docs: *-regressions.rst: explain how quickly issues should be handled

Add a section with a few rules of thumb about how
quickly developers should address regressions to
Documentation/process/handling-regressions.rst; additionally,
add a short paragraph about this to the companion document
Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst as well.

The rules of thumb were written after studying the quotes from Linus
found in handling-regressions.rst and especially influenced by
statements like "Users are literally the _only_ thing that matters" and
"without users, your program is not a program, it's a pointless piece of
code that you might as well throw away". The author interpreted those in
perspective to how the various Linux kernel series are maintained
currently and what those practices might mean for users running into a
regression on a small or big kernel update.

That for example lead to the paragraph starting with "Aim to get fixes
for regressions mainlined within one week after identifying the culprit,
if the regression was introduced in a stable/longterm release or the
devel cycle for the latest mainline release". Some might see this as
pretty high bar, but on the other hand something like that is needed to
not leave users out in the cold for too long -- which can quickly happen
when updating to the latest stable series, as the previous one is
normally stamped "End of Life" about three or four weeks after a new
mainline release. This makes a lot of users switch during this
timeframe. Any of them thus risk running into regressions not promptly
fixed; even worse, once the previous stable series is EOLed for real,
users that face a regression might be left with only three options:

 (1) continue running an outdated and thus potentially insecure kernel
     version from an abandoned stable series

 (2) run the kernel with the regression

 (3) downgrade to an earlier longterm series still supported

This is better avoided, as (1) puts users and their data in danger, (2)
will only be possible if it's a minor regression that doesn't interfere
with booting or serious usage, and (3) might be regression itself or
impossible on the particular machine, as the users might require drivers
or features only introduced after the latest longterm series branched
of.

In the end this lead to the aforementioned "Aim to fix regression within
one week" part. It's also the reason for the "Try to resolve any
regressions introduced in the current development cycle before its
end.".

Signed-off-by: Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>
CC: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Acked-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Reviewed-by: Lukas Bulwahn <lukas.bulwahn@gmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/a7b717b52c0d54cdec9b6daf56ed6669feddee2c.1644994117.git.linux@leemhuis.info
Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>

1 files changed, 12 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst
index 6fbd24ceb3bf..d8adccdae23f 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-regressions.rst
@@ -214,6 +214,18 @@ your report on the radar of these people by CCing or forwarding each report to
 the regressions mailing list, ideally with a "regzbot command" in your mail to
 get it tracked immediately.
 
+How quickly are regressions normally fixed?
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Developers should fix any reported regression as quickly as possible, to provide
+affected users with a solution in a timely manner and prevent more users from
+running into the issue; nevertheless developers need to take enough time and
+care to ensure regression fixes do not cause additional damage.
+
+The answer thus depends on various factors like the impact of a regression, its
+age, or the Linux series in which it occurs. In the end though, most regressions
+should be fixed within two weeks.
+
 Is it a regression, if the issue can be avoided by updating some software?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~