches. c) The dependent patches are applied to the second downstream branch. d) The second downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.

2)

All the patches that would usually be merged through downstream branch 2 actually get ack'd by the maintainer of downstream branch 2 and applied to downstream branch 1 after the patches they depend on. This is simplest, but may cause complications if both branches need to take patches that build on the merged patches they're merged into an rc or release in u-boot/master.

3)

A topic branch is created by one of the downstream maintainers, branched from a u-boot/master rc or release, and containing just the patches that other patches depend on, and this topic branch gets merged into both the two downstream branches for further work.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

Yes, this does all take a little bit more thought, planning, and co-ordination, but I think having a simpler and more stable git history is worth it.

Interesting. As this is more work on the custodians end, what does everyone else say?

This actually turns out to be less work for custodians if there aren't any dependencies between patch series, since whenever you send a pull request right now, you do:

a) Fetch latest upstream.
b) Rebase onto it.
c) Send pull request.

but with the Linux model, you simply:

a) Send pull request.

Admittedly the recipient then might need to resolve some merge conflicts. However, hopefully people have been planning for these and have avoided them.

Now, if there are dependencies between branches, then perhaps the formalized options above seem like more work, but I don't think there's a good solution in place today for this anyway, is there? So, it still seems like this simplifies things.

#5 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Stephen,

Quoted 7 lines · Stephen Warren

This actually turns out to be less work for custodians if there aren't any dependencies between patch series, since whenever you send a pull request right now, you do:

a) Fetch latest upstream.
b) Rebase onto it.
c) Send pull request.

Uh, no, you don't rebase. I've learnt that well. :)

But I suspect the Wiki page is still lagging behind.

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#6 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Albert,

Quoted 9 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Stephen,

Quoted 4 lines · Stephen Warren

This actually turns out to be less work for custodians if there aren't any dependencies between patch series, since whenever you send a pull request right now, you do:

Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 3 lines

a) Fetch latest upstream.
b) Rebase onto it.
c) Send pull request.

Uh, no, you don't rebase. I've learnt that well. :)

Yes, I learn't that the hard way :)

Quoted 1 line

But I suspect the Wiki page is still lagging behind.

Yes because, to some extent at least, maintainers have a certain amount of latitude in how they manage their own repository. The whole rebase against master theory came about, I think, to avoid the maintainer repositories being littered with merge commits (which I assume adds more merge commits to mainline). I personally don't have an issue with merge commits - YMMV

Regards,

Graeme

#7 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Stephen Warren
Quoted 40 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 39 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 37 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 18 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 16 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx
into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 2 lines

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based. Are you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

I'm referring to that it's always rebased on top of Linus' tree. That's what caused the issue here, u-boot-usb was based on top of u-boot/next (which is may not have strictly needed to be) so I did the job of rebasing for Marek since it was an easy one.

Quoted 7 lines

Instead, I think u-boot/next is just a place where patches get applied, or branches get merged, before u-boot/master is open to accept new patches for the next release. Unless I'm misunderstanding it purpose of course...

Now, having a linux-next style daily merge of u-boot-*/next would be pretty awesome.

Well, it's a merge of what people want to get into the next merge window, as often as they're willing to submit if they are a custodian or as often as I can otherwise. In fact, right now some pull requests need to be on top of next rather than a "stable" point because we're making some pretty big cleanups and changes in a few areas right now.

Signature · 8 lines
Tom
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#8 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 66 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 44 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 43 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 40 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 20 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 17 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of
git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 2 lines

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based. Are you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

I'm referring to that it's always rebased on top of Linus' tree. That's what caused the issue here, u-boot-usb was based on top of u-boot/next (which is may not have strictly needed to be) so I did the job of rebasing for Marek since it was an easy one.

Quoted 7 lines

Instead, I think u-boot/next is just a place where patches get applied, or branches get merged, before u-boot/master is open to accept new patches for the next release. Unless I'm misunderstanding it purpose of course...

Now, having a linux-next style daily merge of u-boot-*/next would be pretty awesome.

Quoted 6 lines

Well, it's a merge of what people want to get into the next merge window, as often as they're willing to submit if they are a custodian or as often as I can otherwise. In fact, right now some pull requests need to be on top of next rather than a "stable" point because we're making some pretty big cleanups and changes in a few areas right now.

So, is u-boot/next purely incremental, or lets say something is merged in there, then needs to be reworked because of some nasty git bisect issue say, or some patches need to be taken through different trees due to dependencies, can the already-merged patches be removed and replaced with a completely new set, or can only incremental patches be applied?

I assume u-boot/next isn't rebuilt using fresh merges each time, hence isn't the linux-next model exactly?

#9 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Tom Rini

Hi Tom,

Quoted 58 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 40 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 39 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 37 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 18 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 16 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx
into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 2 lines

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based. Are you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

I'm referring to that it's always rebased on top of Linus' tree. That's what caused the issue here, u-boot-usb was based on top of u-boot/next (which is may not have strictly needed to be) so I did the job of rebasing for Marek since it was an easy one.

Quoted 5 lines

Instead, I think u-boot/next is just a place where patches get applied, or branches get merged, before u-boot/master is open to accept new patches for the next release. Unless I'm misunderstanding it purpose of course...

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 2 lines

Now, having a linux-next style daily merge of u-boot-*/next would be pretty awesome.

Well, it's a merge of what people want to get into the next merge window, as often as they're willing to submit if they are a custodian or as often as I can otherwise. In fact, right now some pull requests need to be on top of next rather than a "stable" point because we're making some pretty big cleanups and changes in a few areas right now.

I'm no git guru, so this may not be sane, but here goes:

u-boot-master and $(repo)-master are parallel branches - $(repo) maintainer merges u-boot-master regularly and applies $(repo) specific patches to $(repo)-master during the merge window (and critical fixes during the -rc cycle). Tom merges the various $(repo)-master's into u-boot-master regularly.

u-boot-next and $(repo)-next are also parallel branches. $(repo) maintainer merges u-boot-master and $(repo)-master regularly and applies $(repo) specific patches to $(repo)-master during the -rc cycle. Tom merges the various $(repo)-next's into u-boot-next regularly.

Immediately following a release, Tom merges u-boot-next into u-boot-master

Yes, we get lots of merge commits, but the strategy is very straightforward...

One thing I don't know how to resolve is what happens when a $(repo)-{master, next} does not merge cleanly into u-boot-{master, next}...

Regards,

Graeme

#10 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Stephen Warren
Quoted 40 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 39 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 37 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 18 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 16 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx
into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 2 lines

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based. Are you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

What's the difference between "re-created every day" and "rebased every day"?

Quoted 4 lines

Instead, I think u-boot/next is just a place where patches get applied, or branches get merged, before u-boot/master is open to accept new patches for the next release. Unless I'm misunderstanding it purpose of course...

That was my impression as well.

Quoted 2 lines

Now, having a linux-next style daily merge of u-boot-*/next would be pretty awesome.

Not really needed if the main next tree can permanently merge those branches.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 8 lines

It would be awesome if U-Boot could adopt something more similar to the Linux kernel's git usage model, namely:

* All downstream branches are based off some known stable point in the master branch (e.g. 2012.10-rc1). Before these branches are merged into any other branch, they can be rebased if absolutely needed, but preferably not.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines

* Once a downstream branch is merged upwards, the downstream branch doesn't merge upstream back down into the downstream branch, but either:

a) Keeps adding to the existing branch so that incremental pull requests can be sent.

How does merging back down prevent incremental pull requests?

Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 5 lines

Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

That's a rebase. How is that better than a (likely fast-forward) merge?

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines

(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

I thought you said your way was less work? :-)

Quoted 32 lines
Quoted 32 lines
Quoted 32 lines

* When a branch is merged from a repo to a parent repo, it's always a git merge --no-ff; never a rebase or fast-forward.

* In order to resolve merge conflicts/dependencies between different downstream branches, one of the following happens:

1)

a) The first downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master. b) The second downstream branch creates a new branch starting at an an rc or release in u-boot-master that contains it the required patches. c) The dependent patches are applied to the second downstream branch. d) The second downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.

2)

All the patches that would usually be merged through downstream branch 2 actually get ack'd by the maintainer of downstream branch 2 and applied to downstream branch 1 after the patches they depend on. This is simplest, but may cause complications if both branches need to take patches that build on the merged patches they're merged into an rc or release in u-boot/master.

3)

A topic branch is created by one of the downstream maintainers, branched from a u-boot/master rc or release, and containing just the patches that other patches depend on, and this topic branch gets merged into both the two downstream branches for further work.

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 3 lines
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Yes, this does all take a little bit more thought, planning, and co-ordination, but I think having a simpler and more stable git history is worth it.

What is the specific improvement in git history as a result of this?

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 2 lines

Interesting. As this is more work on the custodians end, what does everyone else say?

This actually turns out to be less work for custodians if there aren't any dependencies between patch series, since whenever you send a pull request right now, you do:

a) Fetch latest upstream.
b) Rebase onto it.
c) Send pull request.

That's what I used to do, but recently Wolfgang said no rebases, so I merge instead.

Quoted 7 lines

but with the Linux model, you simply:

a) Send pull request.

Admittedly the recipient then might need to resolve some merge conflicts. However, hopefully people have been planning for these and have avoided them.

How do you plan for them and avoid them, and how is that less work that what we do now?

It's one thing if a merge conflict comes from multiple pull requests being processed at once, but someone submitting a pull request should at least make sure that it doesn't conflict with top-of-tree by itself (some actual testing of the merge would be good too...). And to do that, you've got to either merge or rebase, not just blindly request a pull.

I especially do not want to have to work with some artificially chosen old tree as my base. I also do not want to create a bunch of named branches for each

-Scott

#11 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 44 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 43 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 41 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 31 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 18 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 16 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx
into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

Quoted 6 lines

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based. Are you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

What's the difference between "re-created every day" and "rebased every day"?

The linux-next model (and what I mean by "re-created every day") is roughly the following approximately daily:

git fetch --all
git branch -D tmp
git checkout -b tmp u-boot/master # or latest rc in fact git merge u-boot-arm/next
git merge u-boot-i2c/next
git merge u-boot-video/next
etc.
git tag next-${datestamp}

I'm not sure what "rebased every day means"; perhaps it's running the following on u-boot/next every day?

git rebase u-boot/master

That doesn't pull in any new commits from child trees though.

Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 4 lines

Instead, I think u-boot/next is just a place where patches get applied, or branches get merged, before u-boot/master is open to accept new patches for the next release. Unless I'm misunderstanding it purpose of course...

Quoted 7 lines

That was my impression as well.

Quoted 2 lines

Now, having a linux-next style daily merge of u-boot-*/next would be pretty awesome.

Not really needed if the main next tree can permanently merge those branches.

Yes, if u-boot/next is the collection point where downstream branches are permanently merged into, and once release N is made, u-boot/master is reset to (or merged from) u-boot/next, then we effectively are maintaining branches for two releases in parallel at once, with critical bugfixes going into u-boot/master for the release, and everything else going quickly into u-boot/next for the next release. That would certainly avoid the need for "rebuilding" u-boot/next every day, since u-boot/next would be very current already.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 8 lines

It would be awesome if U-Boot could adopt something more similar to the Linux kernel's git usage model, namely:

* All downstream branches are based off some known stable point in the master branch (e.g. 2012.10-rc1). Before these branches are merged into any other branch, they can be rebased if absolutely needed, but preferably not.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines

* Once a downstream branch is merged upwards, the downstream branch doesn't merge upstream back down into the downstream branch, but either:

a) Keeps adding to the existing branch so that incremental pull requests can be sent.

How does merging back down prevent incremental pull requests?

It doesn't prevent incremental pull requests, but it does pollute the history if you merge back down. Instead of a fairly simple:

(M* == main branch, B* == side branch)

    B1-B2-B3-B4-B5-B6

/ \ \
M1-M2-M3-M4-M4-M5-M6-M7

you might end up with:

    B1-B2-B3-B4-X1-B6

/ \ / \
M1-M2-M3-M4-M4-M5-M6-M7

... where X1 is the merge back from main to the side-branch. That doesn't look a lot more complex, but once there are many side-branches, and the master branch ends up merging a whole bunch of side-branches between M4 and M5 above, the commits in B* that add actual new work are split between a point before the X1 merge-back and after it. This can make tracking down what exactly will get merged into M* when B* is re-merged a bit trickier. git log M..B can probably show it fine, but if you start looking at gitk it'll look quite complex.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 5 lines

Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

That's a rebase. How is that better than a (likely fast-forward) merge?

