From patchwork Wed May 12 03:18:21 2021 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Patchwork-Submitter: Dave Huseby X-Patchwork-Id: 12252607 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-18.8 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,INCLUDES_CR_TRAILER, INCLUDES_PATCH,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,SPF_HELO_NONE,SPF_PASS,USER_AGENT_GIT autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.0 Received: from mail.kernel.org (mail.kernel.org [198.145.29.99]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 256D4C433ED for ; Wed, 12 May 2021 03:18:53 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vger.kernel.org (vger.kernel.org [23.128.96.18]) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E38376121F for ; Wed, 12 May 2021 03:18:52 +0000 (UTC) Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S229964AbhELDT7 (ORCPT ); Tue, 11 May 2021 23:19:59 -0400 Received: from out3-smtp.messagingengine.com ([66.111.4.27]:33083 "EHLO out3-smtp.messagingengine.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S230002AbhELDT6 (ORCPT ); Tue, 11 May 2021 23:19:58 -0400 Received: from compute3.internal (compute3.nyi.internal [10.202.2.43]) by mailout.nyi.internal (Postfix) with ESMTP id AF3E95C018A; Tue, 11 May 2021 23:18:50 -0400 (EDT) Received: from mailfrontend2 ([10.202.2.163]) by compute3.internal (MEProxy); Tue, 11 May 2021 23:18:50 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d= linuxprogrammer.org; h=from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id :in-reply-to:references:mime-version:content-transfer-encoding; s=fm3; bh=03xEK805Gh390KotxaDRYZEMVByqjvtRyEYw6anFlrM=; b=QWI7n tnP0YnG2muqGLwXe6nWWT/PV71eBdU3megn+tniZAybH0bjDzse3eEmvSLdtTika C55fVkJrZ86Nt+2j/Rmxw2VTo/cXugxX4MMLsjGLBrtTSNJl5JBd8Z6YU3CA5WzY FgG8/8lPz6GPAamHqeR9R0/gO350ujqrFzvzK2uTqp/LpUV4uTMFg0OuaO8I1rjJ DyjlgSFZVOzNkuLDUncIL7gUuO4baqiFqyoiVqhemCft3GAeKiqT6rgTTNfaR4Z3 QqfjMYPF3VhCMdRSutrnzczULyvVpJuKNU9m9Rg+oryD7XwomEIBYPzPtTkmcGIE 4MJ06i4y/hMP9MMNw== DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d= messagingengine.com; h=cc:content-transfer-encoding:date:from :in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version:references:subject:to :x-me-proxy:x-me-proxy:x-me-sender:x-me-sender:x-sasl-enc; s= fm2; bh=03xEK805Gh390KotxaDRYZEMVByqjvtRyEYw6anFlrM=; b=kcZQflZs KRgca3wFv1mC7FIoGOtBSz/yNWH2yGGF0tdEo1D3AECK60PgxHnv5VFc4IxOxIPl Fo+JY7nOQ6DJQ6TFNo/z0ckBRlsJgPHqxY9zJvA3qxLOC4rFZcssQAMGdt0Ikxfw +ItFilM/W54+yPKZTYLXpgy569xCwFvHY0LFYbFJl6KYOVBqCrNf2efLRiOnQFnh n9bhX6kygQluHxHEenAGLjOl+o+mmCjJN+oDAGqmUeE29pOzgwq7JzhSa4OhvYTs Vrmda7zQYwleZyY1sLXAKu5WRPtV0sYORTZC56jsD+/azMhZFu14sAV/CzB/dQ5b m3lHLa7pCa2EUw== X-ME-Sender: X-ME-Proxy-Cause: gggruggvucftvghtrhhoucdtuddrgeduledrvdehuddgieelucetufdoteggodetrfdotf fvucfrrhhofhhilhgvmecuhfgrshhtofgrihhlpdfqfgfvpdfurfetoffkrfgpnffqhgen uceurghilhhouhhtmecufedttdenucenucfjughrpefhvffufffkofgjfhgggfestdekre dtredttdenucfhrhhomhepffgrvhgvucfjuhhsvggshicuoegufihhsehlihhnuhigphhr ohhgrhgrmhhmvghrrdhorhhgqeenucggtffrrghtthgvrhhnpeejheegiefhhfdukeeite fgvdevieeigffgfefhleejvdefheekfeehffdvgfdvhfenucfkphepudejgedrhedvrddu hedrfeejnecuvehluhhsthgvrhfuihiivgeptdenucfrrghrrghmpehmrghilhhfrhhomh epugifhheslhhinhhugihprhhoghhrrghmmhgvrhdrohhrgh X-ME-Proxy: Received: from linuxprogrammer.org (c-174-52-15-37.hsd1.ut.comcast.net [174.52.15.37]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPA; Tue, 11 May 2021 23:18:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Dave Huseby To: git@vger.kernel.org Cc: christian.couder@gmail.com, felipe.contreras@gmail.com, gitster@pobox.com, stefanmoch@mail.de Subject: [PATCH v2] Writing down mail list etiquette. Date: Tue, 11 May 2021 20:18:21 -0700 Message-Id: <20210512031821.6498-2-dwh@linuxprogrammer.org> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.20.1 In-Reply-To: <20210512031821.6498-1-dwh@linuxprogrammer.org> References: <20210512025447.6068-1-dwh@linuxprogrammer.org> <20210512031821.6498-1-dwh@linuxprogrammer.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org After violating a few unspoken etiquette rules that were spotted by Christian Couder , Filipe Contreras suggested that somebody write a guide. Since I was the latest cause of this perenial discussion, I took it upon myself to learn from my mistakes and document the fixes. Thanks to Junio for providing links to similar discussions in the past and Stefan Moch for pointing out where the related documentation already existed in the tree. Signed-off-by: Dave Huseby --- Documentation/MailingListEtiquette.txt | 125 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 125 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/MailingListEtiquette.txt diff --git a/Documentation/MailingListEtiquette.txt b/Documentation/MailingListEtiquette.