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docs: reporting-issues.rst: link new document about regressions 

Make Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst point to the newly
created document about regressions
(Documentation/admin-guide/regressions-regressions.rst). This allows to
shorten a few explanations the new document describes better and in more
detail.

While at it move the copyright hint to the end of the file and remove
quotes around links to other places in the documentation. Both issues
came up during the review of the new documents about regressions.

Signed-off-by: Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/f20114eaddc356a8c79dd62812a6c7f4ca5d87b9.1644994117.git.linux@leemhuis.info
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
This commit is contained in:
Thorsten Leemhuis 2022-02-16 07:51:35 +01:00 committed by Jonathan Corbet
parent d2b40ba2cc
commit 247097e2bb
1 changed files with 36 additions and 37 deletions
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73
Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
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@ -1,14 +1,5 @@
.. SPDX-License-Identifier: (GPL-2.0+ OR CC-BY-4.0)
..
If you want to distribute this text under CC-BY-4.0 only, please use 'The
Linux kernel developers' for author attribution and link this as source:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/plain/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
..
Note: Only the content of this RST file as found in the Linux kernel sources
is available under CC-BY-4.0, as versions of this text that were processed
(for example by the kernel's build system) might contain content taken from
files which use a more restrictive license.
.. See the bottom of this file for additional redistribution information.
Reporting issues
++++++++++++++++
@ -395,22 +386,16 @@ fixed as soon as possible, hence there are 'issues of high priority' that get
handled slightly differently in the reporting process. Three type of cases
qualify: regressions, security issues, and really severe problems.
You deal with a 'regression' if something that worked with an older version of
the Linux kernel does not work with a newer one or somehow works worse with it.
It thus is a regression when a WiFi driver that did a fine job with Linux 5.7
somehow misbehaves with 5.8 or doesn't work at all. It's also a regression if
an application shows erratic behavior with a newer kernel, which might happen
due to incompatible changes in the interface between the kernel and the
userland (like procfs and sysfs). Significantly reduced performance or
increased power consumption also qualify as regression. But keep in mind: the
new kernel needs to be built with a configuration that is similar to the one
from the old kernel (see below how to achieve that). That's because the kernel
developers sometimes can not avoid incompatibilities when implementing new
features; but to avoid regressions such features have to be enabled explicitly
during build time configuration.
You deal with a regression if some application or practical use case running
fine with one Linux kernel works worse or not at all with a newer version
compiled using a similar configuration. The document
Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst explains this in more
detail. It also provides a good deal of other information about regressions you
might want to be aware of; it for example explains how to add your issue to the
list of tracked regressions, to ensure it won't fall through the cracks.
What qualifies as security issue is left to your judgment. Consider reading
'Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst' before proceeding, as it
Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst before proceeding, as it
provides additional details how to best handle security issues.
An issue is a 'really severe problem' when something totally unacceptably bad
@ -517,7 +502,7 @@ line starting with 'CPU:'. It should end with 'Not tainted' if the kernel was
not tainted when it noticed the problem; it was tainted if you see 'Tainted:'
followed by a few spaces and some letters.
If your kernel is tainted, study 'Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst'
If your kernel is tainted, study Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst
to find out why. Try to eliminate the reason. Often it's caused by one these
three things:
@ -1043,7 +1028,7 @@ down the culprit, as maintainers often won't have the time or setup at hand to
reproduce it themselves.
To find the change there is a process called 'bisection' which the document
'Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst' describes in detail. That process
Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst describes in detail. That process
will often require you to build about ten to twenty kernel images, trying to
reproduce the issue with each of them before building the next. Yes, that takes
some time, but don't worry, it works a lot quicker than most people assume.
@ -1073,10 +1058,11 @@ When dealing with regressions make sure the issue you face is really caused by
the kernel and not by something else, as outlined above already.
In the whole process keep in mind: an issue only qualifies as regression if the
older and the newer kernel got built with a similar configuration. The best way
to archive this: copy the configuration file (``.config``) from the old working
kernel freshly to each newer kernel version you try. Afterwards run ``make
olddefconfig`` to adjust it for the needs of the new version.
older and the newer kernel got built with a similar configuration. This can be
achieved by using ``make olddefconfig``, as explained in more detail by
Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst; that document also
provides a good deal of other information about regressions you might want to be
aware of.
Write and send the report
@ -1283,7 +1269,7 @@ them when sending the report by mail. If you filed it in a bug tracker, forward
the report's text to these addresses; but on top of it put a small note where
you mention that you filed it with a link to the ticket.
See 'Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst' for more information.
See Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst for more information.
Duties after the report went out
@ -1571,7 +1557,7 @@ Once your report is out your might get asked to do a proper one, as it allows to
pinpoint the exact change that causes the issue (which then can easily get
reverted to fix the issue quickly). Hence consider to do a proper bisection
right away if time permits. See the section 'Special care for regressions' and
the document 'Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst' for details how to
the document Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst for details how to
perform one. In case of a successful bisection add the author of the culprit to
the recipients; also CC everyone in the signed-off-by chain, which you find at
the end of its commit message.
@ -1594,7 +1580,7 @@ Some fixes are too complex
Even small and seemingly obvious code-changes sometimes introduce new and
totally unexpected problems. The maintainers of the stable and longterm kernels
are very aware of that and thus only apply changes to these kernels that are
within rules outlined in 'Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst'.
within rules outlined in Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst.
Complex or risky changes for example do not qualify and thus only get applied
to mainline. Other fixes are easy to get backported to the newest stable and
@ -1756,10 +1742,23 @@ art will lay some groundwork to improve the situation over time.
..
This text is maintained by Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>. If you
spot a typo or small mistake, feel free to let him know directly and he'll
fix it. You are free to do the same in a mostly informal way if you want
to contribute changes to the text, but for copyright reasons please CC
end-of-content
..
This document is maintained by Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>. If
you spot a typo or small mistake, feel free to let him know directly and
he'll fix it. You are free to do the same in a mostly informal way if you
want to contribute changes to the text, but for copyright reasons please CC
linux-doc@vger.kernel.org and "sign-off" your contribution as
Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst outlines in the section "Sign
your work - the Developer's Certificate of Origin".
..
This text is available under GPL-2.0+ or CC-BY-4.0, as stated at the top
of the file. If you want to distribute this text under CC-BY-4.0 only,
please use "The Linux kernel developers" for author attribution and link
this as source:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/plain/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
..
Note: Only the content of this RST file as found in the Linux kernel sources
is available under CC-BY-4.0, as versions of this text that were processed
(for example by the kernel's build system) might contain content taken from
files which use a more restrictive license.