No, that's not a rebase. Rebase is when you take some existing commits based on one commit and apply them to a different baseline commit instead. If you're creating a new branch to take commits for a new release, you're simply not applying the commits for release N+1 until there's a branch ready to take them.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 6 lines
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(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

I thought you said your way was less work? :-)

And I believe it is; no rebasing required. The difference probably isn't that big though I admit. Still, creating a fresh branch from scratch for each release one time and only then applying patches for that release seems a lot simpler that constantly rebasing stuff all over the place.

Quoted 32 lines
Quoted 32 lines
Quoted 32 lines
Quoted 32 lines

* When a branch is merged from a repo to a parent repo, it's always a git merge --no-ff; never a rebase or fast-forward.

* In order to resolve merge conflicts/dependencies between different downstream branches, one of the following happens:

1)

a) The first downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master. b) The second downstream branch creates a new branch starting at an an rc or release in u-boot-master that contains it the required patches. c) The dependent patches are applied to the second downstream branch. d) The second downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.

2)

All the patches that would usually be merged through downstream branch 2 actually get ack'd by the maintainer of downstream branch 2 and applied to downstream branch 1 after the patches they depend on. This is simplest, but may cause complications if both branches need to take patches that build on the merged patches they're merged into an rc or release in u-boot/master.

3)

A topic branch is created by one of the downstream maintainers, branched from a u-boot/master rc or release, and containing just the patches that other patches depend on, and this topic branch gets merged into both the two downstream branches for further work.

Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 3 lines

Yes, this does all take a little bit more thought, planning, and co-ordination, but I think having a simpler and more stable git history is worth it.

What is the specific improvement in git history as a result of this?

I ended up describing this above; a much more linear less spaghetti history.

Quoted 16 lines
Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 2 lines

Interesting. As this is more work on the custodians end, what does everyone else say?

This actually turns out to be less work for custodians if there aren't any dependencies between patch series, since whenever you send a pull request right now, you do:

a) Fetch latest upstream.
b) Rebase onto it.
c) Send pull request.

That's what I used to do, but recently Wolfgang said no rebases, so I merge instead.

Quoted 2 lines

but with the Linux model, you simply:

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

a) Send pull request.

Admittedly the recipient then might need to resolve some merge conflicts. However, hopefully people have been planning for these and have avoided them.

How do you plan for them and avoid them, and how is that less work that what we do now?

People have to be aware what is going on.

If you're submitting a bunch of patches which depend on each-other, the submitter had better call that out when sending the patch series.

People performing large tree-wide rework need to communicate it ahead of time so that everyone is aware it will happen, and plan to need to either resolve conflicts when merging, /or/ hold off applying patches until the rework has been performed and applied, and then apply patches on top of that.

Quoted 10 lines

It's one thing if a merge conflict comes from multiple pull requests being processed at once, but someone submitting a pull request should at least make sure that it doesn't conflict with top-of-tree by itself (some actual testing of the merge would be good too...). And to do that, you've got to either merge or rebase, not just blindly request a pull.

I especially do not want to have to work with some artificially chosen old tree as my base. I also do not want to create a bunch of named branches for each

Linux requires that branches be based only on rc or release tags in the equivalent of u-boot/master. U-Boot could choose to be different, and allow them to be based on any commit in u-boot/master or u-boot/next at the branch creator's discretion; whatever baseline is needed to pick up any required dependencies.

#12 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 23 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 2 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 1 line · Stephen Warren

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based.

Are

Quoted 4 lines
Quoted 2 lines

you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

What's the difference between "re-created every day" and "rebased

every

Quoted 1 line

day"?

The linux-next model (and what I mean by "re-created every day") is roughly the following approximately daily:

git fetch --all
git branch -D tmp
git checkout -b tmp u-boot/master # or latest rc in fact git merge u-boot-arm/next
git merge u-boot-i2c/next
git merge u-boot-video/next
etc.
git tag next-${datestamp}

Quoted 6 lines

I'm not sure what "rebased every day means"; perhaps it's running the following on u-boot/next every day?

git rebase u-boot/master

That doesn't pull in any new commits from child trees though.

By "rebasing" I was referring to rewriting history in any form. It looks like the difference is that linux-next gives the result a new name each time, instead of working a branch with a fixed name.

Quoted 17 lines
Quoted 1 line

How does merging back down prevent incremental pull requests?

It doesn't prevent incremental pull requests, but it does pollute the history if you merge back down. Instead of a fairly simple:

(M* == main branch, B* == side branch)

    B1-B2-B3-B4-B5-B6

/ \ \
M1-M2-M3-M4-M4-M5-M6-M7

you might end up with:

    B1-B2-B3-B4-X1-B6

/ \ / \
M1-M2-M3-M4-M4-M5-M6-M7

Quoted 11 lines

... where X1 is the merge back from main to the side-branch. That doesn't look a lot more complex, but once there are many side-branches,
and the master branch ends up merging a whole bunch of side-branches between M4 and M5 above, the commits in B* that add actual new work are
split between a point before the X1 merge-back and after it. This can make tracking down what exactly will get merged into M* when B* is re-merged a bit trickier. git log M..B can probably show it fine, but if
you start looking at gitk it'll look quite complex.

I don't use gitk much, but wouldn't it just show the mergeback as another edge in the graph (plus the merge commit itself of course)? It doesn't seem like a big deal.

Quoted 10 lines
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Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

That's a rebase. How is that better than a (likely fast-forward)

merge?

No, that's not a rebase.

Fine, a reset. Or a new branch name, which in practice is the same thing except with a much more cluttered branch list, unless you have a specific need to refer to an older iteration of this process.

Quoted 5 lines

Rebase is when you take some existing commits
based on one commit and apply them to a different baseline commit instead. If you're creating a new branch to take commits for a new release, you're simply not applying the commits for release N+1 until there's a branch ready to take them.

There is a branch ready to take them -- the custodian tree. Why wait until there's an upstream tree ready to pull?

Quoted 8 lines
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(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with

something

Quoted 6 lines
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like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

I thought you said your way was less work? :-)

And I believe it is; no rebasing required.
The difference probably isn't
that big though I admit. Still, creating a fresh branch from scratch for
each release one time and only then applying patches for that release seems a lot simpler that constantly rebasing stuff all over the place.

We've already dropped the rebasing. I'd rather do merges than constantly create new branches.

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 6 lines

but with the Linux model, you simply:

a) Send pull request.

Admittedly the recipient then might need to resolve some merge conflicts. However, hopefully people have been planning for these

and

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

have avoided them.

How do you plan for them and avoid them, and how is that less work

Quoted 8 lines

that

Quoted 1 line

what we do now?

People have to be aware what is going on.

If you're submitting a bunch of patches which depend on each-other, the
submitter had better call that out when sending the patch series.

Sometimes it's not obvious in advance. Not all conflicts (whether they be merge conflicts, build breaks, or runtime failures) come from intrusive tree-wide changes.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

I especially do not want to have to work with some artificially

chosen

Quoted 2 lines

old tree as my base. I also do not want to create a bunch of named branches for each

Linux requires that branches be based only on rc or release tags in the
equivalent of u-boot/master.

So how do you sort out dependencies? If I have a patch that depends on some patches that have been already applied by custodian X, and others that have already been applied by custodian Y (yes, this happened recently), I have to wait until the next release to deal with them?

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U-Boot could choose to be different, and

U-Boot is already different in what RCs mean -- the merge window ends well before rc1. So I couldn't even use my tree to send fixes for issues caused by the merge, until shortly before release. Or rather, I'd have to awkwardly backport the fixes to an old tree and hope that they make it OK when merged into the real tree.

-Scott

#13 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 25 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 24 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 7 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 3 lines · Stephen Warren

I don't quite follow that; linux-next is also purely merge-based. Are you referring to the fact that it's re-created every day, and the source branches that go into the merge can be rebased if needed?

What's the difference between "re-created every day" and "rebased every day"?

The linux-next model (and what I mean by "re-created every day") is roughly the following approximately daily:

git fetch --all
git branch -D tmp
git checkout -b tmp u-boot/master # or latest rc in fact git merge u-boot-arm/next
git merge u-boot-i2c/next
git merge u-boot-video/next
etc.
git tag next-${datestamp}

I'm not sure what "rebased every day means"; perhaps it's running the following on u-boot/next every day?

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git rebase u-boot/master

That doesn't pull in any new commits from child trees though.

By "rebasing" I was referring to rewriting history in any form. It looks like the difference is that linux-next gives the result a new name each time, instead of working a branch with a fixed name.

It's not really re-writing history though, just an issue with how you name the history. I guess that's nit-picking to a slight degree, but with git the two are pretty decoupled whereas with many historical systems they aren't.

Do note that linux-next doesn't become the next Linux kernel version either; it's just a preview of the merges Linus will do. Linus re-does all the merges based on the pull requests people actually send him. So, the model is very different to u-boot/next.

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How does merging back down prevent incremental pull requests?

It doesn't prevent incremental pull requests, but it does pollute the history if you merge back down. Instead of a fairly simple:

(M* == main branch, B* == side branch)

    B1-B2-B3-B4-B5-B6

/ \ \
M1-M2-M3-M4-M4-M5-M6-M7

you might end up with:

    B1-B2-B3-B4-X1-B6

/ \ / \
M1-M2-M3-M4-M4-M5-M6-M7

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... where X1 is the merge back from main to the side-branch. That doesn't look a lot more complex, but once there are many side-branches, and the master branch ends up merging a whole bunch of side-branches between M4 and M5 above, the commits in B* that add actual new work are split between a point before the X1 merge-back and after it. This can make tracking down what exactly will get merged into M* when B* is re-merged a bit trickier. git log M..B can probably show it fine, but if you start looking at gitk it'll look quite complex.

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I don't use gitk much, but wouldn't it just show the mergeback as another edge in the graph (plus the merge commit itself of course)? It doesn't seem like a big deal.

One big problem is the ability to look back and see easily what's been merged and what work has been committed since then.

If I run "git log u-boot-xxx/master", and look backwards through the list of commits, looking for those committed by the owner of u-boot-xxx, and stop when I see a commit by someone else, I'll end up stopping at the merge commit where u-boot/master was merged back down. If there commits to u-boot-xxx/master between the point where u-boot/master merged u-boot-xxx/master and where u-boot-xxx/master merged u-boot/master back down, then they'll be hidden before that merge point.

Now, I probably could just do git log u-boot/master..u-boot-xxx/master, but that's a but more complicated (and I can never remember which order to give the two branches).

If there were no merge-downs, a simple "git log" would be much more easily interpretable.

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Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

That's a rebase. How is that better than a (likely fast-forward)

merge?

No, that's not a rebase.

Fine, a reset. Or a new branch name, which in practice is the same thing except with a much more cluttered branch list, unless you have a specific need to refer to an older iteration of this process.

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Rebase is when you take some existing commits
based on one commit and apply them to a different baseline commit instead. If you're creating a new branch to take commits for a new release, you're simply not applying the commits for release N+1 until there's a branch ready to take them.

There is a branch ready to take them -- the custodian tree. Why wait until there's an upstream tree ready to pull?

Well, the two possibilities are:

a) Send pull request
b) Wait for pull request to be merged
c) Here, or later, merge back down u-boot/master. Note this cannot happen before (b) has completed, or the merge of this branch upstream may pick up extra commits that weren't in the pull request.
d) Continue merging commits to the same branch without reset/...

or:

a) Send pull request
b) Wait for pull request to be merged
c) Reset u-boot-xxx/master to u-boot/master or some rc or ...
d) Continue merging commits

In either case, one must always wait for the pull request send in (b) to be completely merged so that when the pull request is merged, it doesn't pick up commits to the branch that were added after the pull request was sent. So, there isn't a tree ready to take new patches until a pull request has been completely processed.

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(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

I thought you said your way was less work? :-)

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And I believe it is; no rebasing required.
The difference probably isn't
that big though I admit. Still, creating a fresh branch from scratch for each release one time and only then applying patches for that release seems a lot simpler that constantly rebasing stuff all over the place.

We've already dropped the rebasing.

The whole reason I started this thread was because rebasing was still being used.

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I'd rather do merges than constantly create new branches.

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but with the Linux model, you simply:

a) Send pull request.

Admittedly the recipient then might need to resolve some merge conflicts. However, hopefully people have been planning for these and have avoided them.

How do you plan for them and avoid them, and how is that less work that what we do now?

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People have to be aware what is going on.

If you're submitting a bunch of patches which depend on each-other, the submitter had better call that out when sending the patch series.

Sometimes it's not obvious in advance. Not all conflicts (whether they be merge conflicts, build breaks, or runtime failures) come from intrusive tree-wide changes.

Since u-boot/next appears to be a rolling/parallel model, where changes can be pulled into it at arbitrary times even when u-boot/master is being used to stabilize a release, the way to resolve conflicts for U-Boot is simply to have the branch containing the dependency push their /next into u-boot/next, then the branch needing the dependency to branch from or merge u-boot/next into their /next, then apply the patch with the dependency.

