this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Programming
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... if you have a super janky patch file workflow.
If you are using Git like normal people do this can't happen.
The Linux kernel development workflow, the purpose for which git was invented, makes use of emailed patches https://docs.kernel.org/process/submitting-patches.html
I haven't heard of any projects but Linux and Git itself using this.
Sourcehut uses it, it's actually the only way to interact with repos hosted on it.
It definitely feels outdated, yet it's also how git is designed to work well with. Like git makes it really easy to re-write commit history, while also warning you not to force push re-written history to a public repo (Like e.g. a PR), that's because none of that is an issue with the email workflow, where each email is always an entirely isolated new commit.
I haven't heard of anyone using Soucehut. (I guess Soucehut itself counts though.)
That's what patch was made for (see comment with the definition).
… which arguably makes them not "normal people" (referring to the earlier comment).
Surely, most people use different, more integrated tooling.
Yeah it's mad. Tbh I don't think GitHub PRs are the best workflow, but I absolutely know that
git send-emailis the worst. I tried to use it once to contribute to OpenSBI, which inexplicably also insists on it. Suffice it to say my patch was never merged...Why didn't your patch get merged?
They wanted me to make some changes and with the normal workflow that's just
git commitandgit push. Withgit send-emailI have no fucking idea and it got beyond the point where I had enough cared enough to fight the process.I would have thought that you fix it locally, git commit, and regenerate the patch set again. Maybe with optional squashing of commits so each patch set doesn't keep growing.
Oh I see! Thanks. I thought that they deliberately rejected your patch. But it was more about the red tape getting in the way. Yeah, that sounds frustrating.