From: Borislav Petkov Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2020 13:05:55 +0000 (+0100) Subject: Documentation/submitting-patches: Add blurb about backtraces in commit messages X-Git-Tag: v5.15~1613^2~21 X-Git-Url: http://review.tizen.org/git/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=78f101a1b25848a364c632237ee6a7a6ec468235;p=platform%2Fkernel%2Flinux-starfive.git Documentation/submitting-patches: Add blurb about backtraces in commit messages Document that backtraces in commit messages should be trimmed down to the useful information only. This has been carved out from a tip subsystem handbook patchset by Thomas Gleixner: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20181107171010.421878737@linutronix.de and incorporates follow-on comments. Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet --- diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst index 7f48ccc..8c991c8 100644 --- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst +++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst @@ -684,6 +684,26 @@ generates appropriate diffstats by default.) See more details on the proper patch format in the following references. +Backtraces in commit mesages +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Backtraces help document the call chain leading to a problem. However, +not all backtraces are helpful. For example, early boot call chains are +unique and obvious. Copying the full dmesg output verbatim, however, +adds distracting information like timestamps, module lists, register and +stack dumps. + +Therefore, the most useful backtraces should distill the relevant +information from the dump, which makes it easier to focus on the real +issue. Here is an example of a well-trimmed backtrace:: + + unchecked MSR access error: WRMSR to 0xd51 (tried to write 0x0000000000000064) + at rIP: 0xffffffffae059994 (native_write_msr+0x4/0x20) + Call Trace: + mba_wrmsr + update_domains + rdtgroup_mkdir + .. _explicit_in_reply_to: Explicit In-Reply-To headers