[etherlab-dev] Pre-announcement: unofficial patchset update

[Gavin Lambert]

Hi all,

I've recently been doing some more work on my local Etherlab-related code,
and as a result I'm planning to "shortly" (by which I mean still probably a
few weeks away) release a new version of my default-branch unofficial
patchset.

I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know in advance both to
gather any new patches people might want to add (or feedback on or suggested
changes to existing patches), but also since this is the first update since
publishing it as a repository I'd like to know people's preferences with
regard to re-ordering patches from the existing set.  For example, I could:

1. Retain existing patches exactly as is (barring fuzz updates) and only add
new patches (modifications to existing patches are added as a new patch).
2. Retain existing patches with the same numbering but allow both new
patches (with strictly higher numbers) and modifying existing patches.
3. Renumber existing patches as needed to insert new patches in a logical
place (either grouping patches by related function or putting the simplest
patches first so they have fewer dependencies and are thus hopefully easier
to get included into upstream).
4. Abandon the idea of numbered patches entirely and just rely on consistent
names plus the series file to maintain order.  (Thus also allowing new
patches to be inserted wherever seems sensible.)

If I don't get any feedback, I'm probably inclined towards #3 at this point,
but I might go to #4 if it looks tricky to maintain patch history properly
with #3.  I could be persuaded towards #2 (though it's not my preference)
but am disinclined towards #1.  Or maybe there's some alternate method I
haven't considered.

I might see if I can group related patches into subdirectories -- I know
quilt/Debian patchsets support this, though I'm not sure about HG patchsets.

(FYI, I've already made a note of the patch updates Knud Baastrup submitted
in December, and a few other patches posted to the list since then, though I
haven't integrated them yet.)

Regards,
Gavin Lambert