If you like to become part of the community and submit patches, here's how to do so for trace-cmd. If you only want to report a bug, or suggest an enhancement, you may do so at: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/buglist.cgi?component=Trace-cmd%2FKernelshark All development is done via a mailing list: http://vger.kernel.org/vger-lists.html#linux-trace-devel Patches should be sent to linux-trace-devel@vger.kernel.org Start by cloning the official repository: git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/trace-cmd/trace-cmd.git Make your changes. When you are satisfied with them, commit them into git. Here's some helpful hints for your git commits. 1) When making changes, please follow the coding style defined by the file called CODING_STYLE in this directory. 2) Every commit should only do one thing. That is, if your work requires some cleaning up of code, do that clean up as a separate commit and not with your functional changes. Find ways to take "steps" in modifying code. If you can break up your changes in a series of steps, do so. 3) The commit log should start with a title. Like the below trace-cmd: Add CONTRIBUTE file Even though this repo is for trace-cmd, start the topic with "trace-cmd:" because the commits will end up as patches to a mailing list that handles other tracing repos, differentiating them with the subject is useful. You can be more specific as well. If the change only affects the "record" command, you may start the title with "trace-cmd record:". 4) The body of the commit (with a blank line from the title), should be self contained, and explain why you are making the change. The title should hold the "what" is changing, but the body contains the rationale for the change. It should be a stand alone, and not state things like "See the next patch", because when it is in git history, there's no knowing what the next patch is. You can make statements like "This is needed for a that will come later". Where "" is something that you are working on and the current commit is one of the steps required to get there. 5) Add your Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) at the bottom of the commit log. That is "Signed-off-by: Full Name " where your full name is your real name (no pseudonyms). Optionally, if you are making the change on behalf of your company, you may also add your company name, if you are not using your company's email. "Signed-off-by: Full Name (Company) ". Please note, the DCO is your statement that you have the legal right to make these changes for the project you are submitting to. You can use the Linux kernel "checkpatch.pl" script to help verify the formatting of your patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/scripts/checkpatch.pl Please note that checkpatch.pl is a guide and not a hard rule. If it reports a fix that makes the code harder to read, that fix can probably be ignored. git format-patch --stdout HEAD~1..HEAD | ./checkpatch.pl Finally, you can use the git "send-email" functionality: git send-email --from=' --to='linux-trace-devel@vger.kernel.org' HEAD~1..HEAD If you are sending one patch, if you are adding more than one patch, also include a cover letter: git send-email --cover-letter --annotate --from=' --to='linux-trace-devel@vger.kernel.org' ~1..HEAD If you receive feedback on your patches, and plan on sending another version, please use the '-v' option to mark your patches that they are a new version. For example, if you add "-v2" to the above commands, instead of having: "[PATCH]" in the subject, it will have "[PATCH v2]", letting the reviewers know that this is a new version. If you send another version, use "-v3" and so on. For more information about git send-email: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-send-email To keep track of the status of patches that have been submitted, check out: https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-trace-devel/list/ If you would like to apply patches from the mailing list, you can use the "b4" utility. $ pip install b4 Then from the mailing list archive, find a message id from a patch or patch series. For example, to get the patch from: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-trace-devel/20210205173713.132051-1-tz.stoyanov@gmail.com/ $ b4 am -o - 20210205173713.132051-1-tz.stoyanov@gmail.com > /tmp/p.mbox $ git am /tmp/p.mbox