docs: submitting-patches: clarify that signers may use their discretion on tags

Tags are really appreciated by maintainers in general, since it means
someone is willing to put their name on a commit, be it as a reviewer,
tester, etc.

However, signers (i.e. submitters carrying tags from previous versions
and maintainers applying patches) may need to take or drop tags, on a
case-by-case basis, for different reasons.

Yet this is not explicitly spelled out in the documentation, thus there
may be instances [1] where contributors may feel unwelcome.

Thus, to clarify, state this clearly.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/rust-for-linux/CAEg-Je-h4NitWb2ErFGCOqt0KQfXuyKWLhpnNHCdRzZdxi018Q@mail.gmail.com/
Suggested-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com>
Acked-by: Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>
Acked-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Miguel Ojeda <ojeda@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Acked-by: Krzysztof Kozlowski <krzk@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250112152946.761150-4-ojeda@kernel.org

diff --git a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
index 1a161c092df78104310d9add5f3be3db971f0014..8fdc0ef3e604f4cc012bdd4556b98ae080f132dd 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
@@ -614,6 +614,10 @@ process nor the requirement to Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org on all stable
 patch candidates. For more information, please read
 Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst.
 
+Finally, while providing tags is welcome and typically very appreciated, please
+note that signers (i.e. submitters and maintainers) may use their discretion in
+applying offered tags.
+
 .. _the_canonical_patch_format:
 
 The canonical patch format