Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Wed, 28 Nov 2001 11:05:16 -0500
From:      "Dan Langille" <dan@langille.org>
To:        Peter Wemm <peter@wemm.org>
Cc:        Maxim Sobolev <sobomax@FreeBSD.ORG>, des@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Meaningless commit messages [was: cvs commit: ports/www/linux-opera Makefile] 
Message-ID:  <3C04C4EC.6878.178B76B6@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <20011128110613.5E3073808@overcee.netplex.com.au>
References:  <20011127163513.A12400@espresso.q9media.com> 

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On 28 Nov 2001 at 3:06, Peter Wemm wrote:

> Well, the guide is over simplifying it.  Also, dont forget the previous
> paragraph:
>        <para>Good commit messages are important. They tell others
>           why you did the changes you did, not just right here and now,
>           but months or years from now when someone wonders why some
>           seemingly illogical or inefficient piece of code snuck into your
>           source file. It is also an invaluable aid to deciding which
>           changes to MFC and which not to MFC.</para>

A side note: One constant obstacle with guides is that from time to time 
people seek to find ways around them.  Unless every possible situation is 
covered by the guide, people with find/exploit a loophole, frequently by 
quoting something in isolation.

People should be working with the intent of the guidelines instead of the 
letter.  Unfortunately, there are those that don't.  It's for them that 
such changes are necessary.

> I was planning to change the paragraph that you quoted to something like
> this:
>         <para>Commit messages should be clear, concise and provide
>           a reasonable summary to give an indication of what was 
>           changed and why.</para>
> 
>         <para>Commit messages should provide enough information to 
>           enable a third party to decide if the change is relevant to them
>           and if they need to read the change itself.</para>

If you are planning to change it, please consider my suggestions in 
http://docs.freebsd.org/cgi/getmsg.cgi?fetch=771838+0+current/cvs-all and 
I won't bother submitting a patch.

thanks.
-- 
Dan Langille
The FreeBSD Diary - http://freebsddiary.org/ - practical examples


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?3C04C4EC.6878.178B76B6>