Existing patches of similar content

[Alison Schofield]

On Sun, Sep 07, 2025 at 06:57:02PM +0000, Torin Carey wrote:
> Hi KernelNewbies,
> 
> Apologies if this is a stupid question.
> 
> I was finishing up on a patch to add a new (fairly small) feature to an existing driver.  While looking at the archives for the relevant mailing list, I noticed another contributor had submitted a patch to add the exact same feature just under a year ago, but the thread seems to have gone stale.  I believe there are some bits that were missing from this patch in terms of correctness.
> 
> What's the usual etiquette to approach this situation? I could:
> 1. submit my patch for review anyway; or
> 2. resurrect this thread providing a review for it along with the additions I think might be necessary; or
> 3. a combination of both?

Kudo's to you for asking and for looking through the lore history of your
subsystem and finding the history of this feature.

There's a lot of variability in lore mailing lists, reviewers, and maintainers
responsiveness, so to be generic, I'll suggest your #2 option. Reply to the
patch, show what you'd like to change, and see what happens.

Maybe you breathe new life into it, the original author picks up your changes,
and the feature moves forward.

Maybe the original author acknowledges your changes and asks you to pick it up
and carry it forward.

Maybe crickets, in which case you can submit a new patch, probably with a tag
'Originally-by:' or 'Co-developed-by'.

BTW if you do pick it up, make sure to address any concerns raised with the
original patch.

Good Luck,
Alison

> 
> ---
> Torin
> 
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