Re: Using VC for change descriptions

[Paul Eggert]

Richard Stallman wrote:
> The cost of writing certain data in commit messages appears when
> you make the commit.  The benefit, however much that may be,
> appears much later.  Often years later.
>
> Therefore, this comparison woulld compare the costs only
> and not the benefits.

Not if we ask maintainers to estimate long-term benefits, given the benefits 
they've observed in the first few months. It's a simple sampling exercise. 
Obviously the estimates will be inexact, but they'll be good enough for an 
exercise like this, which is going to be qualitative anyway.