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authorJonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>2016-10-27 17:05:10 -0600
committerJonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>2016-10-27 17:47:58 -0600
commit9d2cccdd6c226181c42a7bb0c5ede1583687b618 (patch)
tree993ff17c35fd23a71533e63f6943b9bf59e1d5e4 /Documentation/process
parent2797cd03f5cca4d9fb2875c9f9c995737ce73469 (diff)
parent67972a539e9ff1a3ed794c463c4e544442df693e (diff)
downloadlinux-9d2cccdd6c226181c42a7bb0c5ede1583687b618.tar.gz
Merge branch 'doc-tweaks' into docs-next
The creation of the admin and process guides is a great thing, but, without
care, we risk replacing a messy docs directory with a few messy Sphinx
books.  In an attempt to head that off and show what I'm thinking, here's a
set of tweaks that, I think, make the existing Sphinx-formatted docs a bit
more accessible.
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/process')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst4
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/changes.rst2
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/index.rst41
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst8
-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst16
5 files changed, 48 insertions, 23 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
index abd7dc7ae240..87825cf96f33 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ Original by:
 Last update:
 	2016-09-14
 
+.. note::
+
+   This document is obsolete.  In most cases, rather than using ``patch``
+   manually, you'll almost certainly want to look at using Git instead.
 
 A frequently asked question on the Linux Kernel Mailing List is how to apply
 a patch to the kernel or, more specifically, what base kernel a patch for
diff --git a/Documentation/process/changes.rst b/Documentation/process/changes.rst
index 22797a15dc24..56ce66114665 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/changes.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/changes.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 .. _changes:
 
-Minimal requerements to compile the Kernel
+Minimal requirements to compile the Kernel
 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 Intro
diff --git a/Documentation/process/index.rst b/Documentation/process/index.rst
index cddf580671e7..10aa6920709a 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/index.rst
@@ -4,34 +4,51 @@
 	\renewcommand\thesubsection*
 
 
-Linux Kernel Development Documentation
-======================================
+Working with the kernel development community
+=============================================
 
-Contents:
+So you want to be a Linux kernel developer?  Welcome!  While there is a lot
+to be learned about the kernel in a technical sense, it is also important
+to learn about how our community works.  Reading these documents will make
+it much easier for you to get your changes merged with a minimum of
+trouble.
+
+Below are the essential guides that every developer should read.
 
 .. toctree::
-   :maxdepth: 2
+   :maxdepth: 1
 
    howto
-   changes
-   coding-style
+   code-of-conflict
+   development-process
    submitting-patches
+   coding-style
+   email-clients
+
+Other guides to the community that are of interest to most developers are: 
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 1
+
+   changes
    submitting-drivers
    stable-api-nonsense
    management-style
    stable-kernel-rules
+   submit-checklist
    kernel-docs
+
+These are some overall technical guides that have been put here for now for
+lack of a better place.
+
+.. toctree::
+   :maxdepth: 1
+
    applying-patches
-   email-clients
-   submit-checklist
-   code-of-conflict
    adding-syscalls
    magic-number
    volatile-considered-harmful
 
-   development-process
-
-
 .. only::  subproject and html
 
    Indices
diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst
index 0939d018c289..afb82ee0cbea 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-drivers.rst
@@ -8,6 +8,14 @@ various kernel trees. Note that if you are interested in video card drivers
 you should probably talk to XFree86 (http://www.xfree86.org/) and/or X.Org
 (http://x.org/) instead.
 
+.. note::
+
+   This document is old and has seen little maintenance in recent years; it
+   should probably be updated or, perhaps better, just deleted.  Most of
+   what is here can be found in the other development documents anyway.
+
+   Oh, and we don't really recommend submitting changes to XFree86 :)
+
 Also read the Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst document.
 
 
diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
index b4cf8f375184..3e10719fee35 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 .. _submittingpatches:
 
-How to Get Your Change Into the Linux Kernel or Care And Operation Of Your Linus Torvalds
-=========================================================================================
+Submitting patches: the essential guide to getting your code into the kernel
+============================================================================
 
 For a person or company who wishes to submit a change to the Linux
 kernel, the process can sometimes be daunting if you're not familiar
@@ -24,10 +24,6 @@ of the mechanical work done for you, though you'll still need to prepare
 and document a sensible set of patches.  In general, use of ``git`` will make
 your life as a kernel developer easier.
 
-Creating and Sending your Change
-********************************
-
-
 0) Obtain a current source tree
 -------------------------------
 
@@ -417,8 +413,8 @@ e-mail discussions.
 
 
 
-11) Sign your work
-------------------
+11) Sign your work — the Developer's Certificate of Origin
+----------------------------------------------------------
 
 To improve tracking of who did what, especially with patches that can
 percolate to their final resting place in the kernel through several
@@ -803,8 +799,8 @@ command like this will do the trick::
   git request-pull master git://my.public.tree/linux.git my-signed-tag
 
 
-REFERENCES
-**********
+References
+----------
 
 Andrew Morton, "The perfect patch" (tpp).
   <http://www.ozlabs.org/~akpm/stuff/tpp.txt>