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I am only guessing here, but I assume it's so the content of the mailing list archive remains. If a linked website goes down or changes at any time in the futur

I am only guessing here, but I assume it's so the content of the mailing list archive remains. If a linked website goes down or changes at any time in the future, then that archive is no longer fulfilling its purpose of archiving important information.

zxexz 3y ago
I'm pretty much 100% sure that's the reason, and a good one at that. Mailing lists are the lifeblood of a lot of big open source projects.
sidfthec 3y ago
The irony being that he presumably wants more information on the mailing list to keep a good archive, while not giving enough information for people to understand that and follow the advice later.
kevincox 3y ago
If that was the reason it would have been best to state that in the request. > Can I please just get the detail in mail so that it is archived with the list? Of course you can't expect every email written to be perfect, it is generally treated as an informal medium in these settings. But stating the reason helps people understand your motives and serve them better.
- enedil 3y ago
  I think that hardcode kernel devs already know the reasons, and there is no point in raising it again. For you it might seem like a random requirement, but it's because of lack of familiarity.
  - Szpadel 3y ago
    i think in that case explaination is needed even more, if you are hardcore dev, then no one need to remind you about such rule, on the other hand if you are not so familiar with those rules yet, explanation would be very helpful
- hedora 3y ago
  It was completely obvious to me, and I'm not a Linux committer. Any bug of the form: Hi, I'm sending this via official channels, but see [external thing]. Is going to immediately bitrot. For instance, in stack overflow, for something like 10% of answers, you'll see people saying to explain what a link says instead of just linking.
  - bonzini 3y ago
    That's why you preserve everything that's useful in the commit message for the fix.
cjsawyer 3y ago
This is the same logic in avoiding link-only answers on Stack Overflow. They’re both good rules.
e12e 3y ago
Not only the link itself - but if the email body /attachments contains the details - it is also easier to write a good reply by selectively quoting from the mail. So it isn't just for the first mail, but for the follow-up discussion thread(s).

zxexz 3y ago

I'm pretty much 100% sure that's the reason, and a good one at that. Mailing lists are the lifeblood of a lot of big open source projects.

sidfthec 3y ago

The irony being that he presumably wants more information on the mailing list to keep a good archive, while not giving enough information for people to understand that and follow the advice later.

kevincox 3y ago

If that was the reason it would have been best to state that in the request. > Can I please just get the detail in mail so that it is archived with the list? Of course you can't expect every email written to be perfect, it is generally treated as an informal medium in these settings. But stating the reason helps people understand your motives and serve them better.

enedil 3y ago
I think that hardcode kernel devs already know the reasons, and there is no point in raising it again. For you it might seem like a random requirement, but it's because of lack of familiarity.
- Szpadel 3y ago
  i think in that case explaination is needed even more, if you are hardcore dev, then no one need to remind you about such rule, on the other hand if you are not so familiar with those rules yet, explanation would be very helpful
hedora 3y ago
It was completely obvious to me, and I'm not a Linux committer. Any bug of the form: Hi, I'm sending this via official channels, but see [external thing]. Is going to immediately bitrot. For instance, in stack overflow, for something like 10% of answers, you'll see people saying to explain what a link says instead of just linking.
- bonzini 3y ago
  That's why you preserve everything that's useful in the commit message for the fix.

cjsawyer 3y ago

This is the same logic in avoiding link-only answers on Stack Overflow. They’re both good rules.

e12e 3y ago

Not only the link itself - but if the email body /attachments contains the details - it is also easier to write a good reply by selectively quoting from the mail. So it isn't just for the first mail, but for the follow-up discussion thread(s).