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Linux Systems Field Manual

linux/Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

Imported from _research/manual-study-linux/file-notes/linux__Documentation__process__coding-assistants.rst.md.

File Notes: Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

Status: reviewed.

Purpose

Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst defines Linux process guidance for AI-assisted kernel development. It is not implementation code, but it is important for this dossier because the user’s target system is AI-native and must treat provenance, licensing, and human responsibility as first-class architecture.

Key Types And Functions

This is a process document, not code. Its operational artifacts are:

  • standard process references;
  • GPL compatibility and SPDX requirements;
  • DCO / Signed-off-by restrictions;
  • human responsibility expectations;
  • Assisted-by attribution format.

Data Flow

AI tool usage flows into human-owned contributions. The document keeps responsibility with the human submitter, requires review and license compliance, forbids AI agents from adding Signed-off-by tags, and records AI assistance through an attribution tag.

Invariants And Safety Contracts

  • AI-generated contributions must still follow normal kernel development process.
  • Contributions must comply with GPL-2.0-only compatibility and SPDX rules.
  • AI agents cannot legally certify the DCO.
  • Human submitters are responsible for review, compliance, signing, and the submitted contribution.
  • AI assistance should be attributed with agent/model/tool information.

Rust Translation Guidance

For a Rust OS project, contribution tooling should enforce provenance metadata separately from authorship certification. A signed contribution should be a human act. AI-assisted patches can carry structured metadata, but the system should prevent tools from forging human certification.

AI-Native Systems Guidance

An AI-native system should treat agent identity, model version, tool usage, review status, and human acceptance as structured fields in every auditable change. This is directly relevant to kernel-like work because low-level code has legal, safety, and operational consequences.

Evidence

  • Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst:8-16: AI tools must follow standard kernel development process.
  • Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst:18-25: licensing and SPDX requirements.
  • Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst:27-37: AI agents must not add Signed-off-by tags; human submitter responsibility.
  • Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst:39-59: attribution format and agent/model/tool fields.