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authorBorislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>2020-12-22 14:05:55 +0100
committerJonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>2021-02-04 14:18:35 -0700
commit78f101a1b25848a364c632237ee6a7a6ec468235 (patch)
tree0f255178e2866a6a1b1ca3ec08643b8ea72b11a5 /Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
parent4217e5074f33d855873370378d427e329b60a7b4 (diff)
downloadlinux-78f101a1b25848a364c632237ee6a7a6ec468235.tar.bz2
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 <bp@suse.de> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
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diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
index 7f48cccc75cd..8c991c863628 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
+
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