docs: submitting-patches: Discuss interleaved replies

Top-posting has been strongly discouraged in Linux development, but this
was actually not written anywhere in the common documentation about
sending patches and replying to reviews. Add a section about trimming
and interleaved replies.

Acked-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Reviewed-by: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzysztof.kozlowski@linaro.org>
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230511184131.gonna.399-kees@kernel.org

diff --git a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
index 6a919cf..9ab58a0 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/2.Process.rst
@@ -434,9 +434,10 @@ There are a few hints which can help with linux-kernel survival:
   questions.  Some developers can get impatient with people who clearly
   have not done their homework.
 
-- Avoid top-posting (the practice of putting your answer above the quoted
-  text you are responding to).  It makes your response harder to read and
-  makes a poor impression.
+- Use interleaved ("inline") replies, which makes your response easier to
+  read. (i.e. avoid top-posting -- the practice of putting your answer above
+  the quoted text you are responding to.) For more details, see
+  :ref:`Documentation/process/submittingpatches.rst <interleaved_replies>`.
 
 - Ask on the correct mailing list.  Linux-kernel may be the general meeting
   point, but it is not the best place to find developers from all

diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
index 486875f..efac910 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
@@ -331,6 +331,31 @@ explaining difference against previous submission (see
 See Documentation/process/email-clients.rst for recommendations on email
 clients and mailing list etiquette.
 
+.. _interleaved_replies:
+
+Use trimmed interleaved replies in email discussions
+----------------------------------------------------
+Top-posting is strongly discouraged in Linux kernel development
+discussions. Interleaved (or "inline") replies make conversations much
+easier to follow. For more details see:
+https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
+
+As is frequently quoted on the mailing list::
+
+  A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_post
+  Q: Were do I find info about this thing called top-posting?
+  A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
+  Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
+  A: Top-posting.
+  Q: What is the most annoying thing in e-mail?
+
+Similarly, please trim all unneeded quotations that aren't relevant
+to your reply. This makes responses easier to find, and saves time and
+space. For more details see: http://daringfireball.net/2007/07/on_top ::
+
+  A: No.
+  Q: Should I include quotations after my reply?
+
 .. _resend_reminders:
 
 Don't get discouraged - or impatient