The Kernel Janitor patchsets

The Kernel Janitor project is getting organized, as can be seen in this announcement regarding the new "KJ" patchset series. Essentially, this patchset is an attempt to pull together and organize the numerous janitorial patches out there. With luck, the result should be cleaner kernel.

Janitorial patches can have a difficult path into the kernel. Anybody who has sent patches to Linus knows that they often disappear into the void, never to be heard from again. Getting patches applied can require a fair amount of persistence and effort. The patches must be updated to apply cleanly to each new kernel release and resubmitted; eventually you may catch Linus in the right mood, and he'll either apply the patch or tell you why he won't.

Carrying patches forward and resubmitting them can be a significant load for kernel developers. It can be hard enough when the patch does something new and exciting. But even the most determined janitor can get discouraged with maintaining cleanup patches which seem to never get applied. It is not uncommon for developers to simply give up on patches after a few iterations.

Mechanisms like the Trivial Patch Monkey can help. The Monkey will resubmit patches to Linus after every new kernel release as long as (1) they still apply, and (2) they do not get merged. This system lets developers forget about the really boring patches, on the assumption that they will eventually go in.

Many cleanup patches are not trivial enough for the Trival Patch Monkey, however. The new KJ patchset appears to be an attempt to create a mechanism for such patches. To be included in -kj, a patch must be approved by at least two kernel janitors project developers (how they decide who is in the club is unspecified) and must not be vetoed by anybody. After a trouble-free week in -kj, patches can be forwarded on to the top-level tree maintainers.

The first patch set in this series is 2.5.70-bk13-kj.

---

(Log in to post comments)