#14 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 6 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 2 lines · Scott Wood

I don't use gitk much, but wouldn't it just show the mergeback as another edge in the graph (plus the merge commit itself of

course)? It

Quoted 1 line

doesn't seem like a big deal.

Quoted 8 lines

One big problem is the ability to look back and see easily what's been merged and what work has been committed since then.

If I run "git log u-boot-xxx/master", and look backwards through the list of commits, looking for those committed by the owner of u-boot-xxx,
and stop when I see a commit by someone else, I'll end up stopping at the merge commit where u-boot/master was merged back down.

Very often that ends up being a fast forward.

Plus, what about commits that were merged from a tree futher downstream?

Quoted 11 lines

If there commits to u-boot-xxx/master between the point where u-boot/master
merged u-boot-xxx/master and where u-boot-xxx/master merged u-boot/master back down, then they'll be hidden before that merge point.

Now, I probably could just do git log u-boot/master..u-boot-xxx/master,
but that's a but more complicated (and I can never remember which order
to give the two branches).

I have a hard time remembering the order too (it seems backwards from what's intuitive), but it's usually obvious when I get the order wrong. And it's faster and more robust than scanning for a commit that looks like it came from somewhere else.

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Rebase is when you take some existing commits
based on one commit and apply them to a different baseline commit instead. If you're creating a new branch to take commits for a new release, you're simply not applying the commits for release N+1

until

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

there's a branch ready to take them.

There is a branch ready to take them -- the custodian tree. Why

wait

Quoted 1 line

until there's an upstream tree ready to pull?

Well, the two possibilities are:

a) Send pull request
b) Wait for pull request to be merged
c) Here, or later, merge back down u-boot/master. Note this cannot happen before (b) has completed, or the merge of this branch upstream may pick up extra commits that weren't in the pull request.
d) Continue merging commits to the same branch without reset/...

or:

a) Send pull request
b) Wait for pull request to be merged
c) Reset u-boot-xxx/master to u-boot/master or some rc or ...
d) Continue merging commits

Quoted 8 lines

In either case, one must always wait for the pull request send in (b) to
be completely merged so that when the pull request is merged, it doesn't
pick up commits to the branch that were added after the pull request was
sent. So, there isn't a tree ready to take new patches until a pull request has been completely processed.

Ideally once a pull request happens the pull happens quickly. If that doesn't happen, you could reply to the pull request asking that it be ignored in favor of a new pull request, or create a new temporary branch. IMHO pull requests ought to request a pull of a specific SHA1 along with the branch name (it'd be nice if the command to pull could verify that the SHA1 is in the history of the branch name, and include the branch name in the commit message, but merge based on the SHA1).

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(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with

something

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like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel

containing

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either important bugfixes for the release or new development

as

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determined by the current state of the various releases in

the

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mainline tree).

I thought you said your way was less work? :-)

And I believe it is; no rebasing required.
The difference probably isn't
that big though I admit. Still, creating a fresh branch from

scratch for

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each release one time and only then applying patches for that

Quoted 8 lines

release

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seems a lot simpler that constantly rebasing stuff all over the

place.

Quoted 2 lines

We've already dropped the rebasing.

The whole reason I started this thread was because rebasing was still being used.

Rebasing is no longer supposed to be part of the standard workflow, as you portrayed it. I'm not sure why the rebasing happened in this particular instance.

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I'd rather do merges than constantly create new branches.

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but with the Linux model, you simply:

a) Send pull request.

Admittedly the recipient then might need to resolve some merge conflicts. However, hopefully people have been planning for

these and

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have avoided them.

How do you plan for them and avoid them, and how is that less

work that

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what we do now?

People have to be aware what is going on.

If you're submitting a bunch of patches which depend on

each-other, the

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submitter had better call that out when sending the patch series.

Sometimes it's not obvious in advance. Not all conflicts (whether

they

Quoted 2 lines

be merge conflicts, build breaks, or runtime failures) come from intrusive tree-wide changes.

Quoted 10 lines

Since u-boot/next appears to be a rolling/parallel model, where changes
can be pulled into it at arbitrary times even when u-boot/master is being used to stabilize a release, the way to resolve conflicts for U-Boot is simply to have the branch containing the dependency push their
/next into u-boot/next, then the branch needing the dependency to branch
from or merge u-boot/next into their /next, then apply the patch with the dependency.

Again, it's not always obvious in advance. The patches that conflict may have already been applied to their respective custodian trees.

-Scott

#15 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

On 10/10/2012 04:02 PM, Scott Wood wrote:
...

Quoted 7 lines

Ideally once a pull request happens the pull happens quickly. If that doesn't happen, you could reply to the pull request asking that it be ignored in favor of a new pull request, or create a new temporary branch. IMHO pull requests ought to request a pull of a specific SHA1 along with the branch name (it'd be nice if the command to pull could verify that the SHA1 is in the history of the branch name, and include the branch name in the commit message, but merge based on the SHA1).

I believe that's (part of) why Linux is tending towards pull requests of a (signed) tag rather than a branch, since the tag always points at a specific commit, and incremental pull requests can just create a new tag name. Of course, the ability to sign tags also also a motivator.

#16 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 5 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

I believe that's (part of) why Linux is tending towards pull requests of a (signed) tag rather than a branch, since the tag always points at a specific commit, and incremental pull requests can just create a new tag name. Of course, the ability to sign tags also also a motivator.

I tend to disagree here. Tags can easily be removed. As such, they are in no way different from or better than a specific commit in a branch that does not get rebased.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Little known fact about Middle Earth:   The Hobbits had a very sophi-
sticated computer network!   It was a Tolkien Ring...
#17 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 4 lines · Wolfgang Denk

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 1 line · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 4 lines

I believe that's (part of) why Linux is tending towards pull requests of a (signed) tag rather than a branch, since the tag always points at a specific commit, and incremental pull requests can just create a new tag name. Of course, the ability to sign tags also also a motivator.

I tend to disagree here. Tags can easily be removed. As such, they are in no way different from or better than a specific commit in a branch that does not get rebased.

I agree with Wolfgang, I move signed tags around all the time _before_ I push to a public branch. That tends to happen because I'm still learning the process, *not* as a part of a proper workflow.

For me, signed tags serve two purposes. The first is sub-maintainer verification. Arnd Bergmann and Olof Johansson both signed my gpg key at the last Kernel Summit. So, when they pull a branch, they know I created it. Second, using git v1.7.9 and newer, request-pull will insert the tag message into the body of the pull-request. This provides a nice summary of the branch in the email, as opposed to the branch-name chaos we see now. This summary, stays with the branch regardless of the number of times the maintainer merges it.

I suppose there is a third advantage. The signed tag is attached to a specific sha1 commit. If a maintainer inadvertently changes the commit history of a branch by doing a rebase or similar, the tag would disappear from the tip of the branch. Kind of like the canary in the mine.

Which brings me to another point I haven't seen mentioned in this thread yet, git-rerere (1). Arnd and Olof make extensive use of this command to remember how they have resolved merge conflicts. afaict, since I don't need it at my level, they are continuously merging branches over and over again. Against new branches, new versions of widespread changes (iomem, platform_data in the last window). rerere makes that workload possible.

hth,

Jason.

#18 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Wolfgang Denk
Quoted 4 lines · Wolfgang Denk

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 1 line · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 4 lines

I believe that's (part of) why Linux is tending towards pull requests of a (signed) tag rather than a branch, since the tag always points at a specific commit, and incremental pull requests can just create a new tag name. Of course, the ability to sign tags also also a motivator.

I tend to disagree here. Tags can easily be removed. As such, they are in no way different from or better than a specific commit in a branch that does not get rebased.

True, tags can be moved. However, the point wasn't that they're immutable, but that using them can decouple the pull process from the commit process. For example, I could:

git checkout -b foo bar
git am
git am
git am
git tag -s tag1 foo
send pull request
not wait for pull to complete
git am
git am
git am
git tag -s tag2 foo
send pull request

So, I can still apply stuff to a branch even in parallel with committing new stuff. IIRC, the point I was originally responding to above was the issue that by sending pull requests for somebody to pull a branch, if you added commits to it before the pull was complete, they'd be pulled in too. With tags, you can avoid that (or by creating a new branch too, but anyway)

#19 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 5 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

True, tags can be moved. However, the point wasn't that they're immutable, but that using them can decouple the pull process from the commit process. For example, I could:

Quoted 12 lines

git checkout -b foo bar
git am
git am
git am
git tag -s tag1 foo
send pull request
not wait for pull to complete
git am
git am
git am
git tag -s tag2 foo
send pull request

What do you need tags here for? The git commit ID's itself will be as good.

On contrary - using your proposed style, you sill just pollute the tag namespace with tons of more or less random tags.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 7 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Brontosaurus Principle: Organizations  can  grow  faster  than  their
brains  can manage them in relation to their environment and to their
own physiology: when this occurs, they are an endangered species.
                                                - Thomas K. Connellan
#20 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Scott Wood

Hi Scott,

Quoted 7 lines · Scott Wood

Ideally once a pull request happens the pull happens quickly. If that doesn't happen, you could reply to the pull request asking that it be ignored in favor of a new pull request, or create a new temporary branch. IMHO pull requests ought to request a pull of a specific SHA1 along with the branch name (it'd be nice if the command to pull could verify that the SHA1 is in the history of the branch name, and include the branch name in the commit message, but merge based on the SHA1).

Note that for recent enough versions of git, request-pull will indicate the last commit ID to pull, which makes it possible for them to keep on adding to their branch once their PR is out. Not all U-Boot ARM custodians have a recent enough git, mind.

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#21 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Stephen Warren

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 5 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

Do note that linux-next doesn't become the next Linux kernel version either; it's just a preview of the merges Linus will do. Linus re-does all the merges based on the pull requests people actually send him. So, the model is very different to u-boot/next.

Yes. And experience has shown that linux-next may be useful for specific testing, but it is utterly useless as base for any development work. When you need a tree which has all the latest and greatest commits (which have already been accepted for inclusion into the next release), then next is not your choice, because it will crumble below your fingers.

Quoted 2 lines

If I run "git log u-boot-xxx/master", and look backwards through the list of commits, looking for those committed by the owner of u-boot-xxx,

Who cares about the comitter? This is just a technical act. It makes zero difference whether I apply a patch or somebody else applies the same.

Quoted 5 lines

and stop when I see a commit by someone else, I'll end up stopping at the merge commit where u-boot/master was merged back down. If there commits to u-boot-xxx/master between the point where u-boot/master merged u-boot-xxx/master and where u-boot-xxx/master merged u-boot/master back down, then they'll be hidden before that merge point.

I have to admit that I never ever cared about any merges before. For me they happen because of that's the way how development goes, i. e.
they cannot be avoided, but that's all. I have only been interested
in which commits have ben included, not which branch or repository these have been coming from.

Why would I need to know that?

Quoted 5 lines

In either case, one must always wait for the pull request send in (b) to be completely merged so that when the pull request is merged, it doesn't pick up commits to the branch that were added after the pull request was sent. So, there isn't a tree ready to take new patches until a pull request has been completely processed.

Usually pull requests get handled very quickly.

Quoted 7 lines

Since u-boot/next appears to be a rolling/parallel model, where changes can be pulled into it at arbitrary times even when u-boot/master is being used to stabilize a release, the way to resolve conflicts for U-Boot is simply to have the branch containing the dependency push their /next into u-boot/next, then the branch needing the dependency to branch from or merge u-boot/next into their /next, then apply the patch with the dependency.

Sorry, I cannot parse this.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
What about WRITING it first and rationalizing it afterwords?  :-)
                       - Larry Wall in <[email protected]>
#22 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 4 lines · Wolfgang Denk

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 1 line · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 4 lines

Do note that linux-next doesn't become the next Linux kernel version either; it's just a preview of the merges Linus will do. Linus re-does all the merges based on the pull requests people actually send him. So, the model is very different to u-boot/next.

Yes. And experience has shown that linux-next may be useful for specific testing, but it is utterly useless as base for any development work.

My experience doesn't agree. I almost exclusively use linux-next as the underlying branch for all my development work. Now and then I do suffer from finding the occasional problem, but it's better to find them and fix them early rather than not seeing them until Linus merges everything and having to debug through a couple months of history to find the bug, so overall even that extra effort works out to be a net gain.

Quoted 4 lines

When you need a tree which has all the latest and
greatest commits (which have already been accepted for inclusion into the next release), then next is not your choice, because it will crumble below your fingers.

