Re: Circumstances in which ChangeLog format is no longer useful

[Rical Jasan]

On 08/01/2017 02:46 AM, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote:
>    $ git log --grep=NFPREG
>    $ git log -E --grep='N(FP|G|VR)?REG'
>    $ git log --grep=NFPREF -p
>    $ git log --grep=sysdeps/arm/sys/ucontext.h [-p]
>    $ git log -G'fpregs' -p
> 
> And what about non-git?  Should we list every magical invokation for
> every VCS that is in use?  An extracted ChangeLog works for anyone and
> everyone.  People who keep suggesting git as a solution miss the point
> of being able to extract this information in a archivable format.

I'm not a proponent of only-git, it's just the VCS I have experience
with, so I was providing examples of how it provides functionality the
ChangeLog cannot, under the premise that a VCS should be an acceptable
substitute for the ChangeLog, by fulfilling every role the ChangeLog
does, and then some.

However, as Joseph pointed out, his proposal was to obsolete the
ChangeLog /format/, which I personally find rather useful, and not to
argue that the ChangeLog itself was obsolete under specific conditions
otherwise met by a VCS.

I understand that different VCS's may have differing flexibility, but I
was coupling my experience with the idea that the VCS supplants the role
of the ChangeLog, which I practically never find useful, and tried to
provide explicit examples of how and why, the burden of negative proof
apparently being on the shoulders of the supplicant.

I will admit, though, if there were no VCS, the ChangeLog would
certainly be better than nothing.

Rical