Submitting Patches

Patches should be generated as described in the previous section. If the patch touches a specific driver or subsystem, the patch should be sent to the maintainer listed in MAINTAINER. Either way, the Linux Kernel Mailing List at linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org should be carbon copied. The patch should be sent to the kernel maintainer (for example, Linus) only after extensive discussion, or if the patch is trivial and clearly correct.

Typically, the subject line of the email containing the patch is of the form "[PATCH] brief description." The body of the email describes in technical detail the changes your patch makes and the rationale behind them. Be as specific as possible. Somewhere in the email, note the kernel version against which the patch was created.

Most kernel developers want to be able to read your patch inline with your email and optionally save the whole thing to a single file. Consequently, it is best to insert the patch directly inline in the email, at the end of your message. Be aware that some evil email clients might wrap lines or otherwise change formatting; this will break the patch and annoy developers. If your email client does this, see whether it has an "Insert Inline," "Preformat," or similar feature. Otherwise, attaching the patch as plain text without encoding works, too.

If your patch is large or contains several logical changes, you should break the patch into chunks, with each chunk representing a logical change. For example, if you both introduce a new API and change a handful of drivers to use it, you can break the changes into two patches (the new API and then the driver changeover) and two emails. If any chunk requires a previous patch, explicitly state that.

After posting, remain patient and wait for a reply. Do not be discouraged by any negative responseat least you got a response! Discuss the issues and provide updated patches as needed. If you fail to receive any response, try to discover what was wrong and resolve the issues. Solicit additional comments from the mailing list and maintainer. With luck, you may see your changes in the next kernel releasecongratulations!