(I assume that in "then next is not your choice" above, "next" is referring to a linux-next style model)

Yes, with U-Boot's next model (or what I understand it to be...) a linux-next style branch/model/.. is indeed not needed; just use u-boot/next instead. At least, I think that's what you're saying.

Quoted 6 lines
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If I run "git log u-boot-xxx/master", and look backwards through the list of commits, looking for those committed by the owner of u-boot-xxx,

Who cares about the comitter? This is just a technical act. It makes zero difference whether I apply a patch or somebody else applies the same.

Well, if git tells me someone committed something, it should be right. I could apply just the same argument to writing the code; who cares who wrote it so long as it's in the code-base?

Your assertion is probably coupled with U-Boot's interpretation of the Signed-off-by tag too. Linux requires both the original author and each committer/cherry-picker to sign-off the commit to document the entire path the commit went through, In that scenario, a commit that has the git committer field set to some value yet the last Signed-off-by entry isn't that person is a red flag. Hence, the git committer field is important.

However, U-Boot is reported to only use Signed-off to indicate the original author(s), so I can see how the git committer field isn't considered important in U-Boot. I'm not convinced it's a good idea to be so cavalier about git metadata though; wouldn't it be better to take simple steps (never rebase any other committer's commits) so that the metadata is always correct?

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and stop when I see a commit by someone else, I'll end up stopping at the merge commit where u-boot/master was merged back down. If there commits to u-boot-xxx/master between the point where u-boot/master merged u-boot-xxx/master and where u-boot-xxx/master merged u-boot/master back down, then they'll be hidden before that merge point.

Quoted 7 lines

I have to admit that I never ever cared about any merges before. For me they happen because of that's the way how development goes, i. e.
they cannot be avoided, but that's all. I have only been interested
in which commits have ben included, not which branch or repository these have been coming from.

Why would I need to know that?

Personally I believe it's a good idea to document the whole commit/merge process fully. That's for all the same reasons that git contains metadata for author, committer, datestamps, log messages, etc. The whole point of source control is to document the development process; otherwise, we could just publish the latest .tar and ignore git entirely.

...

Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 7 lines

Since u-boot/next appears to be a rolling/parallel model, where changes can be pulled into it at arbitrary times even when u-boot/master is being used to stabilize a release, the way to resolve conflicts for U-Boot is simply to have the branch containing the dependency push their /next into u-boot/next, then the branch needing the dependency to branch from or merge u-boot/next into their /next, then apply the patch with the dependency.

Sorry, I cannot parse this.

If you have two commits or series that depend on each-other, e.g. series A introduces a new feature and series B makes use of that new feature, and those two series must be applied to different downstream trees for some reason, then the process would be:

1) commit series A to downstream branch X
2) pull downstream branch X into u-boot/next
3) either re-create downstream branch Y from u-boot/next, or merge u-boot/next into existing downstream branch Y
4) commit series B to downstream branch Y

The thing that makes this work easily in U-Boot is that the pull request into u-boot/next in (2) above can basically happen any time, so it's a very low-latency process. In Linux, there is only a specific time this can happen (during the merge window), so the latency for such a process is very high, and more convoluted processes much be followed for such dependencies. I do like U-Boot's process better in this regard.

#23 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 3 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

However, U-Boot is reported to only use Signed-off to indicate the original author(s), so I can see how the git committer field isn't

Delete the "original" here. Once a patch has been commited to a tree, it cannot be changed in any way (such as additional authors could do).

Quoted 4 lines

considered important in U-Boot. I'm not convinced it's a good idea to be so cavalier about git metadata though; wouldn't it be better to take simple steps (never rebase any other committer's commits) so that the metadata is always correct?

Sorry, I cannot parse that. I don't see what rebasing has to do with that. We are talking about the public trees which don't get rebased, neverever.

As soon as you allow any rewriting of the hsitory, you will lose _all_ protection given by git through the strong cecksumming of all history. If you give this up, then anything can be modified and faked as you like, including code and metadata.

Quoted 4 lines
Quoted 1 line

Why would I need to know that?

Personally I believe it's a good idea to document the whole commit/merge process fully. That's for all the same reasons that git contains

No, definitely not. You do not want to ever know how many different repositories and branches I am using in my own specific development process. Normally, any patch or pullrequest processed by me wil go through 5...8 different repositories (and some eventually some branches) before it hist mainline. You would hate me if each of the "git fetc" I'mdoing would create a merge commit. And others might do the same.

If the commits allow fast-forwarding, then there is zero sense in recording a merge commit.

Quoted 2 lines

metadata for author, committer, datestamps, log messages, etc. The whole point of source control is to document the development process;

Yes, but "development" here means actually changing something. As
long as I don't change anything and just pass data around unchanged, it is not necessary to recode any intermediate step I may take.

Quoted 10 lines

If you have two commits or series that depend on each-other, e.g. series A introduces a new feature and series B makes use of that new feature, and those two series must be applied to different downstream trees for some reason, then the process would be:

1) commit series A to downstream branch X
2) pull downstream branch X into u-boot/next
3) either re-create downstream branch Y from u-boot/next, or merge u-boot/next into existing downstream branch Y
4) commit series B to downstream branch Y

What has u-boot/next to do with this? This should be unrelated.

If your tree needs A and B, then just do a "git pull A B" in that tree.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 6 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
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#24 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model (was: Re: [PULL] u-boot-usb/next)

In reply to Tom Rini

Hi Tom,

Quoted 95 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 27 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 17 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 15 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Quoted 8 lines

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

Quoted 55 lines

It would be awesome if U-Boot could adopt something more similar to the Linux kernel's git usage model, namely:

* All downstream branches are based off some known stable point in the master branch (e.g. 2012.10-rc1). Before these branches are merged into any other branch, they can be rebased if absolutely needed, but preferably not.

* Once a downstream branch is merged upwards, the downstream branch doesn't merge upstream back down into the downstream branch, but either:

a) Keeps adding to the existing branch so that incremental pull requests can be sent.

Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

* When a branch is merged from a repo to a parent repo, it's always a git merge --no-ff; never a rebase or fast-forward.

* In order to resolve merge conflicts/dependencies between different downstream branches, one of the following happens:

1)

a) The first downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.
b) The second downstream branch creates a new branch starting at an an rc or release in u-boot-master that contains it the required patches.
c) The dependent patches are applied to the second downstream branch.
d) The second downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.

2)

All the patches that would usually be merged through downstream branch 2 actually get ack'd by the maintainer of downstream branch 2 and applied to downstream branch 1 after the patches they depend on. This is simplest, but may cause complications if both branches need to take patches that build on the merged patches they're merged into an rc or release in u-boot/master.

3)

A topic branch is created by one of the downstream maintainers, branched from a u-boot/master rc or release, and containing just the patches that other patches depend on, and this topic branch gets merged into both the two downstream branches for further work.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

Yes, this does all take a little bit more thought, planning, and co-ordination, but I think having a simpler and more stable git history is worth it.

Interesting. As this is more work on the custodians end, what does everyone else say?

IIUC the current rule for U-Boot is that master branches do not rebase while next branches can (as Tom said).

Apart from this, I'm not sure why forbidding fast-forward is a good thing, but if there are benefits, why not.

Re merging from upstream back into downstream branches, I tend to think that must be allowed considering custodian trees are supposed to be useable, and as such may need to merge back from mainline.

And I am pretty sure we don't need to create branches "for such version" "based on such version" all the time; keeping each custodian master current enough should suffice IMO.

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#25 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 103 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Tom,

Quoted 99 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 27 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 17 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 15 lines · Marek Vasut

NOTE: I get a few more size issues with ELDK 4.2 on IXP (that big-endian ARM) after this patchset is applied. I wonder if we shouldn't just throw these away, since they're dead code mostly.

The following changes since commit
c7ee66a8222660b565e9240775efa4c82cb348c2:

Merge branch 'next' of git://www.denx.de/git/u-boot-ppc4xx into next (2012-10-02 10:16:40 -0700)

are available in the git repository at:

git://git.denx.de/u-boot-usb.git next

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 5 lines

for you to fetch changes up to
f0ede0e8305bc3c959862446bce40cb028b36293:

usb.h: Add udc_disconnect prototype to usb.h (2012-10-07 02:08:48 +0200)

I had to rebase this locally to merge (such is next), and now it's applied to u-boot/next, thanks!

Quoted 8 lines

Hmm. Can't "git merge" solve merge conflicts just as well as "git rebase"?

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

Quoted 58 lines

It would be awesome if U-Boot could adopt something more similar to the Linux kernel's git usage model, namely:

* All downstream branches are based off some known stable point in the master branch (e.g. 2012.10-rc1). Before these branches are merged into any other branch, they can be rebased if absolutely needed, but preferably not.

* Once a downstream branch is merged upwards, the downstream branch doesn't merge upstream back down into the downstream branch, but either:

a) Keeps adding to the existing branch so that incremental pull requests can be sent.

Or often when u-boot/master has made a complete new release does:

b) Creates a new branch based on the latest rc or release from u-boot/master.

(in practice, downstream branches typically end up with something like for-3.5 based on v3.4-rcN, for-3.6 based on v3.5-rcN, for-3.7 based on v3.6-rcN, some running in parallel containing either important bugfixes for the release or new development as determined by the current state of the various releases in the mainline tree).

* When a branch is merged from a repo to a parent repo, it's always a git merge --no-ff; never a rebase or fast-forward.

* In order to resolve merge conflicts/dependencies between different downstream branches, one of the following happens:

1)

a) The first downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.
b) The second downstream branch creates a new branch starting at an an rc or release in u-boot-master that contains it the required patches.
c) The dependent patches are applied to the second downstream branch.
d) The second downstream branch gets merged into u-boot/master.

2)

All the patches that would usually be merged through downstream branch 2 actually get ack'd by the maintainer of downstream branch 2 and applied to downstream branch 1 after the patches they depend on. This is simplest, but may cause complications if both branches need to take patches that build on the merged patches they're merged into an rc or release in u-boot/master.

3)

A topic branch is created by one of the downstream maintainers, branched from a u-boot/master rc or release, and containing just the patches that other patches depend on, and this topic branch gets merged into both the two downstream branches for further work.

Yes, this does all take a little bit more thought, planning, and co-ordination, but I think having a simpler and more stable git history is worth it.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 2 lines

Interesting. As this is more work on the custodians end, what does everyone else say?

IIUC the current rule for U-Boot is that master branches do not rebase while next branches can (as Tom said).

Apart from this, I'm not sure why forbidding fast-forward is a good thing, but if there are benefits, why not.

It provides documentation in the git history of when merges were made, and what the source of the merge was (at least using the remote name that the merger has configured, which is better than nothing).

Related, not rebasing when merging a branch into upstream makes validating Signed-off-by a lot easier; when a patch is directly applied, it should be Signed-off-by the person who applied it. When a person does a rebase rather than a merge, the git committer for the commits is re-written as if the person doing the rebase applied the patch. Instead when merging (and disallowing fast-forward) a merge commit is always created so it's obvious where S-o-b should be applied (direct patch application) and where not (to commits that are merged).

Quoted 3 lines

Re merging from upstream back into downstream branches, I tend to think that must be allowed considering custodian trees are supposed to be useable, and as such may need to merge back from mainline.

Why is that required for downstream trees to be usable? What is the definition of "usable" you're using?

Say 2012.10 is released. We assume that is usable.

Now, someone creates some ARM patches for the next release. As ARM maintainer you do e.g.:

git checkout -b for-201304 v2012.10
git am ...

Now, there's a branch with a bunch of ARM patches applied. Presumably none of those patches are supposed to break anything, and hence this branch is also still usable?

Perhaps the issue is that say a new SoC or feature is added, and some of the patches go through the ARM tree, and some drivers through the USB, I2C, video, ... trees. In that case, in order to use all of those features at once, somebody might have to:

git checkout -b tmp v2012.10
git merge u-boot-arm/next
git merge u-boot-i2c/next
...

This requirement is I think one of the main reasons that linux-next exists; to provide a place where all features can be tested at once after having been integrated together. linux-next also allows early detection of merge conflicts that will happen when u-boot-*/next are sent to the maintainer of u-boot/master to be merged.

Now, perhaps you're thinking that in this scenario that u-boot-arm/next can simply merge in u-boot-usb/next, u-boot-i2c/next, u-boot-video/next, etc. in order to create a fully working system. But, wouldn't it be better if all those merges happened only in u-boot.git in a co-ordinated fashion once? After all, perhaps the I2C maintainer also wants his/her branch to be usable on that new platform, and does the reverse merges. Then you end up with spaghetti and unparsable merge history.

Quoted 3 lines

And I am pretty sure we don't need to create branches "for such version" "based on such version" all the time; keeping each custodian master current enough should suffice IMO.

Well, we already have this, it's just that the branch names are re-used in a rolling fashion rather than having static names for each release.