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..9da2d490aa --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/MailingListEtiquette.txt @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +Mailing List Etiquette +====================== + +[[introduction]] +== Introduction + +Open source, community projects such as Git use a mailing list and email to +coordinate development and to submit patches for review. This article documents +the unspoken rules and etiquette for the proper way to send email to the +mailing list. What follows are considered best practices to follow. + +If you are looking for details on how to submit a patch, that is documented +elsewhere in: + +- `Documentation/SubmittingPatches` +- `Documentation/MyFirstContribution.txt` + +[[proper-use-of-to-and-cc]] +== Proper Use of To and Cc + +When starting a new email thread that is not directed at any specific person, +put the mailing list address in the "To:" field, otherwise address it to the +person and put the mailing list address in the "Cc:" field. + +When replying to an email on the mailing list, put the person you are replying +to in the "To:" field and all other people in the thread in the "Cc:" field, +including the mailing list address. + +Make sure to keep everyone involved in the "Cc:" field so that they do not have +to be subscribed to the mailing list to receive replies. + +[[do-not-use-mail-followup-to]] +== Do Not Use Mail-Followup-To + +When posting to the mailing list, your email client might add a +"Mail-Followup-To:" field which contains all of the recipients, including the +mailing list address, but not the sender's email address. This is intended to +prevent the sender from receiving replies twice, once from the replying person +and again from the mailing list. + +This goes directly against the desired "To:" and "Cc:" etiquette (see "Proper +Use of To and Cc" above). Most users want to use "group reply" or "Reply to +all" in their mail client and create a reply email that is sent directly to +author of the email they are replying to with all other recipients, as well as +the mailing list address, in the "Cc:" field. + +The proper thing to do is to never use the "Mail-Followup-To:" field as well as +disable honoring any "Mail-Followup-To:" fields in any emails you reply to. +Some email clients come with both enabled by default. Mutt is like this (see +Disable Mail-Followup-To in the Mutt section below). + +[[enable-plain-text-mode]] +== Enable Plain Text Mode + +Most email clients automatically reject mailing list email if it is not a +text/plain formatted email. For that reason, it is important that your email +client is set to create text/plain emails instead of text/enriched or +text/html email. + +[[patches-that-receive-no-response]] + +From Junio's notes from the maintainer: + +> If you sent a patch and you did not hear any response from anybody for +> several days, it could be that your patch was totally uninteresting, +> but it also is possible that it was simply lost in the noise. Please +> do not hesitate to send a reminder message in such a case. Messages +> getting lost in the noise may be a sign that those who can evaluate +> your patch don't have enough mental/time bandwidth to process them +> right at the moment, and it often helps to wait until the list traffic +> becomes calmer before sending such a reminder. + +[[send-merge-ready-patches-to-the-maintainer]] +== Send Merge-Ready Patches to the Maintainer + +Once a patch has achieved consensus and all stakeholders are staisfied and +everything is ready for merging, then you send it to the maintainer: "To: +gitster@pobox.com". + +[[mutt-config]] +== Mutt Config + +This section has suggestions for how to set up Mutt to be polite. + +[[known-mailing-lists]] +=== Known Mailing Lists + +Mutt has the ability to change its behavior when replying to a mailing list. For +Mutt to know when an address is a mailing list, use the `subscribe` keyword in +your Mutt configuration: + +**~/.muttrc:** +``` +# tell Mutt about the Git mailing list +subscribe git@vger.kernel.org +``` + +[[reply-properly]] +=== Reply Properly + +By default, Mutt uses the 'g' and 'L' hotkeys to execute a "group reply" or +"list reply" respectively. A "group reply" creates an email addressed to the +sender with all other recipients in the "Cc". A "list reply" starts an email +addressed only to the mailing list without anybody else as "Cc". + +Per rule X, Y, and Z above, using "group reply" in Mutt is what you want to do. + +[[disable-mail-followup-to]] +=== Disable Mail-Followup-To + +By default, when replying to mailing lists, Mutt will automatically generate +"Mail-Followup-To" headers. To fix this, disable the generation of the header +in your Mutt configuration. It is also a good idea to disable honoring any +"Mail-Followup-To" headers so that any "group reply" operations are correctly +addressed. + +**~/.muttrc:** +``` +# disable Mail-Followup-To header +unset followup_to + +# disable honoring Mail-Followup-To header +unset honor_followup_to +``` +