[PATCH 3/6] MyFirstContribution: carrying over trailers

From

Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

Date

Jul 11, 2026, 19:26 UTC

Message-ID

<20260711192650.2417665-4-gitster@pobox.com>

In-Reply-To

<20260711192650.2417665-1-gitster@pobox.com>

Document how this procedure works and how it helps the maintainer.

Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
---
 Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
index fc2ce2e785..988f0d4fba 100644
--- a/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/MyFirstContribution.adoc
@@ -1509,6 +1509,28 @@ changing history, but since it's local history which you haven't shared with
 anyone, that is okay for now! (Later, it may not make sense to do this; take a
 look at the section below this one for some context.)
 
+=== Handling trailers in subsequent versions
+
+If a reviewer replies with an `Acked-by: Real Name <email>` trailer,
+carry it forward when preparing v2:
+
+- If your v2 changes are minor (e.g., fixing typos or making small
+  style tweaks) and do not affect the reviewed logic, add their
+  trailer to the commit message of the updated patch.  This lets the
+  maintainer know that the patch has received favorable review.
+
+- If your v2 contains significant logic changes or rewrites to address
+  feedback, do *not* carry over the trailer, as the reviewer has not
+  seen the new logic yet.  Mention in your cover letter that you made
+  changes that require re-review.
+
+The rule for the `Reviewed-by:` trailer is more strict: you generally
+should not carry it over to a new iteration unless you are resending
+the patch without any change.  For example, a new iteration of a patch
+series might update other patches while leaving the reviewed patch
+that received the `Reviewed-by:` trailer untouched.
+
+
 [[after-approval]]
 === After Review Approval
 

-- 
2.55.0-391-gdf86bf5712