Re: Is it time to drop ChangeLogs?

[Paul Eggert]

On 03/09/2016 07:53 AM, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> Writing a log entry in ChangeLog format is an excellent opportunity 
> for reflecting on the changeset

Yes, the ChangeLog format is useful. I use it myself for commits I make 
to GNU projects (as well as some non-GNU projects, e.g., 
https://github.com/eggert/tz). Perhaps the format could be improved, but 
that should be a different thread.

> So removing ChangeLog files will be a bad blow to our ability to 
> easily and conveniently research the past,

No, this doesn't follow. If we use ChangeLog formats in commit messages, 
we can still research the past easily and conveniently.

> If we drop the ChangeLog files, there's no way we can explain why we 
> ask for commit log messages in ChangeLog format, so the next logical 
> step is to drop that as well, and we will then lose valuable information.

It's not a logical step at all, and we already have an explanation of 
why we ask for ChangeLog format in CONTRIBUTE. Perhaps the explanation 
can be improved, but that's true no matter what approach we take 
(assuming we continue to prefer ChangeLog format).

> Other prominent GNU projects that maintain ChangeLog files in the 
> repository include GCC, Binutils, GDB, glibc, and Texinfo. XEmacs also 
> has it. Why should Emacs be the first one to plunge into this adventure?

Emacs is not the first at all. All the projects I've mentioned (Guile, 
coreutils, tar, etc.) used to maintain ChangeLog files in the 
repository. They've all moved away from that approach, in large part 
because of the hassle and confusion it entails.

> There are 3 possibilities:
>
>    . Keep the current system, where ChangeLog is produced from Git log
>      and mistakes made in Git log should be corrected manually after
>      producing ChangeLog
>
>    . Give up on having ChangeLog files, either produced from Git log or
>      maintained in the repository -- meaning a tarball will not include
>      any ChangeLog at all
>
>    . Go back to previous practice where we maintained ChangeLog files
>      in the repository, and Git log messages were just copies of the
>      ChangeLog entries

There is a 4th possibility: switch to what coreutils etc. do.

> This would mean we don't care at all about what's in the ChangeLog.

No, we can still make corrections with the 4th possibility. And even if 
we couldn't make corrections, it wouldn't mean we don't care about 
what's in the ChangeLog.