From patchwork Mon Nov 2 11:08:46 2026 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Patchwork-Submitter: Richard Purdie X-Patchwork-Id: 102676 Received: from mail-wm1-f41.google.com (mail-wm1-f41.google.com [209.85.128.41]) by mx.groups.io with SMTP id smtpd.msgproc02-g2.10020.1793617730946311584 for ; Mon, 02 Nov 2026 03:08:51 -0800 Authentication-Results: mx.groups.io; dkim=pass header.i=@linuxfoundation.org header.s=google header.b=PkEGyGM0; spf=pass (domain: linuxfoundation.org, ip: 209.85.128.41, mailfrom: richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org) Received: by mail-wm1-f41.google.com with SMTP id 5b1f17b1804b1-4a35db1f202so30060515e9.3 for ; Mon, 02 Nov 2026 03:08:50 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=linuxfoundation.org; s=google; t=1793617729; x=1794222529; darn=lists.yoctoproject.org; h=content-transfer-encoding:mime-version:message-id:date:subject:to :from:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to:content-type; bh=fP0ocuPRVmeRGUM2m5Up1+tuWbmW9exUXqEfNOQBSfk=; b=PkEGyGM0GRn25jQvKcCJCveNA2KpA5yYwLJcnBOgJ6lEOnE9jY9nz1ia5wYpOYcDKS JEoMLrxURLDbKmhjOSEhdMsJp8aAX6sHj+KLGTGZ/GT9XVtgRhCVAM/GozKjk2990HmY 5OS0XaHTiscX+Kb4c5VfhXQYhodatC1oYA/IM= X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20260707; t=1793617729; x=1794222529; h=content-transfer-encoding:mime-version:message-id:date:subject:to :from:x-gm-gg:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id :reply-to:content-type; bh=fP0ocuPRVmeRGUM2m5Up1+tuWbmW9exUXqEfNOQBSfk=; b=JrekmPRXLweZCni2TEqiNnUmeQLTzWKJHyzu825vvlqPF140yPLxDS2fWmm/vsRnx6 AUveYEEqp+dqcIlr3rkp9MEH645w+FPTTJS13Z/Z2CgUHvDGsKfn6rkLprNsBTX1LYLW Mn8ghjObiY8TBVF7RB3KuUchx18ck1fcEfgArr79HqMr+mOyNLoAoe+8wLq9viQ/QD0x nbOBlFOWHmfqAVegaq3K025H9HK6cD5vl27aLK4Fdu8ADYVkoBBQ+mQuL4pxLhIbwNMa MXzq+UnVNik43RZ3A+eRL+k+6hyD4GaurTo4rlu4/Hs1sLLORO5QnSRcI0PfPaoMTHsb vO4g== X-Gm-Message-State: AFq9FYKDGIGHCjM9rX/r1wNrQsmTw24fMCxR8IuqpEr+UvVv4hLseZi8 uLU7PavWXb27tNU6XpXs4YnfbWMXn7RFE1T0ViFt1ZcUW9JAiUChlTPr+TAQVENke1VyttDR5x3 jARNPJcc= X-Gm-Gg: AYBFou2n2sYFzaqpYM2BOYAkdMgzVItduzcqSVhw8ShLFAghF5F8enb8BRoHXY33s5I clrwEHJH9N5k+6kQlgCrV+h114Tzws5g/RZcbuEnmTIrPklJXwB9Xv1nF78do/LiJUqHNeGn9HX pjmnw6UUzkYIWwyP6WBPRL6HLDIdW9P0TKaIN+ym0HKFwD5cLNKHuBY1z1KWnRl+BwV0zrD3BHG 8CwN570XlpF4Xsw3OrAlzDpu2rGl/QXkDtS+4tJ7W6kzUKXeJI4qLbv+5nmHi/vTi4TEiHSQxhC oMzaFU+XqSJY9ECeKJ3YHbs7fAzTjXhvHTYxQbPY7kTUc4A0OAOIE8KQt82VBh8Ukq1+jZZIyZ6 mliIY7QOGNIwi3RshAMBv0lqcP/g59fN370/X4gRckvijWXkKaTVPlKK+meTfym4hYmptx7qReG UVgoZAPogMWHQNEU9QavgzUDE53x62ELvnS8sEzhNUbBlOtOcf/zf+IPjDi7EvMKWmt55BX11+F V1vI49lqSGAZMb3x3QySz9jjT2VwDnFSlAF1B0adrM7RxxLacnZYGKyYl6J8mwMkg4wcPzmX03C eAb7bQ5b840V2wliBAHHwl0u0AMfOYIBCsU9IfQWjZ+kt+FfiY8jLXX4XDY= X-Received: by 2002:a05:600c:348d:b0:4a1:fbf8:55c9 with SMTP id 5b1f17b1804b1-4ac19234acbmr215454465e9.33.1793617728817; Mon, 02 Nov 2026 03:08:48 -0800 (PST) Return-Path: Received: from max.int.rpsys.net ([2001:8b0:aba:5f3c:a866:4584:45b1:5742]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id ffacd0b85a97d-48e71b9eaeesm19505407f8f.49.2026.11.02.03.08.47 for (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 bits=256/256); Mon, 02 Nov 2026 03:08:48 -0800 (PST) From: Richard Purdie To: docs@lists.yoctoproject.org Subject: [PATCH] ref-manual/faq: Add entry about github pull requests Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2026 11:08:46 +0000 Message-ID: <20261102110847.15588-1-richard.purdie@linuxfoundation.org> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.55.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 List-Id: X-Webhook-Received: from 45-33-107-173.ip.linodeusercontent.com [45.33.107.173] by lin-tor-korg-lkml-alma10-1 with HTTPS for ; Mon, 02 Nov 2026 11:09:01 -0000 X-Groupsio-URL: https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/docs/message/10758 This is an emotive topic but try and fairly document some of the pros and cons of such a model and where they make sense along with why the project has made the decisions it currently has. Signed-off-by: Richard Purdie --- documentation/ref-manual/faq.rst | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+) diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/faq.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/faq.rst index c1657d677..60e89d834 100644 --- a/documentation/ref-manual/faq.rst +++ b/documentation/ref-manual/faq.rst @@ -108,6 +108,34 @@ It is very easy to check whether a patch has merged by looking at the repository pulling and rebasing. +Why doesn't the project use github? +----------------------------------- + +This is not a simple question and there is no right answer to it but there is some +background worth appreciating. + +Some components within the project do accept pull requests from github, others don't. +The README in the component in question should make the process clear for that +component. Github itself is a commercial operation and there are concerns about what +happens if they change direction or decide to to discontinue it as there is precedent in +the past for that kind of thing happening. Equally, there are open alternatives to it. + +The bigger issue is the model. Mailing lists allow for wide peer review. The people +performing that review are extremely valuable with experience built up over decades. +The github model doesn't really lend itself to them being able to easily see or be +aware of changes beyond the maintainer accepting the pull request. That model also +tends to focus on the single maintainer with total authority, which for components +like OE-Core, simply isn't how things operate for us. Moving to much a model would +alienate our existing reviewers and our community consensus approach to changes. + +So yes, for a contributor wanting to make a quick submission, github and similar models +are attractive, but they would likely come at a cost to the project's long term health. +They can work well for the single or limited number of maintainer model, and for components +with the setup, but not for other areas which benefit from wide peer review. We live +in hope that tools can catch up with that, we'd even love to develop them ourselves if +we had time but sadly, we don't at this point. + + Building environment ====================