153b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 2ff1e81a7SSameer Rahmani 353b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetDocumentation subsystem maintainer entry profile 453b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet================================================ 553b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 653b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetThe documentation "subsystem" is the central coordinating point for the 753b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetkernel's documentation and associated infrastructure. It covers the 853b7f3aaSJonathan Corbethierarchy under Documentation/ (with the exception of 93ecad8c2SMauro Carvalho ChehabDocumentation/devicetree), various utilities under scripts/ and, at least 1053b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetsome of the time, LICENSES/. 1153b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 1253b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetIt's worth noting, though, that the boundaries of this subsystem are rather 1353b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetfuzzier than normal. Many other subsystem maintainers like to keep control 1453b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetof portions of Documentation/, and many more freely apply changes there 1553b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetwhen it is convenient. Beyond that, much of the kernel's documentation is 1653b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetfound in the source as kerneldoc comments; those are usually (but not 1753b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetalways) maintained by the relevant subsystem maintainer. 1853b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 1953b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetThe mailing list for documentation is linux-doc@vger.kernel.org. Patches 2053b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetshould be made against the docs-next tree whenever possible. 2153b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 2253b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetSubmit checklist addendum 2353b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet------------------------- 2453b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 2553b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetWhen making documentation changes, you should actually build the 2653b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetdocumentation and ensure that no new errors or warnings have been 2753b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetintroduced. Generating HTML documents and looking at the result will help 2853b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetto avoid unsightly misunderstandings about how things will be rendered. 2953b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 30*60804e58SVegard NossumAll new documentation (including additions to existing documents) should 31*60804e58SVegard Nossumideally justify who the intended target audience is somewhere in the 32*60804e58SVegard Nossumchangelog; this way, we ensure that the documentation ends up in the correct 33*60804e58SVegard Nossumplace. Some possible categories are: kernel developers (experts or 34*60804e58SVegard Nossumbeginners), userspace programmers, end users and/or system administrators, 35*60804e58SVegard Nossumand distributors. 36*60804e58SVegard Nossum 3753b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetKey cycle dates 3853b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet--------------- 3953b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 4053b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetPatches can be sent anytime, but response will be slower than usual during 4153b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetthe merge window. The docs tree tends to close late before the merge 4253b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetwindow opens, since the risk of regressions from documentation patches is 4353b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetlow. 4453b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 4553b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetReview cadence 4653b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet-------------- 4753b7f3aaSJonathan Corbet 4853b7f3aaSJonathan CorbetI am the sole maintainer for the documentation subsystem, and I am doing 4953b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetthe work on my own time, so the response to patches will occasionally be 5053b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetslow. I try to always send out a notification when a patch is merged (or 5153b7f3aaSJonathan Corbetwhen I decide that one cannot be). Do not hesitate to send a ping if you 5253b7f3aaSJonathan Corbethave not heard back within a week of sending a patch. 53