Every three months, the kernel community produces a new kernel version by integrating more than 400 pull requests coordinated between maintainers. For "simple" changes to a single subsystem, ad-hoc submissions work fine. But when changes affect a lot of subsystems, the submitter needs to take more of the matter in their own hands.

Uwe has completed a few cleanup quests in the kernel involving hundreds of patches and there is no shortage of further ideas. In this talk he presents the tools and workflows for mainline contributions he uses to keep on top of things. This covers everything from patch creation, selecting the right recipients, sending out series, to tracking patch application by the respective subsystem maintainers. Tools mentioned include: git (e.g. notes, filter-branch, rebase), coccinelle, notmuch, b4 and scripting around these.