Discussion:
ChangeLogs
Bill Wohler
2016-01-03 01:46:42 UTC
Permalink
Just noticed that ChangeLogs are now generated automatically from the
Git log (finally!). We still have to largely follow the old ChangeLog
format though. Please see '** Commit messages' in emacs/CONTRIBUTE for
the new conventions.

I've deleted the ChangeLogs from the MH-E development repository and
edited the Makefiles accordingly. If desired, I can add machinery to
generate a ChangeLog for a release.

If you touch a ChangeLog file in the top mh-e directory, you can use 'C-x
4 a' to create a ChangeLog entry that has the full path to the file
(such as * doc/Makefile:). If you use VC to check in the file, then the
log-edit-hook will pick it up. I've added ChangeLog to .gitignore so it
shouldn't get checked in.

The Emacs folks have adopted the Git convention of ensuring the first
line is a short summary separated by a blank line.

However, they have added the convention that it doesn't have a period.
This is a misguided convention that breaks the prime rule that comments
are complete sentences. It looks bad in the output of git log and will
likely cause inconsistency when comments are extracted (or add lots of
code to work around it). The rule is not uniformly followed, even by
core Emacs developers, and I'd recommend that we not follow it either. I
use complete sentences in my commit messages for all of my other Git
repositories.

I haven't pushed yet. I'll do so when I'm done converting the Makefiles
from bzr to git. After that, I'll go through the devguide and push out
8.6.
--
Bill Wohler <***@newt.com> aka <***@nasa.gov>
http://www.newt.com/wohler/
GnuPG ID:610BD9AD

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Bill Wohler
2016-01-04 02:33:24 UTC
Permalink
ChangeLogs are no longer required so I deleted them as I mentioned in
another message. I've appended the most recent update to the devguide
regarding ChangeLogs that captures this change. (I'll push and update
the web page with the updated devguide when we're done.)

One other change in this section is that the format for referring to bug
numbers has changed slightly to be consistent with the Emacs convention
noted in the CONTRIBUTE file. I've added the (Bug#NNNNN) for Emacs bugs,
dropped the space between the identifier and the bug number and dropped
the text "closes".

What do you think?

6.3 ChangeLogs

Emacs no longer requires a ChangeLog file; however, they are still
useful for drafting commit messages. In MH-E, touch a ChangeLog file in
the top level of the MH-E development environment or the Emacs source
code so that C-x 4 a (add-change-log-entry-other-window) will insert
appropriate text with relative paths for you (even from a diff!).

Here are example ChangeLog entries:

2006-07-03 Bill Wohler <***@newt.com>

Release MH-E version 8.0.2.

* src/README: Update for release 8.0.2.

2006-06-15 Bill Wohler <***@newt.com>

* lisp/mh-e/mh-search.el (mh-index-new-folder): Use -2 suffix
instead of <2> suffix for folder names, as <> are illegal
filename characters on Windows (SF#1507002).

The first bullet shows the text that should be used when making a release.

As usual, the string in parenthesis indicates the documentation section,
Makefile variable or target, or program function or variable.

Multiple targets with the same text may appear in the same entry.

For consistency, phrase the issue number as follows (see Updating
MH-E-NEWS):

(SF#621632).
or

(Bug#621632)
or

(Debian#234234).

The Emacs manual has full documentation on the ChangeLog commands.

For more information regarding the style of the ChangeLog entries,
please see the GNU Coding Standards and the Information for Emacs
Developers.
--
Bill Wohler <***@newt.com> aka <***@nasa.gov>
http://www.newt.com/wohler/
GnuPG ID:610BD9AD

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Jeffrey Honig
2016-01-04 22:37:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bill Wohler
Emacs no longer requires a ChangeLog file; however, they are still
useful for drafting commit messages.
In MH-E, touch a ChangeLog file in
Post by Bill Wohler
the top level of the MH-E development environment or the Emacs source
code so that C-x 4 a (add-change-log-entry-other-window) will insert
appropriate text with relative paths for you (even from a diff!).
I wonder if there is a magit version of this.

Thanks

Jeff
--
Jeffrey C. Honig <***@honig.net>
http://www.honig.net/jch
GnuPG ID:14E29E13 <http://www.honig.net/jch/key.shtml>
Mike Kupfer
2016-01-09 23:35:51 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bill Wohler
I've appended the most recent update to the devguide
regarding ChangeLogs that captures this change.
Looks okay to me. Thanks for making the updates.

mike

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