cvs commit: ports/net/mpd Makefile ports/net/mpd/files patch-aa

[Kris Kennaway]

On Tue, Apr 13, 2004 at 05:28:41PM -0500, Archie Cobbs wrote:
> Kris Kennaway wrote:
> > >   Log:
> > >   Include patch that fixes ports/62477.
> > 
> > Commit logs should include a brief description of what the patch does,
> > not just an external reference.
> 
> Is there some official policy about this??
> 
> One might think that "patch that fixes ports/62477" would
> be the most appropriate way to describe what the patch does...
> it avoids duplicating information described more completely
> and accurately elsewhere, but gives an unabiguous reference
> to that information.

The Committer's Guide says:

  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.

  Commit messages should be clear, concise and provide a reasonable
  summary to give an indication of what was changed and why.

  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.

Admittedly, it doesn't come right out and say "don't just give a
reference to an external PR with no other explanation", but the intent
is "they should have a self-contained description of the problem and
solution, and you should use the 'PR:' line in the CVS template to
link to an external PR with more information if necessary".  This is
certainly the FreeBSD tradition.

Kris
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