aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorSam Vilain <sam@vilain.net>2009-04-28 02:38:47 +1200
committerJunio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>2009-04-28 00:40:00 -0700
commit47afed5dc17faf10fde18789b17cf6ebff829cf4 (patch)
tree67e2935df5dd7f14c40815c9196e1839b7638144 /Documentation/SubmittingPatches
parent62f780dcc6a5f1a38d9f8e25234a91d16ab8fbbd (diff)
downloadgit-47afed5dc17faf10fde18789b17cf6ebff829cf4.tar.gz
git-47afed5dc17faf10fde18789b17cf6ebff829cf4.tar.xz
SubmittingPatches: itemize and reflect upon well written changes
The SubmittingPatches file was trimmed down from a somewhat overwhelming set of requirements from the Linux Kernel equivalent; however perhaps a little of it can be returned without making the text too long. Signed-off-by: Sam Vilain <sam@vilain.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/SubmittingPatches')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/SubmittingPatches14
1 files changed, 13 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
index 8d818a216..76fc84d87 100644
--- a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
+++ b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
@@ -6,9 +6,13 @@ Checklist (and a short version for the impatient):
- check for unnecessary whitespace with "git diff --check"
before committing
- do not check in commented out code or unneeded files
- - provide a meaningful commit message
- the first line of the commit message should be a short
description and should skip the full stop
+ - the body should provide a meaningful commit message, which:
+ - uses the imperative, present tense: "change",
+ not "changed" or "changes".
+ - includes motivation for the change, and contrasts
+ its implementation with previous behaviour
- if you want your work included in git.git, add a
"Signed-off-by: Your Name <you@example.com>" line to the
commit message (or just use the option "-s" when
@@ -62,6 +66,14 @@ Describe the technical detail of the change(s).
If your description starts to get too long, that's a sign that you
probably need to split up your commit to finer grained pieces.
+That being said, patches which plainly describe the things that
+help reviewers check the patch, and future maintainers understand
+the code, are the most beautiful patches. Descriptions that summarise
+the point in the subject well, and describe the motivation for the
+change, the approach taken by the change, and if relevant how this
+differs substantially from the prior version, can be found on Usenet
+archives back into the late 80's. Consider it like good Netiquette,
+but for code.
Oh, another thing. I am picky about whitespaces. Make sure your
changes do not trigger errors with the sample pre-commit hook shipped