Re: [PATCH] SMP initialization: detection and enumeration

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Hi,

for any patch it’s best to not just show a single large diff but to
split the changes into logically related commits.  You’re probably
working with Git, so the unit that we’re working with is a Git commit.

You should group related changes and commit them together.  The commit
message should describe the changes in a GNU-style ChangeLog format; you
may also add additional descriptions.  Here’s an example:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
kern: Frobnicate the jabberwocky.

In order to frobnicate the jabberwocky without confusion we only add the
core functionality here.

* kern/smp.c, kern/smp.h: New files.
* Makefrag.am (libkernel_a_SOURCES): Add them.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

To commit only some changes and not others you can select lines of
interest with “git add -p” (or similar).  Once all connected changes
have been staged you can commit them.  Do this repeatedly until you have
a series of commits that are all small enough that a reviewer can
understand them (and thus your thinking) at a glance.

You can then turn that series of commits into a series of patches with
“git format-patch”.  For example, “git format-patch -10” will generate
10 patch files from the last 10 commits.  You can attach these patches
to an email, or if you have configured “git send-email” correctly you
could send them directly via email to this list.  A reviewer can then
comment on each commit individually and apply them one by one if they
pass muster.

(This process is similar for most GNU packages.)

Hope this helps!

-- 
Ricardo