Difference between RFC and RFA?

Difference between RFC and RFA?

[Adam Fedor]

Well, I've probably been ignorant of this for too long.  I've looked 
around but haven't found anything that explains what the difference 
between these two abbreviations is.

Re: Difference between RFC and RFA?

[Kevin Buettner]

On Nov 10,  9:57pm, Adam Fedor wrote:

> Well, I've probably been ignorant of this for too long.  I've looked 
> around but haven't found anything that explains what the difference 
> between these two abbreviations is.

RFA = Request For Approval
RFC = Request For Comments

An RFA is used to ask for approval on a patch.

An RFC is frequently used by global maintainers to solicit comments on
patches that they would like to commit in some specified period of
time.  (The time period is usually specified in the patch.)  Other
contributers may use RFC for patches that they are unsure of.

Sometimes WIP (work in progress) is used in place of RFC.  Usually
these are larger patches which may need to be split up (and sometimes
even cleaned up) before being submitted for approval.  WIP patches are
useful in that they provide a sort of road map for a sequence of RFA
(or RFC) patches.  A maintainer who is reviewing an RFA patch can look
at the WIP patch in order to see the big picture.

Kevin