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+.. _maintainerentryprofile:
+
+Maintainer Entry Profile
+========================
+
+The Maintainer Entry Profile supplements the top-level process documents
+(submitting-patches, submitting drivers...) with
+subsystem/device-driver-local customs as well as details about the patch
+submission life-cycle. A contributor uses this document to level set
+their expectations and avoid common mistakes; maintainers may use these
+profiles to look across subsystems for opportunities to converge on
+common practices.
+
+
+Overview
+--------
+Provide an introduction to how the subsystem operates. While MAINTAINERS
+tells the contributor where to send patches for which files, it does not
+convey other subsystem-local infrastructure and mechanisms that aid
+development.
+
+Example questions to consider:
+
+- Are there notifications when patches are applied to the local tree, or
+ merged upstream?
+- Does the subsystem have a patchwork instance? Are patchwork state
+ changes notified?
+- Any bots or CI infrastructure that watches the list, or automated
+ testing feedback that the subsystem uses to gate acceptance?
+- Git branches that are pulled into -next?
+- What branch should contributors submit against?
+- Links to any other Maintainer Entry Profiles? For example a
+ device-driver may point to an entry for its parent subsystem. This makes
+ the contributor aware of obligations a maintainer may have for
+ other maintainers in the submission chain.
+
+
+Submit Checklist Addendum
+-------------------------
+List mandatory and advisory criteria, beyond the common "submit-checklist",
+for a patch to be considered healthy enough for maintainer attention.
+For example: "pass checkpatch.pl with no errors, or warning. Pass the
+unit test detailed at $URI".
+
+The Submit Checklist Addendum can also include details about the status
+of related hardware specifications. For example, does the subsystem
+require published specifications at a certain revision before patches
+will be considered.
+
+
+Key Cycle Dates
+---------------
+One of the common misunderstandings of submitters is that patches can be
+sent at any time before the merge window closes and can still be
+considered for the next -rc1. The reality is that most patches need to
+be settled in soaking in linux-next in advance of the merge window
+opening. Clarify for the submitter the key dates (in terms of -rc release
+week) that patches might be considered for merging and when patches need to
+wait for the next -rc. At a minimum:
+
+- Last -rc for new feature submissions:
+ New feature submissions targeting the next merge window should have
+ their first posting for consideration before this point. Patches that
+ are submitted after this point should be clear that they are targeting
+ the NEXT+1 merge window, or should come with sufficient justification
+ why they should be considered on an expedited schedule. A general
+ guideline is to set expectation with contributors that new feature
+ submissions should appear before -rc5.
+
+- Last -rc to merge features: Deadline for merge decisions
+ Indicate to contributors the point at which an as yet un-applied patch
+ set will need to wait for the NEXT+1 merge window. Of course there is no
+ obligation to ever accept any given patchset, but if the review has not
+ concluded by this point the expectation is the contributor should wait and
+ resubmit for the following merge window.
+
+Optional:
+
+- First -rc at which the development baseline branch, listed in the
+ overview section, should be considered ready for new submissions.
+
+
+Review Cadence
+--------------
+One of the largest sources of contributor angst is how soon to ping
+after a patchset has been posted without receiving any feedback. In
+addition to specifying how long to wait before a resubmission this
+section can also indicate a preferred style of update like, resend the
+full series, or privately send a reminder email. This section might also
+list how review works for this code area and methods to get feedback
+that are not directly from the maintainer.
+
+Existing profiles
+-----------------
+
+For now, existing maintainer profiles are listed here; we will likely want
+to do something different in the near future.
+
+.. toctree::
+ :maxdepth: 1
+
+ ../doc-guide/maintainer-profile
+ ../nvdimm/maintainer-entry-profile
+ ../riscv/patch-acceptance
+ ../driver-api/media/maintainer-entry-profile
+ ../driver-api/vfio-pci-device-specific-driver-acceptance
+ ../nvme/feature-and-quirk-policy
+ ../filesystems/xfs-maintainer-entry-profile