From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 12543 invoked by alias); 2 Dec 2007 12:43:17 -0000 Received: (qmail 12535 invoked by uid 22791); 2 Dec 2007 12:43:17 -0000 X-Spam-Check-By: sourceware.org Received: from mailout11.sul.t-online.de (HELO mailout11.sul.t-online.com) (194.25.134.85) by sourceware.org (qpsmtpd/0.31) with ESMTP; Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:43:11 +0000 Received: from fwd34.aul.t-online.de by mailout11.aul.t-online.de with smtp id 1Iyo98-0004he-05; Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:42:06 +0100 Received: from [84.152.254.245] (XNsUZmZL8h5FRrTK5mjEh9YIuavFk1hrk1T+xDBb4AyY01bBt+roYZbq0IOYRx0wK5@[84.152.254.245]) by fwd34.aul.t-online.de with esmtp id 1Iyo93-0ChY4O0; Sun, 2 Dec 2007 13:42:01 +0100 Message-ID: <4752A817.7000206@t-online.de> Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:43:00 -0000 From: Bernd Schmidt User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (X11/20071116) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Richard Kenner CC: schwab@suse.de, gcc@gcc.gnu.org, sam@rfc1149.net Subject: Re: Rant about ChangeLog entries and commit messages References: <2007-12-02-11-05-39+trackit+sam@rfc1149.net> <10712021228.AA23790@vlsi1.ultra.nyu.edu> In-Reply-To: <10712021228.AA23790@vlsi1.ultra.nyu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-ID: XNsUZmZL8h5FRrTK5mjEh9YIuavFk1hrk1T+xDBb4AyY01bBt+roYZbq0IOYRx0wK5 X-TOI-MSGID: 48947489-90e8-4eb8-ba32-79cb48f1260a X-IsSubscribed: yes Mailing-List: contact gcc-help@gcc.gnu.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Id: List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: Sender: gcc-owner@gcc.gnu.org X-SW-Source: 2007-12/txt/msg00029.txt.bz2 Richard Kenner wrote: >>> How could a newcomer guess why the gcc_force_collect flag needs to be >>> reset? >> That is supposed to be written in a comment. The change log entry >> should describe _what_ is being changed, so that you can find out when a >> particular change was made. > > Not quite. The comments are supposed to say why the code is doing what > it's doing (and, where it's helpful, why it ISN'T doing something else). > Purely historical references in the comments that don't serve to clarify > the present code are discouraged. (We don't want comments turning in a > blog, for example.) > > I view the description in the gcc-patches message as PART of the CM history > of GCC in that IT'S the place to go to get this information. What's > unfortunate, I think, is that there's no easy way to find this message from > the CM revision number. I think that's Samuel's point - it would be much better to have them in the commit log. FWIW, I agree completely - I've never found ChangeLogs useful, I hate writing them, and I think the linux-kernel guys these days generally have much better checkin messages than we do. Bernd -- This footer brought to you by insane German lawmakers. Analog Devices GmbH Wilhelm-Wagenfeld-Str. 6 80807 Muenchen Sitz der Gesellschaft Muenchen, Registergericht Muenchen HRB 40368 Geschaeftsfuehrer Thomas Wessel, William A. Martin, Margaret Seif