RFC: b4 prep --enforce-deps to materialize series dependencies locally
Maurice Hieronymus <[email protected]> Sat, 11 Jul 2026 10:19:37 +0200
| Newsgroups | org.kernel.linux.tools |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Hi Konstantin, b4 prep can declare series dependencies (--edit-deps) and verify them (--check-deps), but it never materializes them: --check-deps applies everything in a throwaway sparse worktree and discards it. If I work on stacked series, I still stack the branches by hand, and re-stack them by hand every time a prerequisite gets a new revision. I'd like to close that gap with something like: b4 prep --enforce-deps which reads the declared prerequisites, figures out what needs to be rebased on what, and runs the git commands to bring the local branch into the state the dependencies describe. Conflicts stop the rebase as usual and are the user's problem. Since an enforce can involve several steps, there would also be: b4 prep --abort-enforce-deps which restores the pre-enforce state after a partially completed enforce. That means saving the branch head and tracking state to a backup ref before touching anything. If this is seen as useful I can sketch a prototype and send patches. Best, Maurice