While v2012.10 is the next release, u-boot-arm/master is for-v2012.10 and u-boot-arm/next is for-v2013.xx. Then, when v2012.10 is release, doesn't u-boot-arm/master become for-v2013.xx and u-boot-arm/next become for-v2013.yy.

#26 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Stephen,

Quoted 8 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 2 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Apart from this, I'm not sure why forbidding fast-forward is a good thing, but if there are benefits, why not.

It provides documentation in the git history of when merges were made, and what the source of the merge was (at least using the remote name that the merger has configured, which is better than nothing).

This is what it provides, but this does not tell me why it is a good thing. My own use of git history is to find out which (local or remote) branch --contains a given commit, and this is insensitive to allowing ff merges or not.

Quoted 8 lines

Related, not rebasing when merging a branch into upstream makes validating Signed-off-by a lot easier; when a patch is directly applied, it should be Signed-off-by the person who applied it. When a person does a rebase rather than a merge, the git committer for the commits is re-written as if the person doing the rebase applied the patch. Instead when merging (and disallowing fast-forward) a merge commit is always created so it's obvious where S-o-b should be applied (direct patch application) and where not (to commits that are merged).

I think we've got several things running here: merges with or without ffs, hiding patches inside a merge (IIUC) and committer identity.

Re hiding patches in a merge if that's really what you mean, I agree that no merge should contains a hidden patch application or removal. If this (sensible IMO) rule is followed, then necessarily, any patch exists as a commit and its Signed-off-by (aong with any other "by" tag) is there for all to see and easy to find.

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by" tags, and especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and must not be related to the committer of the patch, but to its author(s).

Note that neither of these two issues is related to non-fast-forwarding of merges, as the only thing a non-ff merge does is create a commit that, by definition, will not add any content and not affect any existing commit, less so its "by" tags.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

Re merging from upstream back into downstream branches, I tend to think that must be allowed considering custodian trees are supposed to be useable, and as such may need to merge back from mainline.

Why is that required for downstream trees to be usable? What is the definition of "usable" you're using?

See
<http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/U-Boot/CustodianGitTrees#Philosophy_of_custodian_trees>:

"My idea of a custodian repository is that it is more than just a working tool for collecting patches and preparing these for merge into mainline. My idea is instead that these are pretty much independent incarnations of U-Boot source trees which users (note: users, not only developers) with specific needs or interests can refer to."

Quoted 11 lines

Say 2012.10 is released. We assume that is usable.

Now, someone creates some ARM patches for the next release. As ARM maintainer you do e.g.:

git checkout -b for-201304 v2012.10
git am ...

Now, there's a branch with a bunch of ARM patches applied. Presumably none of those patches are supposed to break anything, and hence this branch is also still usable?

Not sur I follow you reasonning. My personal approach is, once a patch for ARM (but not for an ARM platform for which there is a more specific custodian) is reviewed positively, I do "git checkout master", git am (or rather, pwclient git-am) and run ad hoc and general tests. If this succeeds, I push master (and fetch it back for local personal consistency).

Quoted 4 lines

Perhaps the issue is that say a new SoC or feature is added, and some of the patches go through the ARM tree, and some drivers through the USB, I2C, video, ... trees. In that case, in order to use all of those features at once, somebody might have to:

Usually in mixed-repo patch series, a main custodian takes ownership of the series and gets approval from other custodians.

Quoted 11 lines

git checkout -b tmp v2012.10
git merge u-boot-arm/next
git merge u-boot-i2c/next
...

This requirement is I think one of the main reasons that linux-next exists; to provide a place where all features can be tested at once after having been integrated together. linux-next also allows early detection of merge conflicts that will happen when u-boot-*/next are sent to the maintainer of u-boot/master to be merged.

Quoted 7 lines

Now, perhaps you're thinking that in this scenario that u-boot-arm/next can simply merge in u-boot-usb/next, u-boot-i2c/next, u-boot-video/next, etc. in order to create a fully working system. But, wouldn't it be better if all those merges happened only in u-boot.git in a co-ordinated fashion once? After all, perhaps the I2C maintainer also wants his/her branch to be usable on that new platform, and does the reverse merges. Then you end up with spaghetti and unparsable merge history.

You may be making the point that next should be handled just as master as far as the process I laid out can apply to next as well as master only one release further -- and I might understand this. "Master" for coming release, "next" for next release when merge window is closed, and unruly topical branches for anythingthat does not fit in there.

But that's not making the point (IMO) that we should have a flurry of branch names.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

And I am pretty sure we don't need to create branches "for such version" "based on such version" all the time; keeping each custodian master current enough should suffice IMO.

Well, we already have this, it's just that the branch names are re-used in a rolling fashion rather than having static names for each release.

Precisely: that's why I think multiplying branches for no added value does not make sense. :)

Quoted 4 lines

While v2012.10 is the next release, u-boot-arm/master is for-v2012.10 and u-boot-arm/next is for-v2013.xx. Then, when v2012.10 is release, doesn't u-boot-arm/master become for-v2013.xx and u-boot-arm/next become for-v2013.yy.

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#27 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 10 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Stephen,

Quoted 5 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 2 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Apart from this, I'm not sure why forbidding fast-forward is a good thing, but if there are benefits, why not.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 3 lines

It provides documentation in the git history of when merges were made, and what the source of the merge was (at least using the remote name that the merger has configured, which is better than nothing).

This is what it provides, but this does not tell me why it is a good thing. My own use of git history is to find out which (local or remote) branch --contains a given commit, and this is insensitive to allowing ff merges or not.

The documentation of merge commits seems good to me just in an of itself.

Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 8 lines

Related, not rebasing when merging a branch into upstream makes validating Signed-off-by a lot easier; when a patch is directly applied, it should be Signed-off-by the person who applied it. When a person does a rebase rather than a merge, the git committer for the commits is re-written as if the person doing the rebase applied the patch. Instead when merging (and disallowing fast-forward) a merge commit is always created so it's obvious where S-o-b should be applied (direct patch application) and where not (to commits that are merged).

Quoted 4 lines

I think we've got several things running here: merges with or without ffs, hiding patches inside a merge (IIUC) and committer identity.

Re hiding patches in a merge if that's really what you mean, I agree

Hiding patches within merges wasn't something I'd considered at all; I just assumed that would never happen.

...

Quoted 3 lines

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by" tags, and especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and must not be related to the committer of the patch, but to its author(s).

At least the way the Linux kernel uses the tag, both the original author of the patch /and/ anyone who applies the patch, cherry-picks the patch, ... must add their S-o-b line. I think U-Boot isn't using that part of the model.

...

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

Re merging from upstream back into downstream branches, I tend to think that must be allowed considering custodian trees are supposed to be useable, and as such may need to merge back from mainline.

Why is that required for downstream trees to be usable? What is the definition of "usable" you're using?

Quoted 8 lines

See
<http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/U-Boot/CustodianGitTrees#Philosophy_of_custodian_trees>:

"My idea of a custodian repository is that it is more than just a working tool for collecting patches and preparing these for merge into mainline. My idea is instead that these are pretty much independent incarnations of U-Boot source trees which users (note: users, not only developers) with specific needs or interests can refer to."

Hmmm. That makes custodian trees very multi-purpose; they have to both:

a) Be used for feeding patches upstream.
b) Be a useful independent version of U-Boot.

That seems like conflating two pretty different requirements. I'm personally not sure that's a good idea.

Now, obviously the custodian trees should be buildable and run fine on all platforms; patches shouldn't break functionality. But, I don't think that any tree either that u-boot.git should be seen as somewhere you'd expect to be able to use a combination of features from different custodian trees before they're merged into u-boot.git, which is what the description above implies to me.

...

Quoted 5 lines

You may be making the point that next should be handled just as master as far as the process I laid out can apply to next as well as master only one release further -- and I might understand this. "Master" for coming release, "next" for next release when merge window is closed, and unruly topical branches for anythingthat does not fit in there.

Yes, using an identical process for next and master makes sense to me.

Quoted 2 lines

But that's not making the point (IMO) that we should have a flurry of branch names.

True, that's an entirely orthogonal issue. I mainly raised that point as an example from the kernel. What I really started this conversation about was not using rebases in either master or next, and the conversation has started to concentrate more on other things.

#28 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Stephen,

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 3 lines

It provides documentation in the git history of when merges were made, and what the source of the merge was (at least using the remote name that the merger has configured, which is better than nothing).

This is what it provides, but this does not tell me why it is a good thing. My own use of git history is to find out which (local or remote) branch --contains a given commit, and this is insensitive to allowing ff merges or not.

The documentation of merge commits seems good to me just in an of itself.

"It's intrinsically good" sounds like a circular or axiomatic justification to me.

Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 8 lines

Related, not rebasing when merging a branch into upstream makes validating Signed-off-by a lot easier; when a patch is directly applied, it should be Signed-off-by the person who applied it. When a person does a rebase rather than a merge, the git committer for the commits is re-written as if the person doing the rebase applied the patch. Instead when merging (and disallowing fast-forward) a merge commit is always created so it's obvious where S-o-b should be applied (direct patch application) and where not (to commits that are merged).

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 4 lines

I think we've got several things running here: merges with or without ffs, hiding patches inside a merge (IIUC) and committer identity.

Re hiding patches in a merge if that's really what you mean, I agree

Hiding patches within merges wasn't something I'd considered at all; I just assumed that would never happen.

Good. Since we agree that patches never get hidden in merge commits, then each patch always has its own commit with its "by" tags.

Quoted 9 lines

...

Quoted 3 lines

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by" tags, and especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and must not be related to the committer of the patch, but to its author(s).

At least the way the Linux kernel uses the tag, both the original author of the patch /and/ anyone who applies the patch, cherry-picks the patch, ... must add their S-o-b line. I think U-Boot isn't using that part of the model.

No, it isn't. IIUC, U-Boot's "Signed-off-by" is supposed to mean "I am (one of) the autor(s) of this patch".

Quoted 17 lines

...

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

Re merging from upstream back into downstream branches, I tend to think that must be allowed considering custodian trees are supposed to be useable, and as such may need to merge back from mainline.

Why is that required for downstream trees to be usable? What is the definition of "usable" you're using?

Quoted 8 lines

See
<http://www.denx.de/wiki/view/U-Boot/CustodianGitTrees#Philosophy_of_custodian_trees>:

"My idea of a custodian repository is that it is more than just a working tool for collecting patches and preparing these for merge into mainline. My idea is instead that these are pretty much independent incarnations of U-Boot source trees which users (note: users, not only developers) with specific needs or interests can refer to."

Quoted 7 lines

Hmmm. That makes custodian trees very multi-purpose; they have to both:

a) Be used for feeding patches upstream.
b) Be a useful independent version of U-Boot.

That seems like conflating two pretty different requirements. I'm personally not sure that's a good idea.

Actually, b) is correct but a) is not how I would have expressed it, if only because u-boot itself is a custodian tree, and u-boot-arm is both feeding mainline and fed by other trees. How I would express it is that a custodian tree:

a) feeds *from* patches and pulls (actually, fetches) from other custodian trees;

b) is a useful independent (i.e. functional) U-Boot tree.

Quoted 6 lines

Now, obviously the custodian trees should be buildable and run fine on all platforms; patches shouldn't break functionality. But, I don't think that any tree either that u-boot.git should be seen as somewhere you'd expect to be able to use a combination of features from different custodian trees before they're merged into u-boot.git, which is what the description above implies to me.

You're overspecifying the definition I showed you. It does not say custodian trees should provide "a combination of features from different custodian trees before they're merged into u-boot.git"; it only says they should be "independent incarnations of U-Boot source trees which users (note: users, not only developers) with specific needs or interests can refer to". Not a word about having to combine features. This you /can/ do, of course, in a custodian tree; but they are not done for this purpose.

Quoted 9 lines

...

Quoted 5 lines

You may be making the point that next should be handled just as master as far as the process I laid out can apply to next as well as master only one release further -- and I might understand this. "Master" for coming release, "next" for next release when merge window is closed, and unruly topical branches for anythingthat does not fit in there.

Yes, using an identical process for next and master makes sense to me.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 2 lines

But that's not making the point (IMO) that we should have a flurry of branch names.

True, that's an entirely orthogonal issue. I mainly raised that point as an example from the kernel. What I really started this conversation about was not using rebases in either master or next, and the conversation has started to concentrate more on other things.

However, there are times when rebasing, and reordering even, might be required -- think, for instance, of an important patch that should be placed as early as possible in the next release, or inversely, a patch that was put in next release and now sits in the middle of other commits, but reveals faulty. There would be cause to pick this commit out of the next tree before it becomes master.

