On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 9:04 AM Uwe Kleine-König <u.kleine-koe...@pengutronix.de> wrote: > > hello Sean, > > On Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 02:31:02PM -0400, Sean Paul wrote: > > I'd really prefer this patch (series or single) is not accepted. This > > will cause problems for everyone cherry-picking patches to a > > downstream kernel (LTS or distro tree). I usually wouldn't expect > > sympathy here, but the questionable benefit does not outweigh the cost > > IM[biased]O. > > I agree that for backports this isn't so nice. However with the split > approach (that was argumented against here) it's not soo bad. Patch #1 > (and similar changes for the other affected structures) could be > trivially backported and with that it doesn't matter if you write dev or > drm (or whatever name is chosen in the end); both work in the same way.
Patch #1 avoids the need to backport the entire set, however every change occuring after the rename patches will cause conflicts on future cherry-picks. Downstream kernels will have to backport the whole set. Backporting the entire set will create an epoch in downstream kernels where cherry-picking patches preceding this set will need to undergo conflict resolution as well. As mentioned in my previous email, I don't expect sympathy here, it's part of maintaining a downstream kernel, but there is a real cost to kernel consumers. > > But even with the one-patch-per-rename approach I'd consider the > renaming a net win, because ease of understanding code has a big value. > It's value is not so easy measurable as "conflicts when backporting", > but it also matters in say two years from now, while backporting > shouldn't be an issue then any more. You've rightly identified the conjecture in your statement. I've been on both sides of the argument, having written/maintained drm code upstream and cherry-picked changes to a downstream kernel. Perhaps it's because drm's definition of dev is ingrained in my muscle memory, or maybe it's because I don't do a lot of upstream development these days, but I just have a hard time seeing the benefit here. I appreciate your engagement on the topic, thank you! Sean > > Thanks for your input, best regards > Uwe > > -- > Pengutronix e.K. | Uwe Kleine-König | > Industrial Linux Solutions | https://www.pengutronix.de/ |
