Re: [PATCH] get_maintainer: only use THE REST as a fallback

[Joe Perches]

On Thu, 2026-10-08 at 08:51 -0400, Konstantin Ryabitsev wrote:
> THE REST matches every file in the tree via "F: *" and "F: */", so
> get_maintainer.pl currently adds [linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] every
> patch, regardless of whether the touched files already belong to a
> subsystem with its own mailing list.

Perhaps it's sensible to use a fallback email address only
when get_maintainer produces no email address and remove
the "THE REST" entry altogether.

> Only add THE REST for a file when no other matching section provides a
> mailing list for it. Files that match no section, or only sections
> without an L: entry, still fall back to THE REST, so every patch keeps
> reaching at least one public list.

Public is an interesting word choice.
There are subscriber-only mailing lists that may not be public.

$ git grep -i subscribers-only MAINTAINERS
MAINTAINERS:L:  acrn-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  openwrt-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  ltp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  openvpn-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  linux-parport@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  linuxpps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  pvrusb2@xxxxxxxxx       (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  sdricohcs-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  squashfs-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  tlan-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only)
MAINTAINERS:L:  tomoyo-users_en@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only, English language)
MAINTAINERS:L:  tomoyo-users_ja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (subscribers-only, Japanese language)

If the desire is to provide a [PATCH] only review style list
where lore does not have to send emails to subscribers perhaps
perhap use an aggregating / deduplicating mechanism to lore
for all patches sent to kernel.org.

Though there are what seems to be non-kernel related lists on
lore and that's likely an issue too.