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HOW TO COMMIT CHANGES TO EMACS

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2009-03/msg00555.html
From: 	 Miles Bader
Subject: commit style redux
Date: 	 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:21:20 +0900

(1) Commit all changed files at once with a single log message (which
    in CVS will result in an identical log message for all committed
    files), not one-by-one.  This is pretty easy using vc-dir now.

(2) Make the log message describe the entire changeset, perhaps
    including relevant changelog entiries (I often don't bother with
    the latter if it's a trivial sort of change).

    Many modern source-control systems vaguely distinguish the first
    line of the log message to use as a short summary for abbreviated
    history listing (in arch this was explicitly called the summary,
    but many other systems have a similar concept).  So it's nice if
    you can format the log entry like:

        SHORTISH ONE-LINE SUMMARY

        MULTIPLE-LINE DETAILED DESCRIPTION POSSIBLY INCLUDING (OR
        CONSISTING OF) CHANGELOG ENTRIES

    [Even with CVS this style is useful, because web CVS browsing
    interfaces often include the first N words of the log message of
    the most recent commit as a short "most recent change"
    description.]

(3) Don't phrase log messages assuming the filename is known, because
    in non-file-oriented systems (everything modern other than CVS),
    the log listing tends to be treated as global information, and the
    connection with specific files is less explicit.

    For instance, currently I often see log messages like "Regenerate";
    for modern source-control systems with a global log, it's better to
    have something like "Regenerate configure".


Followup discussion:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2010-01/msg00897.html


PREVIOUS GUIDELINES FOR CVS

For historical interest only, here is the old-style advice for CVS logs:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2007-12/msg01208.html

From: Eli Zaretskii
Subject: Re: Log messages in CVS
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2007 16:06:29 +0200