change five years from now.
If related discussions or any other background information behind the change
-can be found on the web, add 'Link:' tags pointing to it. In case your patch
-fixes a bug, for example, add a tag with a URL referencing the report in the
-mailing list archives or a bug tracker; if the patch is a result of some
-earlier mailing list discussion or something documented on the web, point to
-it.
+can be found on the web, add 'Link:' tags pointing to it. If the patch is a
+result of some earlier mailing list discussions or something documented on the
+web, point to it.
When linking to mailing list archives, preferably use the lore.kernel.org
message archiver service. To create the link URL, use the contents of the
summarize the relevant points of the discussion that led to the
patch as submitted.
+In case your patch fixes a bug, use the 'Closes:' tag with a URL referencing
+the report in the mailing list archives or a public bug tracker. For example::
+
+ Closes: https://example.com/issues/1234
+
+Some bug trackers have the ability to close issues automatically when a
+commit with such a tag is applied. Some bots monitoring mailing lists can
+also track such tags and take certain actions. Private bug trackers and
+invalid URLs are forbidden.
+
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. Do not split the tag across multiple
The Reported-by tag gives credit to people who find bugs and report them and it
hopefully inspires them to help us again in the future. The tag is intended for
bugs; please do not use it to credit feature requests. The tag should be
-followed by a Link: tag pointing to the report, unless the report is not
-available on the web. Please note that if the bug was reported in private, then
-ask for permission first before using the Reported-by tag.
+followed by a Closes: tag pointing to the report, unless the report is not
+available on the web. The Link: tag can be used instead of Closes: if the patch
+fixes a part of the issue(s) being reported. Please note that if the bug was
+reported in private, then ask for permission first before using the Reported-by
+tag.
A Tested-by: tag indicates that the patch has been successfully tested (in
some environment) by the person named. This tag informs maintainers that