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#29 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 8 lines · Albert ARIBAUD
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by"

tags, and

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and must

not

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

be related to the committer of the patch, but to its author(s).

At least the way the Linux kernel uses the tag, both the original

author

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

of the patch /and/ anyone who applies the patch, cherry-picks the

patch,

Quoted 1 line

... must add their S-o-b line. I think U-Boot isn't using that part

of

Quoted 1 line

the model.

No, it isn't. IIUC, U-Boot's "Signed-off-by" is supposed to mean "I am (one of) the autor(s) of this patch".

Is this documented anywhere?

http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/DevelopmentProcess says, "U-Boot has adopted the Linux kernel signoff policy".

Actual behavior is probably inconsistent between custodians.

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

But that's not making the point (IMO) that we should have a

flurry of

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

branch names.

True, that's an entirely orthogonal issue. I mainly raised that

point as

Quoted 3 lines

an example from the kernel. What I really started this conversation about was not using rebases in either master or next, and the conversation has started to concentrate more on other things.

Quoted 6 lines

However, there are times when rebasing, and reordering even, might be required -- think, for instance, of an important patch that should be placed as early as possible in the next release, or inversely, a patch that was put in next release and now sits in the middle of other commits, but reveals faulty. There would be cause to pick this commit out of the next tree before it becomes master.

It's a tradeoff between preserving history and preserving bisectability. I wouldn't say it's ever really required except when there's a legal issue with carrying certain code in the history.

-Scott

#30 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Scott,

Quoted 15 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 14 lines · Albert ARIBAUD
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by"

tags, and

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and must

not

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

be related to the committer of the patch, but to its author(s).

At least the way the Linux kernel uses the tag, both the original

author

Quoted 1 line

of the patch /and/ anyone who applies the patch, cherry-picks the

patch,

Quoted 1 line

... must add their S-o-b line. I think U-Boot isn't using that part

of

Quoted 1 line

the model.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 2 lines

No, it isn't. IIUC, U-Boot's "Signed-off-by" is supposed to mean "I am (one of) the autor(s) of this patch".

Is this documented anywhere?

http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/DevelopmentProcess says, "U-Boot has adopted the Linux kernel signoff policy".

Please do read the Linux kernel signoff policy as laid out in Documentation/SubmittingPatches. Branch or subsystem maintainers should add their Signed-off-by only if they made modifications to the original patch in the process of applying it.

Then read http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/Patches: "the Signed-off-by:
is a line at the end of the commit message by which the signer certifies that he was involved in the development of the patch and that he accepts the Developer's Certificate of Origin (see SubmittingPatches).

In U-Boot, we typically do not add a Signed-off-by: if we just pass on a patch without any changes".

(the "Certificate of Origin" is laid out in the "SubmittingPatches" documentation file from Linux)

Quoted 1 line

Actual behavior is probably inconsistent between custodians.

I haven't seen such inconsistency and certainly don't want to see any, at least in ARM trees from which I have to pull.

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#31 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 25 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Scott,

Quoted 20 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 8 lines · Albert ARIBAUD
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by"

tags, and

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and must

not

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

be related to the committer of the patch, but to its author(s).

At least the way the Linux kernel uses the tag, both the original

author

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

of the patch /and/ anyone who applies the patch, cherry-picks the

patch,

Quoted 1 line

... must add their S-o-b line. I think U-Boot isn't using that part

of

Quoted 1 line

the model.

No, it isn't. IIUC, U-Boot's "Signed-off-by" is supposed to mean "I am (one of) the autor(s) of this patch".

Is this documented anywhere?

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 2 lines

http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/DevelopmentProcess says, "U-Boot has adopted the Linux kernel signoff policy".

Please do read the Linux kernel signoff policy as laid out in Documentation/SubmittingPatches. Branch or subsystem maintainers should add their Signed-off-by only if they made modifications to the original patch in the process of applying it.

That's certainly not what I understand from reading that document. Can you please point out the part the states that policy?

(The part I think you may be talking about is that when you edit a patch, it is polite to add a note indicating what you changed *in addition* to adding your Signed-off-by tag):

Quoting that doc:

Quoted 13 lines

If you are a subsystem or branch maintainer, sometimes you need to slightly modify patches you receive in order to merge them, because the code is not exactly the same in your tree and the submitters'. If you stick strictly to rule (c), you should ask the submitter to rediff, but this is a totally counter-productive waste of time and energy. Rule (b) allows you to adjust the code, but then it is very impolite to change one submitter's code and make him endorse your bugs. To solve this problem, it is recommended that you add a line between the last Signed-off-by header and yours, indicating the nature of your changes. While there is nothing mandatory about this, it seems like prepending the description with your mail and/or name, all enclosed in square brackets, is noticeable enough to make it obvious that you are responsible for last-minute changes. Example :

Quoted 3 lines
[lucky at maintainer.example.org: struct foo moved from foo.c to foo.h]

and in particular, the following parts of that doc is what tells me that committers should always add S-o-b even if the commit didn't change:

Quoted 3 lines

Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1

By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

...

Quoted 6 lines

(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it.

The Signed-off-by: tag indicates that the signer was involved in the development of the patch, or that he/she was in the patch's delivery path.

#32 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Stephen,

Quoted 60 lines · Stephen Warren
Quoted 25 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Scott,

Quoted 20 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 8 lines · Albert ARIBAUD
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by"

tags, and

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and must

not

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

be related to the committer of the patch, but to its author(s).

At least the way the Linux kernel uses the tag, both the original

author

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

of the patch /and/ anyone who applies the patch, cherry-picks the

patch,

Quoted 1 line

... must add their S-o-b line. I think U-Boot isn't using that part

of

Quoted 1 line

the model.

No, it isn't. IIUC, U-Boot's "Signed-off-by" is supposed to mean "I am (one of) the autor(s) of this patch".

Is this documented anywhere?

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 2 lines

http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/DevelopmentProcess says, "U-Boot has adopted the Linux kernel signoff policy".

Please do read the Linux kernel signoff policy as laid out in Documentation/SubmittingPatches. Branch or subsystem maintainers should add their Signed-off-by only if they made modifications to the original patch in the process of applying it.

That's certainly not what I understand from reading that document. Can you please point out the part the states that policy?

(The part I think you may be talking about is that when you edit a patch, it is polite to add a note indicating what you changed *in addition* to adding your Signed-off-by tag):

Quoting that doc:

Quoted 13 lines

If you are a subsystem or branch maintainer, sometimes you need to slightly modify patches you receive in order to merge them, because the code is not exactly the same in your tree and the submitters'. If you stick strictly to rule (c), you should ask the submitter to rediff, but this is a totally counter-productive waste of time and energy. Rule (b) allows you to adjust the code, but then it is very impolite to change one submitter's code and make him endorse your bugs. To solve this problem, it is recommended that you add a line between the last Signed-off-by header and yours, indicating the nature of your changes. While there is nothing mandatory about this, it seems like prepending the description with your mail and/or name, all enclosed in square brackets, is noticeable enough to make it obvious that you are responsible for last-minute changes. Example :

Quoted 3 lines
[lucky at maintainer.example.org: struct foo moved from foo.c to foo.h]
Quoted 13 lines

and in particular, the following parts of that doc is what tells me that committers should always add S-o-b even if the commit didn't change:

Quoted 3 lines

Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1

By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

...

Quoted 6 lines

(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it.

The Signed-off-by: tag indicates that the signer was involved in the development of the patch, or that he/she was in the patch's delivery path.

My bad. I've indeed misread the Linux doc. However, the U-Boot doc is clearly on the side of "no Signed-off-by from custodians".

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#33 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Dear Albert ARIBAUD,

Quoted 6 lines · In message <20121011203003.02f27b2d@lilith> you wrote:
Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 3 lines

The Signed-off-by: tag indicates that the signer was involved in the development of the patch, or that he/she was in the patch's delivery path.

My bad. I've indeed misread the Linux doc. However, the U-Boot doc is clearly on the side of "no Signed-off-by from custodians".

Why do you think you misread anything?

The sentence above explains what the SoB _means_. To me it does not include _any_ information about who should add such a line. _This_ is explained in other parts of the document, i. e. the "you wrote it or otherwise have the right to pass it on as an open-source patch".

I have strong reason to believe (by remember, IANAL) that the "or" in this statement is intended to cover the cases where the original author(s) cannot or shal not be disclosed for some reason (for example, because company FOO does not want to disclose who or how many people exactly are working on a specific task, and/or where these are located). In this case it simply means: yes, I guarantee you this can be used without restriction as an open-source patch even though I cannot/will not tell you who actually is/are the author(s).

Yes, I am aware it is also possible to interpret this as "anybody in the patch's delivery path" - but even then I cannot derive any obligation for such a passer-on to add his SoB.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
If you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the  precipi-
tate.
#34 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 10/13/12 12:30, Wolfgang Denk wrote:

[snip]

Quoted 3 lines

Yes, I am aware it is also possible to interpret this as "anybody in the patch's delivery path" - but even then I cannot derive any obligation for such a passer-on to add his SoB.

While also IANAL (and I try and stay out of these discussions), paging around in the kernel log it sure seems like Linus and akpm both add S-O-B when they git am something in (perhaps why there is git am
- --signoff?) but not when it comes via pull request. In other words, up until the point it goes into intended-to-be-pulled-somehow-someway git, whomever is presenting the work adds one (or more) to say I (we) worked on it and yes, applies as well as the person bringing it in (I touch this and believe it to be).

- --
Tom

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#35 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Dear Tom,

Quoted 9 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

While also IANAL (and I try and stay out of these discussions), paging around in the kernel log it sure seems like Linus and akpm both add S-O-B when they git am something in (perhaps why there is git am --signoff?) but not when it comes via pull request. In other words, up until the point it goes into intended-to-be-pulled-somehow-someway git, whomever is presenting the work adds one (or more) to say I (we) worked on it and yes, applies as well as the person bringing it in (I touch this and believe it to be).

Yes, git am has such an option. But git fetch (or pull) does not. I see no technical difference if someone provides me a patch as such, or in form of a git repository with this patch applied so I can just "git fetch" from it. In both cases the result would be exactly the same:
I add the patch to my local repository. But in one case I am supposed to sign it (and tools offer me options to do so), but in the other case I cannot do that, even if I wanted?

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
"It takes all sorts of in & out-door schooling to get adapted  to  my
kind of fooling"                                           - R. Frost
#36 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Quoted 14 lines · Wolfgang Denk

Dear Tom,

Quoted 10 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

While also IANAL (and I try and stay out of these discussions), paging around in the kernel log it sure seems like Linus and akpm both add S-O-B when they git am something in (perhaps why there is git am --signoff?) but not when it comes via pull request. In other words, up until the point it goes into intended-to-be-pulled-somehow-someway git, whomever is presenting the work adds one (or more) to say I (we) worked on it and yes, applies as well as the person bringing it in (I touch this and believe it to be).

Quoted 7 lines

Yes, git am has such an option. But git fetch (or pull) does not. I see no technical difference if someone provides me a patch as such, or in form of a git repository with this patch applied so I can just "git fetch" from it. In both cases the result would be exactly the same: I add the patch to my local repository. But in one case I am supposed to sign it (and tools offer me options to do so), but in the other case I cannot do that, even if I wanted?

I will not claim the kernel practice to be 100% consistent, but yes. git am --signoff, git pull/merge and no -s in merge commits seems to be the practice. Perhaps we should stop saying we follow the kernel process, link to it as useful background, but then document what we actually want / do which is only require new S-O-B on code modification, and allow custodians to add their own they want for tracking or otherwise ease of not having to remember a different workflow for kernel vs U-Boot?

- --
Tom
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#37 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Dear Tom Rini,

Quoted 9 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

I will not claim the kernel practice to be 100% consistent, but yes. git am --signoff, git pull/merge and no -s in merge commits seems to be the practice. Perhaps we should stop saying we follow the kernel process, link to it as useful background, but then document what we actually want / do which is only require new S-O-B on code modification, and allow custodians to add their own they want for tracking or otherwise ease of not having to remember a different workflow for kernel vs U-Boot?

I'm fine with that.

We could (should?) also ask the Linux PTBs about their opinion on this (and the observed inconsistency).

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 6 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
"Infidels in all ages have battled for the rights of man, and have at
all times been the fearless advocates of liberty and justice."
- Robert Green Ingersoll
#38 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Stephen Warren

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 11 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

and in particular, the following parts of that doc is what tells me that committers should always add S-o-b even if the commit didn't change:

Quoted 3 lines

Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1

By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

...

Quoted 3 lines

(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it.

