1Everything you ever wanted to know about Linux -stable releases.
  2
  3Rules on what kind of patches are accepted, and which ones are not, into the
  4"-stable" tree:
  5
  6 - It must be obviously correct and tested.
  7 - It cannot be bigger than 100 lines, with context.
  8 - It must fix only one thing.
  9 - It must fix a real bug that bothers people (not a, "This could be a
 10   problem..." type thing).
 11 - It must fix a problem that causes a build error (but not for things
 12   marked CONFIG_BROKEN), an oops, a hang, data corruption, a real
 13   security issue, or some "oh, that's not good" issue.  In short, something
 14   critical.
 15 - Serious issues as reported by a user of a distribution kernel may also
 16   be considered if they fix a notable performance or interactivity issue.
 17   As these fixes are not as obvious and have a higher risk of a subtle
 18   regression they should only be submitted by a distribution kernel
 19   maintainer and include an addendum linking to a bugzilla entry if it
 20   exists and additional information on the user-visible impact.
 21 - New device IDs and quirks are also accepted.
 22 - No "theoretical race condition" issues, unless an explanation of how the
 23   race can be exploited is also provided.
 24 - It cannot contain any "trivial" fixes in it (spelling changes,
 25   whitespace cleanups, etc).
 26 - It must follow the Documentation/SubmittingPatches rules.
 27 - It or an equivalent fix must already exist in Linus' tree (upstream).
 28
 29
 30Procedure for submitting patches to the -stable tree:
 31
 32 - If the patch covers files in net/ or drivers/net please follow netdev stable
 33   submission guidelines as described in
 34   Documentation/networking/netdev-FAQ.txt
 35 - Security patches should not be handled (solely) by the -stable review
 36   process but should follow the procedures in Documentation/SecurityBugs.
 37
 38For all other submissions, choose one of the following procedures:
 39
 40   --- Option 1 ---
 41
 42   To have the patch automatically included in the stable tree, add the tag
 43     Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
 44   in the sign-off area. Once the patch is merged it will be applied to
 45   the stable tree without anything else needing to be done by the author
 46   or subsystem maintainer.
 47
 48   --- Option 2 ---
 49
 50   After the patch has been merged to Linus' tree, send an email to
 51   stable@vger.kernel.org containing the subject of the patch, the commit ID,
 52   why you think it should be applied, and what kernel version you wish it to
 53   be applied to.
 54
 55   --- Option 3 ---
 56
 57   Send the patch, after verifying that it follows the above rules, to
 58   stable@vger.kernel.org.  You must note the upstream commit ID in the
 59   changelog of your submission, as well as the kernel version you wish
 60   it to be applied to.
 61
 62Option 1 is *strongly* preferred, is the easiest and most common.  Options 2 and
 633 are more useful if the patch isn't deemed worthy at the time it is applied to
 64a public git tree (for instance, because it deserves more regression testing
 65first).  Option 3 is especially useful if the patch needs some special handling
 66to apply to an older kernel (e.g., if API's have changed in the meantime).
 67
 68Note that for Option 3, if the patch deviates from the original upstream patch
 69(for example because it had to be backported) this must be very clearly
 70documented and justified in the patch description.
 71
 72The upstream commit ID must be specified with a separate line above the commit
 73text, like this:
 74
 75    commit <sha1> upstream.
 76
 77Additionally, some patches submitted via Option 1 may have additional patch
 78prerequisites which can be cherry-picked. This can be specified in the following
 79format in the sign-off area:
 80
 81     Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x: a1f84a3: sched: Check for idle
 82     Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x: 1b9508f: sched: Rate-limit newidle
 83     Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x: fd21073: sched: Fix affinity logic
 84     Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x
 85    Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
 86
 87   The tag sequence has the meaning of:
 88     git cherry-pick a1f84a3
 89     git cherry-pick 1b9508f
 90     git cherry-pick fd21073
 91     git cherry-pick <this commit>
 92
 93Also, some patches may have kernel version prerequisites.  This can be
 94specified in the following format in the sign-off area:
 95
 96     Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.3.x-
 97
 98   The tag has the meaning of:
 99     git cherry-pick <this commit>
100
101   For each "-stable" tree starting with the specified version.
102
103Following the submission:
104
105 - The sender will receive an ACK when the patch has been accepted into the
106   queue, or a NAK if the patch is rejected.  This response might take a few
107   days, according to the developer's schedules.
108 - If accepted, the patch will be added to the -stable queue, for review by
109   other developers and by the relevant subsystem maintainer.
110
111
112Review cycle:
113
114 - When the -stable maintainers decide for a review cycle, the patches will be
115   sent to the review committee, and the maintainer of the affected area of
116   the patch (unless the submitter is the maintainer of the area) and CC: to
117   the linux-kernel mailing list.
118 - The review committee has 48 hours in which to ACK or NAK the patch.
119 - If the patch is rejected by a member of the committee, or linux-kernel
120   members object to the patch, bringing up issues that the maintainers and
121   members did not realize, the patch will be dropped from the queue.
122 - At the end of the review cycle, the ACKed patches will be added to the
123   latest -stable release, and a new -stable release will happen.
124 - Security patches will be accepted into the -stable tree directly from the
125   security kernel team, and not go through the normal review cycle.
126   Contact the kernel security team for more details on this procedure.
127
128Trees:
129
130 - The queues of patches, for both completed versions and in progress
131   versions can be found at:
132	http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue.git
133 - The finalized and tagged releases of all stable kernels can be found
134   in separate branches per version at:
135	http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git
136
137
138Review committee:
139
140 - This is made up of a number of kernel developers who have volunteered for
141   this task, and a few that haven't.