Feedback requested on nixpkgs PR #581542 ("CONTRIBUTING: ban most LLM prose")

mdaniels5757 · November 1, 2026, 11:55pm

I have made a proposal that would ban LLM output from prose in PRs and commit messages (subject to some exceptions).

Posting here for increased visibility; please leave all comments/feedback/suggestions on the PR itself:

github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs

CONTRIBUTING: ban most LLM prose (#581542)

master ← mdaniels5757:ban-llm-output-in-certain-prose

opened 09:22PM - 31 Oct 26 UTC

mdaniels5757

+13 -0

I (and, I suspect, many others) generally find LLM-generated PR descriptions, co…mments, and commit descriptions to be lacking. Most take me too long to read due to their verbosity, and yet they often do not answer questions like "why is this change needed"? I try to thread the needle here to allow some forms of LLM output that are helpful and/or harmless, and prohibit those that I find generally aren't. Instead of replying to this PR itself, to allow better discussion, please make a comment on the particular line(s) you wish to comment on. ## Things done - [x] Fits [CONTRIBUTING.md], [pkgs/README.md], [maintainers/README.md] and other READMEs. - [x] Follows the [automation/AI policy]. <details> <summary>Non-applicable items</summary> - Built on platform: - [ ] x86_64-linux - [ ] aarch64-linux - [ ] aarch64-darwin - Tested, as applicable: - [ ] Basic functionality of all binary files, usually in `./result/bin/`. - [ ] Ran `nixpkgs-review` on this PR. See [nixpkgs-review usage]. - [ ] [Package tests] at `passthru.tests`. - [ ] [NixOS tests] in [nixos/tests]. - [ ] Tests in [lib/tests] or [pkgs/test] for functions and "core" functionality. - Nixpkgs Release Notes - [ ] Package update: when the change is major or breaking. - NixOS Release Notes - [ ] Module addition: when adding a new NixOS module. - [ ] Module update: when the change is significant. </details> [Package tests]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/README.md#package-tests [NixOS tests]: https://nixos.org/manual/nixos/unstable/index.html#sec-nixos-tests [nixpkgs-review usage]: https://github.com/Mic92/nixpkgs-review#usage [CONTRIBUTING.md]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md [automation/AI policy]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#automationai-policy [lib/tests]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/lib/tests [maintainers/README.md]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/maintainers/README.md [nixos/tests]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/nixos/tests [pkgs/README.md]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/README.md [pkgs/test]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/test