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Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel varian
From: |
John Darrington |
Subject: |
Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant. |
Date: |
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 08:16:25 +0200 |
User-agent: |
Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) |
On Tue, Sep 27, 2016 at 08:14:38PM -0400, Mark H Weaver wrote:
Our conventions for commit logs, which follow the GNU Coding Standards
for Change Logs (see section 6.8 of the GNU Coding Standards), is that
explanations belong in the comments of the code itself, not in the
commit log. If that had been done in the example you give above, you
would have known why the line was needed in a small fraction of the time
that it must have taken you to perform all the steps above.
That can work in simple instances - where the change is a one liner or at least
where the change is confined to a few consecutive lines in one file. But not
all changes are that simple. Sometimes it is necessary to make a change which
involves lots of small changes in lots of different places in lots of different
files. In such cases it would be rediculous to append a comment to each line
changed. In fact I have seen such code from the 1980s where almost every 4th
line
has a comment like:
mode++; /* JMD 09/2/1981: Increment the mode count otherwise the crud wangler
overflows
in the case where grunger regurtitates */
The occasional such comment is ok, but when it's every third line it does
nothing
for readability nor comprehensibility.
However, I agree that commits that _remove_ code should include the
rationale in the commit log, if the reason is not obvious and if there's
no sensible place to put the explanation in the code.
What do you think?
Well I certainly agree that adding a reason for a change is a good idea. Even
if
we do also have text in the message which is superfluous.
J'
Note to self: Must write an improved version of gnulib's git-log-to-changelog
script
which will satisfy the die-harders.
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- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., (continued)
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Vincent Legoll, 2016/09/26
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Leo Famulari, 2016/09/26
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., John Darrington, 2016/09/26
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., David Craven, 2016/09/26
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Vincent Legoll, 2016/09/26
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., David Craven, 2016/09/26
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Leo Famulari, 2016/09/26
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Ludovic Courtès, 2016/09/28
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Tobias Geerinckx-Rice, 2016/09/27
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Mark H Weaver, 2016/09/27
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant.,
John Darrington <=
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Ludovic Courtès, 2016/09/28
- Re: [PATCH 4/6] gnu: linux-libre-beagle-bone-black: Remove kernel variant., Ludovic Courtès, 2016/09/28
Re: [PATCH 1/6] gnu: Add picocom., Leo Famulari, 2016/09/26