No, I think you misinterpret this ;-)

This is intended for cases where the original author of the patch shall remain unknown for whatever reasons. Consider some bigger companies doing a lot of their actual development in low-cost countries (say, China). They usually have a ton of developers workignon such stuff, and only one (or very few) people who "interface" ith the community. It is these interface-guys who will add their SoB based on above rule, meaning: yes, I can certify that this is Open Source, and even though the original author shall remain unnamed this can be used freely in this context.

I don't see how you derive fromt hat that a custodian applying a patch without modifications should add a SoB? If so, then please explain where the limits are? Aplying from a mailbox file from a mailing list? Or from some archive (say, patchwork)? Or pulling from some repository provided by the original author? Or pulling from a downstream repository in your own project?

Spinning this to an end consequently, I think we would have to add a new SoB line to all commits for any git pull we are doing (which caanot be the intention, and which cannot work).

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Philosophy is a game with objectives and no rules.
Mathematics is a game with rules and no objectives.
#39 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 17 lines · Wolfgang Denk

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 11 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

and in particular, the following parts of that doc is what tells me that committers should always add S-o-b even if the commit didn't change:

Quoted 3 lines

Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1

By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:

...

Quoted 3 lines

(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified it.

No, I think you misinterpret this ;-)

Quoted 9 lines

This is intended for cases where the original author of the patch shall remain unknown for whatever reasons. Consider some bigger companies doing a lot of their actual development in low-cost countries (say, China). They usually have a ton of developers workignon such stuff, and only one (or very few) people who "interface" ith the community. It is these interface-guys who will add their SoB based on above rule, meaning: yes, I can certify that this is Open Source, and even though the original author shall remain unnamed this can be used freely in this context.

Irrespective of the documentation (which I obviously read the way I describe anyway...), the kernel practice is that everyone who writes or commits a patch adds their S-o-b line, and everyone who simply merges a branch from someone else checks that the provider of the branch added their S-o-b to patches they applied (rather than merged themselves) but does not add their own S-o-b (because it's impossible).

I have often wondered why the merge commits themselves were not signed off by the person performing the merge (which would then logically cover all the commits that got merged). I haven't investigated to find out why though. Doing so would seem to solve your objection about merges.

#40 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 4 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

Irrespective of the documentation (which I obviously read the way I describe anyway...), the kernel practice is that everyone who writes or commits a patch adds their S-o-b line, and everyone who simply merges a

I'm aware of this.

Quoted 3 lines

branch from someone else checks that the provider of the branch added their S-o-b to patches they applied (rather than merged themselves) but does not add their own S-o-b (because it's impossible).

Is such checking really taking place? Are there any tools to support this?

Quoted 4 lines

I have often wondered why the merge commits themselves were not signed off by the person performing the merge (which would then logically cover all the commits that got merged). I haven't investigated to find out why though. Doing so would seem to solve your objection about merges.

I'm not only concerned about merges from custodian (or maintainer's, in Linux terminology) trees. For me it also seems reasonable to pull from any other repository instead of using git-am or similar to apply patches from a mailbox file. Herer I also have no way to add any new SoBs.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 4 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
panic: can't find /
#41 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 8 lines · Wolfgang Denk

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 4 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

Irrespective of the documentation (which I obviously read the way I describe anyway...), the kernel practice is that everyone who writes or commits a patch adds their S-o-b line, and everyone who simply merges a

Quoted 8 lines

I'm aware of this.

Quoted 3 lines

branch from someone else checks that the provider of the branch added their S-o-b to patches they applied (rather than merged themselves) but does not add their own S-o-b (because it's impossible).

Is such checking really taking place? Are there any tools to support this?

I've certainly seen people give feedback on patches that the appropriate S-o-b lines aren't present. I don't recall if I've explicitly seen anyone called out for not doing this during a merge (which most likely means there was never an issue, not that people weren't checking), so I can't say for 100% certain that everyone is doing this, but they certainly should be.

git log is probably what I would use to validate this.

#42 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Albert ARIBAUD
Quoted 29 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Scott,

Quoted 4 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 3 lines · Albert ARIBAUD
Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

Re committer identity, I don't see the relationship with "by"

tags, and

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

especially with Singed-off-by, since the sign-off is not and

must

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

not

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

be related to the committer of the patch, but to its

author(s).

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

At least the way the Linux kernel uses the tag, both the

original

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

author

Quoted 1 line

of the patch /and/ anyone who applies the patch, cherry-picks

the

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

patch,

Quoted 1 line

... must add their S-o-b line. I think U-Boot isn't using that

part

Quoted 4 lines
Quoted 4 lines

of

Quoted 1 line

the model.

No, it isn't. IIUC, U-Boot's "Signed-off-by" is supposed to mean

"I

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 1 line

am (one of) the autor(s) of this patch".

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 4 lines

Is this documented anywhere?

http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/DevelopmentProcess says, "U-Boot has adopted the Linux kernel signoff policy".

Please do read the Linux kernel signoff policy as laid out in Documentation/SubmittingPatches.

You want me to read the Linux policy for documentation of how U-Boot deviates from Linux policy?

Quoted 4 lines

Branch or subsystem maintainers should
add their Signed-off-by only if they made modifications to the original
patch in the process of applying it.

That's not what it says.

Quoted 9 lines

Then read http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/Patches: "the Signed-off-by:
is a line at the end of the commit message by which the signer certifies that he was involved in the development of the patch and that
he accepts the Developer's Certificate of Origin (see SubmittingPatches).

In U-Boot, we typically do not add a Signed-off-by: if we just pass on a patch without any changes".

Thanks. FWIW I think putting policy documents in a wiki, without any guidance on who's supposed to edit it or how changes get approved, is a bad idea. Why not put policy documents in the git-managed source tree? And changes would be
proposed, discussed, and accepted/rejected like any other change. Plus there'd be at least a chance of a commit message showing rationale.

In any case, if this is the policy, we should not be saying that we follow the Linux policy.

Quoted 7 lines

(the "Certificate of Origin" is laid out in the "SubmittingPatches" documentation file from Linux)

Quoted 1 line

Actual behavior is probably inconsistent between custodians.

I haven't seen such inconsistency and certainly don't want to see any, at least in ARM trees from which I have to pull.

I've been signing off patches I apply to the NAND tree. I recall stopping at one point in the past because someone complained, and then starting again -- not sure if someone else complained about doing it *that* way, or if I just noticed others doing it.

Looking through the history I see others that seems to be doing the same (outside ARMland), though I can't say for sure without investigating whether the patch was "passed on without any changes" in each instance.

-Scott

#43 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Scott,

Quoted 6 lines · Scott Wood

FWIW I think putting policy documents in a wiki, without any guidance on who's supposed to edit it or how changes get approved, is a bad idea. Why not put policy documents in the git-managed source tree? And changes would be
proposed, discussed, and accepted/rejected like any other change. Plus there'd be at least a chance of a commit message showing rationale.

While I can see the benefits you find in this, is it not based on the unspoken axiom that the project's policies should necessarily be subject to a democratic process? Plus... in order for this process to be put in place, a process should be defined for discussing this process... argh. :)

Quoted 2 lines

In any case, if this is the policy, we should not be saying that we follow the Linux policy.

Agreed -- see Stephen's reply rightly correcting me re Linux.

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#44 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 11 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Scott,

Quoted 2 lines · Scott Wood

FWIW I think putting policy documents in a wiki, without any guidance on who's supposed to edit it or how changes get approved,

is a

Quoted 3 lines

bad idea. Why not put policy documents in the git-managed source tree? And changes would be
proposed, discussed, and accepted/rejected like any other change.

Quoted 6 lines

Plus

Quoted 1 line

there'd be at least a chance of a commit message showing rationale.

While I can see the benefits you find in this, is it not based on the unspoken axiom that the project's policies should necessarily be subject to a democratic process?

Process is othogonal to revision control. We could vote on whether a policy patch gets applied, though I do not think U-Boot is currently democraticly run, except to the extent that Wolfgang sometimes changes his mind if enough people complain. I do not know of any existing democratic process for approving a wiki update, and would hesitate to just go make a change.

As for the merits of the policy itself, I find maintainer signoffs to be useful, for example to distinguish a patch that I've applied locally versus one that I've fetched from upstream.

-Scott

#45 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Hi Scott,

Quoted 19 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 11 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Scott,

Quoted 2 lines · Scott Wood

FWIW I think putting policy documents in a wiki, without any guidance on who's supposed to edit it or how changes get approved,

is a

Quoted 3 lines

bad idea. Why not put policy documents in the git-managed source tree? And changes would be
proposed, discussed, and accepted/rejected like any other change.

Quoted 6 lines

Plus

Quoted 1 line

there'd be at least a chance of a commit message showing rationale.

While I can see the benefits you find in this, is it not based on the unspoken axiom that the project's policies should necessarily be subject to a democratic process?

Quoted 6 lines

Process is othogonal to revision control. We could vote on whether a policy patch gets applied, though I do not think U-Boot is currently democraticly run, except to the extent that Wolfgang sometimes changes his mind if enough people complain. I do not know of any existing democratic process for approving a wiki update, and would hesitate to just go make a change.

My remark was that Stephen took the democracy for granted in the process, not that there was a relationship to be drawn between process and revision control.

Quoted 3 lines

As for the merits of the policy itself, I find maintainer signoffs to be useful, for example to distinguish a patch that I've applied locally versus one that I've fetched from upstream.

This you can see by looking at the upstream branch tip, the patch's committer identity or by doing a git branch -r --contains <commit-id>.

Quoted 1 line

-Scott

Amicalement,

Signature · 1 line
Albert.
#46 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 34 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Scott,

Quoted 8 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 7 lines · Albert ARIBAUD

Hi Scott,

Quoted 2 lines · Scott Wood

FWIW I think putting policy documents in a wiki, without any guidance on who's supposed to edit it or how changes get

approved,

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

is a

Quoted 1 line

bad idea. Why not put policy documents in the git-managed

source

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

tree? And changes would be
proposed, discussed, and accepted/rejected like any other

change.

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

Plus

Quoted 1 line

there'd be at least a chance of a commit message showing

rationale.

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 3 lines

While I can see the benefits you find in this, is it not based on the unspoken axiom that the project's policies should necessarily

be

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

subject to a democratic process?

Process is othogonal to revision control. We could vote on whether

a

Quoted 2 lines

policy patch gets applied, though I do not think U-Boot is currently democraticly run, except to the extent that Wolfgang sometimes

changes

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 2 lines

his mind if enough people complain. I do not know of any existing democratic process for approving a wiki update, and would hesitate

to

Quoted 1 line

just go make a change.

My remark was that Stephen took the democracy for granted in the process, not that there was a relationship to be drawn between process and revision control.

OK, I misread what you said. I don't think my comment (I assume you meant mine and not Stephen's, given what it's a reply to) assumes any such thing. Wolfgang is free to NACK any patch that changes policy in ways he doesn't like. With the wiki it's not clear who should make changes to policy documents and under what circumstances, but it doesn't appear to be just Wolfgang, as he has said things like "it's a wiki, go edit it".

http://www.mail-archive.com/u-boot at lists.denx.de/msg87395.html
http://www.mail-archive.com/u-boot at lists.denx.de/msg12795.html

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 1 line

As for the merits of the policy itself, I find maintainer signoffs

to

Quoted 1 line

be useful, for example to distinguish a patch that I've applied

locally

Quoted 1 line

versus one that I've fetched from upstream.

This you can see by looking at the upstream branch tip, the patch's committer identity or by doing a git branch -r --contains <commit-id>.

Sure, I was just describing a way in which I found it useful. Are there any benefits to U-Boot's current policy that justify deviating from what Signed-off-by: means in Linux?

-Scott

#47 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Scott Wood

Dear Scott Wood,

Quoted 10 lines · In message <1349979213.6903.11@snotra> you wrote:

I've been signing off patches I apply to the NAND tree. I recall stopping at one point in the past because someone complained, and then starting again -- not sure if someone else complained about doing it *that* way, or if I just noticed others doing it.

Looking through the history I see others that seems to be doing the same (outside ARMland), though I can't say for sure without investigating whether the patch was "passed on without any changes" in each instance.

It appears there are companies who evaluate their engineers based on the number of statistical data (including SoB lines in public repositories). Sosome cases such doing may be just some form of collecting brownie points...

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
You don't have to stay up nights to succeed; you have to  stay  awake
days.
#48 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Scott Wood

Dear Scott Wood,

Quoted 7 lines · In message <1349974486.6903.5@snotra> you wrote:

Is this documented anywhere?

http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot/DevelopmentProcess says, "U-Boot has adopted the Linux kernel signoff policy".

Actual behavior is probably inconsistent between custodians.

This is documented, see previous discussions.

We're referring to linux/Documentation/SubmittingPatches .

Unfortunaltely this leaves room to interpretation, and depending on thier own interpretation people behave differently.

