Improving commit logs

[O'Connor, Daniel]

> On 14 Apr 2016, at 12:58, Glen Barber <gjb at FreeBSD.org> wrote:
>> Sure, but I think it carries more weight if you can point to a
>> specific FreeBSD document and say "do it like this".
> As one of the people that has to suffer through delving through commit
> logs to find the 'gems', I can personally guarantee that documenting
> "how to write good commit messages" will be less than fruitful.

Realistically I don't see this as a magic bullet. IMO the only way to enforce good commits is socially - i.e. have other committers call people out on bad commit messages in a *constructive* way. That is to say, you don't say "your commit message sucks" you say "I think it would be helpful if the log explained why this change was made".

I think having a document like this is useful as something to point to and a guide for new committers to start from.

--
Daniel O'Connor
"The nice thing about standards is that there
are so many of them to choose from."
 -- Andrew Tanenbaum
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