Thread (21 messages) 21 messages, 6 authors, 3d ago

Re: [PATCH 2/6] MyFirstContribution: what if I don't get a reply?

From: Patrick Steinhardt <hidden>
Date: 2026-07-17 11:12:11

On Sat, Jul 11, 2026 at 12:26:46PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
Tell readers that pinging is a perfectly sensible thing to do when
they do not see a response.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <redacted>
---
 Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc | 13 +++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)
diff --git a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
index 4832e5bad5..fc2ce2e785 100644
--- a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
@@ -1438,6 +1438,19 @@ substantial rework, and mention which parts of the current series will become
 obsolete so reviewers can avoid spending time on them until the updated series
 is ready.
 
+=== What if I don't get a reply?
+
+If you don't receive any review comments after a week or two, do not
+assume your patch has been accepted or merged.  In the Git project,
+silence does not equal approval.  It usually means reviewers are busy
+or haven't noticed your contribution.
Should we also add the third reason: reviewers are simply not interested
in the patch? It's a bit brutal, but that's quite a common reason, too.
In the best case we'd of course tell the submitter that we don't want
the patch to not leave them hanging.
+If your patch is overlooked, it is perfectly acceptable to send a
+polite ping to the thread.  You can do this by replying to your own
+cover letter (or patch) to ask if anyone has had a chance to look at
+it.  You can also CC additional people who might be interested; use
+the `git-contacts` script (mentioned earlier) to find relevant contributors.
And this paragraph here can remain as-is regardless of which of the
three reasons applies.

Patrick
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