To me the most interesting part of this document is this section:

If you are a subsystem or branch maintainer, sometimes you need to slightly modify patches you receive in order to merge them, because the code is not exactly the same in your tree and the submitters'. If you stick strictly to rule (c), you should ask the submitter to rediff, but this is a totally counter-productive waste of time and energy. Rule (b) allows you to adjust the code, but then it is very impolite to change one submitter's code and make him endorse your bugs. To solve this problem, it is recommended that you add a line between the last Signed-off-by header and yours, indicating the nature of your changes. While there is nothing mandatory about this, it seems like prepending the description with your mail and/or name, all enclosed in square brackets, is noticeable enough to make it obvious that you are responsible for last-minute changes. Example :

[lucky at maintainer.example.org: struct foo moved from foo.c to foo.h]

This practise is particularly helpful if you maintain a stable branch and want at the same time to credit the author, track changes, merge the fix, and protect the submitter from complaints. Note that under no circumstances can you change the author's identity (the From header), as it is the one which appears in the changelog.

In my interpretation this means that one should add a SoB line of one creates or modifies a patch. Just applying it from some published and recoded form does not include any such modification, so why should I add my SoB when applying a patch from PW for example?

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
How many hardware guys does it take to change a light bulb? "Well the
diagnostics say it's fine buddy, so it's a software problem."
#49 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Stephen Warren

Dear Stephen Warren,

Quoted 2 lines · In message <[email protected]> you wrote:

The documentation of merge commits seems good to me just in an of itself.

Linus has commented a lot about this for Linux in the past. You may want to dig this out from the archives.

In general, we should always fast-forward if possible.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 5 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
"We don't have to protect the environment -- the Second Coming is  at
hand."                                                   - James Watt
#50 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model (was: Re: [PULL] u-boot-usb/next)

In reply to Tom Rini
Quoted 1 line · Tom Rini

On Tue, Oct 09, 2012 at 03:03:28PM -0600, Stephen Warren wrote:

[snip]

Quoted 9 lines
Quoted 6 lines

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I'm going to reply to myself, in hopes of clearing things up. We don't follow the linux-next model, really, I miss-spoke.

History is important. But so is getting the amount of process for the size of the project. The other thing is that we're doing simultaneous development for both the current release and the next release.

So for the master branch of the master repo, it must never rebase. And as Wolfgang encourages users to use the custodian repository of mainline isn't quite up to what they need, custodian repositories must also keep their master branch un-rebased as much as humanly possible (my rule of thumb would be once it's been in the wild for a few days, it's too late).

The next branch however can be rebased, as needed. In the case of post-v2012.10, it will be rebased as we want the commit to change how ARM and unaligned accesses are handled to be the first thing. I don't think "perfect" "changes A-G were done in repository X against tree Y" is the most useful bit of information. When we rebase we may lose that boards 1/2/3 worked at point Y but we gain change D is when board 2 broke as part of being merged with other changes.

Signature · 8 lines
Tom
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#51 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model (was: Re: [PULL] u-boot-usb/next)

Quoted 36 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 1 line · Tom Rini

On Tue, Oct 09, 2012 at 03:03:28PM -0600, Stephen Warren wrote:

[snip]

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs

change,

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged

into

Quoted 1 line
Quoted 1 line

a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than

just

Quoted 2 lines
Quoted 2 lines

executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this

and

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 1 line

perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the

linux-next

Quoted 1 line

model and we rebase as needed.

I'm going to reply to myself, in hopes of clearing things up. We don't
follow the linux-next model, really, I miss-spoke.

History is important. But so is getting the amount of process for the size of the project. The other thing is that we're doing simultaneous development for both the current release and the next release.

So for the master branch of the master repo, it must never rebase. And
as Wolfgang encourages users to use the custodian repository of mainline
isn't quite up to what they need, custodian repositories must also keep
their master branch un-rebased as much as humanly possible (my rule of thumb would be once it's been in the wild for a few days, it's too late).

Quoted 1 line

The next branch however can be rebased, as needed.

Why is the next branch any different? Users and custodians will both be affected by any rebase, just as if a master branch gets rebased. This hybrid of the Linux approach and what was described in this thread as the U-Boot approach is worse than consistently doing one or the other IMHO.

Quoted 3 lines

In the case of post-v2012.10, it will be rebased as we want the commit to change how
ARM and unaligned accesses are handled to be the first thing.

Any particular reason, short of telling people whose patches have already been accepted that they need to respin them?

Quoted 6 lines

I don't
think "perfect" "changes A-G were done in repository X against tree Y" is the most useful bit of information. When we rebase we may lose that
boards 1/2/3 worked at point Y but we gain change D is when board 2 broke as part of being merged with other changes.

I don't follow.

-Scott

#52 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 2 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 1 line · Tom Rini

On Tue, Oct 09, 2012 at 02:32:08PM -0700, Tom Rini wrote:

...

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

In the case of post-v2012.10, it will be rebased as we want the commit to change how
ARM and unaligned accesses are handled to be the first thing.

Any particular reason, short of telling people whose patches have already been accepted that they need to respin them?

(I'm really replying to Tom here not Scott)

As I understand it, the process for getting u-boot/next into u-boot/master is perhaps:

1) tag u-boot/master for the release
2) merge u-boot/next into u-boot/master (or perhaps you're proposing rebase u-boot/next onto u-boot/master and then fast-forward merge it).

I think the solution to getting patches into u-boot/master first is therefore:

1) tag u-boot/master for the release
2) apply, cherry-pick, or merge a branch with just the early commits into u-boot/master
3) merge u-boot/next into u-boot/master

(hopefully (3) doesn't contain duplicated commits with (2)... the beauty of the Linux kernel's model is that it wouldn't, and even with U-Boot's model it wouldn't with sufficient planning)

That way, everything can still be merges, and hence preserve commit IDs, but we also get any early commits in early.

#53 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Scott Wood

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Quoted 31 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 30 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 2 lines · Tom Rini

On Tue, Oct 09, 2012 at 03:03:28PM -0600, Stephen Warren wrote:

[snip]

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 7 lines

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I'm going to reply to myself, in hopes of clearing things up. We don't follow the linux-next model, really, I miss-spoke.

History is important. But so is getting the amount of process for the size of the project. The other thing is that we're doing simultaneous development for both the current release and the next release.

So for the master branch of the master repo, it must never rebase. And as Wolfgang encourages users to use the custodian repository of mainline isn't quite up to what they need, custodian repositories must also keep their master branch un-rebased as much as humanly possible (my rule of thumb would be once it's been in the wild for a few days, it's too late).

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 1 line

The next branch however can be rebased, as needed.

Why is the next branch any different? Users and custodians will both be affected by any rebase, just as if a master branch gets rebased. This hybrid of the Linux approach and what was described in this thread as the U-Boot approach is worse than consistently doing one or the other IMHO.

The number of people working on next should be small and manageable. But, yes, it bears more thinking if we want the next branch open for longer than it has historically been, if we want that. And we have at least historically been saying that next can and will be rebased.

Quoted 6 lines
Quoted 3 lines

In the case of post-v2012.10, it will be rebased as we want the commit to change how ARM and unaligned accesses are handled to be the first thing.

Any particular reason, short of telling people whose patches have already been accepted that they need to respin them?

That is the primary reason, yes. U-Boot doesn't, I feel, have the clout that the kernel does to tell people to keep re-basing their work until the window in master is open.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 5 lines

I don't think "perfect" "changes A-G were done in repository X against tree Y" is the most useful bit of information. When we rebase we may lose that boards 1/2/3 worked at point Y but we gain change D is when board 2 broke as part of being merged with other changes.

I don't follow.

It's a little bit me ranting. I'm trying to bisect a problem in the kernel right now and I swear I must be doing something wrong, or the merge commits just aren't helping me.

- --
Tom
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#54 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 37 lines · Tom Rini

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Quoted 33 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 31 lines · Tom Rini
Quoted 2 lines · Tom Rini

On Tue, Oct 09, 2012 at 03:03:28PM -0600, Stephen Warren wrote:

[snip]

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 7 lines

The problem with rebasing when pulling is that git commit IDs change, so it's much more difficult to determine when a commit is merged into a parent tree; one has to search by commit subject rather than just executing e.g. git branch -a --contains XXX. I thought Albert just agreed to use merges rather than rebases for u-boot-arm for this and perhaps other reasons.

The short answer is that right now, u-boot/next follows the linux-next model and we rebase as needed.

I'm going to reply to myself, in hopes of clearing things up. We don't follow the linux-next model, really, I miss-spoke.

History is important. But so is getting the amount of process for the size of the project. The other thing is that we're doing simultaneous development for both the current release and the next release.

So for the master branch of the master repo, it must never rebase. And as Wolfgang encourages users to use the custodian repository of mainline isn't quite up to what they need, custodian repositories must also keep their master branch un-rebased as much as humanly possible (my rule of thumb would be once it's been in the wild for a few days, it's too late).

The next branch however can be rebased, as needed.

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 5 lines

Why is the next branch any different? Users and custodians will both be affected by any rebase, just as if a master branch gets rebased. This hybrid of the Linux approach and what was described in this thread as the U-Boot approach is worse than consistently doing one or the other IMHO.

The number of people working on next should be small and manageable.

More people likely use next than some custodian branches, and those are supposed to be rebase-free...

Wouldn't anyone developing code for the next merge window be working on next,
at least when it's not out of date?

Quoted 3 lines

But, yes, it bears more thinking if we want the next branch open for longer than it has historically been, if we want that. And we have at least historically been saying that next can and will be rebased.

IMHO it would be nice for the next branch to open immediately after the merge window closes, and be kept up to date except during the merge window. Historically the next branch has opened when someone requests a pull into it, but how do I make a sane pull request when the next branch has been untouched since the last release?

-Scott

#55 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

Quoted 9 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 3 lines

But, yes, it bears more thinking if we want the next branch open for longer than it has historically been, if we want that. And we have at least historically been saying that next can and will be rebased.

IMHO it would be nice for the next branch to open immediately after the merge window closes, and be kept up to date except during the merge window. Historically the next branch has opened when someone requests a pull into it, but how do I make a sane pull request when the next branch has been untouched since the last release?

This has been discussed on the U-Boot BoF in Geneva a few months ago. And it was generally agreed upon that opening the next branch earlier (best directly after the merge window) would be a big plus.

IIRC, then Tom did exactly this in this release cycle.

Thanks,
Stefan

#56 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

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Quoted 13 lines · Stefan Roese
Quoted 11 lines · Scott Wood
Quoted 4 lines

But, yes, it bears more thinking if we want the next branch open for longer than it has historically been, if we want that. And we have at least historically been saying that next can and will be rebased.

IMHO it would be nice for the next branch to open immediately after the merge window closes, and be kept up to date except during the merge window. Historically the next branch has opened when someone requests a pull into it, but how do I make a sane pull request when the next branch has been untouched since the last release?

Quoted 6 lines

This has been discussed on the U-Boot BoF in Geneva a few months ago. And it was generally agreed upon that opening the next branch earlier (best directly after the merge window) would be a big plus.

IIRC, then Tom did exactly this in this release cycle.

Yes, I got -rc1 out sooner than we do historically. I think there's a few changes I would like to make about how we handle branching, releasing and merge windows. But this thread has reminded me that I need to think very carefully about how we manage branches that are longer lived. And I don't want to make big changes for v2013.01 but prepare everyone to try them for v2013.04 (and .07).

- --
Tom
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#57 lore raw

[U-Boot] U-Boot git usage model

In reply to Scott Wood

Dear Scott Wood,

Quoted 9 lines · In message <1349980244.6903.13@snotra> you wrote:
Quoted 2 lines

The number of people working on next should be small and manageable.

More people likely use next than some custodian branches, and those are supposed to be rebase-free...

Wouldn't anyone developing code for the next merge window be working on next,
at least when it's not out of date?

Yes. And we do not rebase next lightly nor often (just check this history how often this happened in the past). But we explicitly reserve the right of doing this to make sure we get the needed quality of the code before pulling it into master, which definitely cannot be rebased. So instead of knowingly pulling blatant crap into master we will rather make this exception and rebase next.

Quoted 5 lines

IMHO it would be nice for the next branch to open immediately after the merge window closes, and be kept up to date except during the merge window. Historically the next branch has opened when someone requests a pull into it, but how do I make a sane pull request when the next branch has been untouched since the last release?

No. Historically next was opened when -rc1 was released. In theory this would be at the end of the MW, but I always found myself with a large backlog of patches tat were not picked up by any custodian trees but left waiting, and I wanted to have these included in the -rc1, which reasulted in the often week-long delay.

Provide more people processing patches, say pushing stuff through the staging repo etc., and we can easily reduce this delay.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

Signature · 6 lines
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
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