On pull request workflows for the GNU toolchain

[Joseph Myers]

On Fri, 20 Sep 2024, Matt Rice via Gcc wrote:

> To me though it is nice being able to edit the PR cover letter
> directly in the editor, and do the pull-request using command line
> tools.

In the common case of a single-commit PR without dependencies, it seems 
reasonable to follow the practice that the commit message for the commit 
pushed (to a branch from which the PR is created) is the same as the cover 
letter / PR description (modulo any lines after "---" only being cover 
letter text not intended to go in the final commit on mainline if the PR 
is merged).

Having the ability to create a PR from the command line is desirable - 
it's one part of having a sufficient API (indeed, if cron jobs that commit 
do so via PRs that they self-merge rather than by direct pushes, they'll 
need such an API).  For people not wanting to install extra tools to 
contribute, the web interface for creating a PR is also important.

For people without write access to the main repository to make PRs, the 
"fork the repository and push to a branch in your fork" functionality of 
forges is necessary, just as people can send a patch to the mailing lists 
without having write access.  (And quite likely such forks would be the 
norm for people creating PRs even when they do have write access.)

-- 
Joseph S. Myers
josmyers@redhat.com