Documentation subsystem maintainer entry profile¶
The documentation “subsystem” is the central coordinating point for the kernel’s documentation and associated infrastructure. It covers the hierarchy under Documentation/ (with the exception of Documentation/devicetree), various utilities under scripts/ and, at least some of the time, LICENSES/.
It’s worth noting, though, that the boundaries of this subsystem are rather fuzzier than normal. Many other subsystem maintainers like to keep control of portions of Documentation/, and many more freely apply changes there when it is convenient. Beyond that, much of the kernel’s documentation is found in the source as kerneldoc comments; those are usually (but not always) maintained by the relevant subsystem maintainer.
The mailing list for documentation is linux-doc@vger.kernel.org. Patches should be made against the docs-next tree whenever possible.
Submit checklist addendum¶
When making documentation changes, you should actually build the documentation and ensure that no new errors or warnings have been introduced. Generating HTML documents and looking at the result will help to avoid unsightly misunderstandings about how things will be rendered.
All new documentation (including additions to existing documents) should ideally justify who the intended target audience is somewhere in the changelog; this way, we ensure that the documentation ends up in the correct place. Some possible categories are: kernel developers (experts or beginners), userspace programmers, end users and/or system administrators, and distributors.
Key cycle dates¶
Patches can be sent anytime, but response will be slower than usual during the merge window. The docs tree tends to close late before the merge window opens, since the risk of regressions from documentation patches is low.
Review cadence¶
I am the sole maintainer for the documentation subsystem, and I am doing the work on my own time, so the response to patches will occasionally be slow. I try to always send out a notification when a patch is merged (or when I decide that one cannot be). Do not hesitate to send a ping if you have not heard back within a week of sending a patch.