Add a section about b4, an actively maintained and widely packaged CLI tool for contributing to patch-based development projects.
Reviewed-by: Gustavo Romero <gustavo.rom...@linaro.org> Signed-off-by: Manos Pitsidianakis <manos.pitsidiana...@linaro.org> --- Changes in v2: - s/later/letter and add review trailers (thanks Gustavo) - Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/20250717-docs_add_b4_section-v1-1-2dfb4ad2f...@linaro.org --- docs/devel/submitting-a-patch.rst | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-- 1 file changed, 38 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/devel/submitting-a-patch.rst b/docs/devel/submitting-a-patch.rst index f7917b899f6892ef74908fe8f1399b6ae5a30324..dd1cf32ad35a98528f43918eceb2cc8a4847c5b6 100644 --- a/docs/devel/submitting-a-patch.rst +++ b/docs/devel/submitting-a-patch.rst @@ -235,6 +235,38 @@ to another list.) ``git send-email`` (`step-by-step setup guide works best for delivering the patch without mangling it, but attachments can be used as a last resort on a first-time submission. +.. _use_b4: + +Use B4 +~~~~~~ + +The `b4`_ tool, used for Linux kernel development, can also be used for QEMU +development. It is packaged in most distros and PyPi. The QEMU source tree +includes a ``b4`` project configuration file at the root: ``.b4-config``. + +Example workflow to prepare a patch series: + +1. Start with a clean checkout of the ``master`` branch. +2. Create a new series with a topical branch name using ``b4 prep -n descriptive-name``. + ``b4`` will create a ``b4/descriptive-name`` branch and switch to it. +3. Commit your changes, following this page's guidelines about proper commit messages etc. +4. Write a descriptive cover letter with ``b4 prep --edit-cover``. +5. Add maintainer and reviewer CCs with ``b4 prep --auto-to-cc``. You can make + changes to Cc: and To: recipients by editing the cover letter. +6. Run patch checks with ``b4 prep --check``. +7. Optionally review the patches with ``b4 send --dry-run`` which will print the + raw patches in standard output. + +To send the patches, you can: + +- Setup ``git-send-email`` and use ``b4 send``, or +- Export the patches to files using ``b4 send -o OUTPUT_DIR`` and send them manually. + +For more details, consult the `b4 documentation`_. + +.. _b4 documentation: https://b4.docs.kernel.org/ +.. _b4: https://github.com/mricon/b4/ + .. _use_git_publish: Use git-publish @@ -418,7 +450,7 @@ Retrieve an existing series --------------------------- If you want to apply an existing series on top of your tree, you can simply use -`b4 <https://github.com/mricon/b4>`__. +`b4`_. :: @@ -533,7 +565,11 @@ summary belongs. The `git-publish <https://github.com/stefanha/git-publish>`__ script can help with tracking a good summary across versions. Also, the `git-backport-diff <https://github.com/codyprime/git-scripts>`__ script can help focus -reviewers on what changed between revisions. +reviewers on what changed between revisions. The ``b4`` tool automatically +generates a version history section in the cover letter, including links to the +previous versions on `Lore`_. + +.. _Lore: https://lore.kernel.org/ .. _tips_and_tricks: --- base-commit: f96b157ebb93f94cd56ebbc99bc20982b8fd86ef change-id: 20250717-docs_add_b4_section-fc37e538b20b -- γαῖα πυρί μιχθήτω
