Subject: [bug#43946] [PATCH] doc: Add item to "Submitting Patches" section.

From: zimoun <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 15:00:20 +0100

Hi Ludo,

On Fri, 15 Jan 2021 at 14:30, Ludovic Courtès <[email-masked]> wrote:

> > +We recommend to use the command @code{git format-patch --base} to
> > +include the commit where your patch applies.
>
> I’m not entirely convinced TBH, in part because I know I often pile a
> couple of WIP branches on top of one another, “knowing what I’m doing”
> (actually hoping that I do), and so the base commit would be useless in
> this case.

I am not buying your argument. :-)
It is not because <name> does not use this information that it cannot
be a recommendation, i.e., a suggestion or advice on what seems
helpful.
Other said, it is not because it is "useless in this case" that it is
useless in other cases.

For example, this information about which known commit that patch
applies is helping for the automation of testing patches.  Well, see
[1,2] for instance.  Discussions of such tooling happened in #44625
[3] and Emacs helper [4].

1: <https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/b4/b4.git/tree/README.rst>
2: <https://docs.kyleam.com/piem/Using-b4-to-apply-patches.html>
3: <http://issues.guix.gnu.org/44625>
4: <https://inbox.kyleam.com/piem/[email-masked]/>

> Closing?  :-)

As you want. :-)
But, I think "qui peut le plus peut le moins".  Even if maybe my
wording is not the good one, I still think that the "base-commit"
where the patch applies should be provided, at least suggested.

Cheers,
simon