0.1 Tags: No line splitting

Do not split a tag across multiple lines, tags are exempt from the “wrap at 75 columns” rule in order to simplify parsing scripts. For example:

    Fixes: 67d01cdb5518 ("x86: infrastructure to allow converting certain indirect calls to direct ones")

0.2 Fixes Tag

If your patch fixes a bug in a specific commit, e.g. you found an issue using git bisect, please use the ‘Fixes:’ tag with the first 12 characters of the SHA-1 ID, and the one line summary.

The following git config settings can be used to add a pretty format for outputting the above style in the git log or git show commands:

    [core]
            abbrev = 12
    [pretty]
            fixes = Fixes: %h (\"%s\")

0.3 Backport Tag

A backport tag is an optional tag in the commit message to request a given commit to be backported to the released trees:

Backport: 4.9+

It marks a commit for being a candidate for backports to all released trees from 4.9 onward.

The backport requester is expected to specify which currently supported releases need the backport; but encouraged to specify a release as far back as possible which applies. If the requester doesn’t know the oldest affected tree, they are encouraged to append a comment like the following:

Backport: 4.9+ # maybe older

Maintainers request the Backport tag to be added on commit. Contributors are welcome to mark their patches with the Backport tag when they deem appropriate. Maintainers will request for it to be removed when that is not the case.

Please note that the Backport tag is a request for backport, which will still need to be evaluated by the maintainers. Maintainers might ask the requester to help with the backporting work if it is not trivial.

When possible, please use the Fixes tag instead (or in addition).