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commit style redux
From: |
Miles Bader |
Subject: |
commit style redux |
Date: |
Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:21:20 +0900 |
Hmm, so since Emacs is going to move to a real source-control system in
the near(ish) future, maybe people could start trying to use a
commit-style which is more friendly to such systems?
Not only is this good practice for the future, but it also creates a
much nicer change history when the CVS repo is converted to the new
system (and even now, for people currently tracking Emacs via other
systems).
E.g., --
(1) Commit all changed files at once with a single log message (which
in CVS will result in an identical log message for all committed
files), not one-by-one. This is pretty easy using vc-dir now.
(2) Make the log message describe the entire changeset, perhaps
including relevant changelog entiries (I often don't bother with
the latter if it's a trivial sort of change).
Many modern source-control systems vaguely distinguish the first
line of the log message to use as a short summary for abbreviated
history listing (in arch this was explicitly called the summary,
but many other systems have a similar concept). So it's nice if
you can format the log entry like:
SHORTISH ONE-LINE SUMMARY
MULTIPLE-LINE DETAILED DESCRIPTION POSSIBLY INCLUDING (OR
CONSISTING OF) CHANGELOG ENTRIES
[Even with CVS this style is useful, because web CVS browsing
interfaces often include the first N words of the log message of
the most recent commit as a short "most recent change"
description.]
(3) Don't phrase log messages assuming the filename is known, because
in non-file-oriented systems (everything modern other than CVS),
the log listing tends to be treated as global information, and the
connection with specific files is less explicit.
For instance, currently I often see log messages like "Regenerate";
for modern source-control systems with a global log, it's better to
have something like "Regenerate configure".
I know I'm always harping on this, but I figure with the change looming
ever closer, I'll try again... :-)
Thanks,
-Miles
--
`Life is a boundless sea of bitterness'
- commit style redux,
Miles Bader <=