From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Eric S. Raymond" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs,gmane.emacs.devel Subject: bug#21998: Is it time to drop ChangeLogs? Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2016 20:19:58 -0500 Organization: Eric Conspiracy Secret Labs Message-ID: <20160307011958.GA24456@thyrsus.com> References: <56BE7E37.3090708@cs.ucla.edu> <4hd1rw1ubr.fsf@fencepost.gnu.org> <83vb50wxhv.fsf@gnu.org> <87y49vz4cg.fsf@acer.localhost.com> <87vb4zb0i4.fsf@gnu.org> Reply-To: esr@thyrsus.com NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1457313623 13146 80.91.229.3 (7 Mar 2016 01:20:23 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2016 01:20:23 +0000 (UTC) Cc: 21998@debbugs.gnu.org, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen , Emacs developers To: Mathieu Lirzin Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Mar 07 02:20:10 2016 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1acjqD-0004UE-Jx for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Mon, 07 Mar 2016 02:20:09 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:52845 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1acjqD-00043D-1y for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:20:09 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:59563) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1acjq9-00041l-OQ for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:20:06 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1acjq6-0003UI-J4 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:20:05 -0500 Original-Received: from debbugs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.43]:40059) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1acjq6-0003UC-FP for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:20:02 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-debbugs by debbugs.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.84) (envelope-from ) id 1acjq6-0007Ci-3a for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:20:02 -0500 X-Loop: help-debbugs@gnu.org Resent-From: "Eric S. Raymond" Original-Sender: "Debbugs-submit" Resent-CC: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Resent-Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2016 01:20:02 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: help-debbugs@gnu.org X-GNU-PR-Message: followup 21998 X-GNU-PR-Package: emacs X-GNU-PR-Keywords: Original-Received: via spool by 21998-submit@debbugs.gnu.org id=B21998.145731360027680 (code B ref 21998); Mon, 07 Mar 2016 01:20:02 +0000 Original-Received: (at 21998) by debbugs.gnu.org; 7 Mar 2016 01:20:00 +0000 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:37186 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84) (envelope-from ) id 1acjq4-0007CO-At for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:20:00 -0500 Original-Received: from static-71-162-243-5.phlapa.fios.verizon.net ([71.162.243.5]:45864 helo=snark.thyrsus.com) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84) (envelope-from ) id 1acjq2-0007CG-PU for 21998@debbugs.gnu.org; Sun, 06 Mar 2016 20:19:59 -0500 Original-Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 8AFFB13A0476; Sun, 6 Mar 2016 20:19:58 -0500 (EST) Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <87vb4zb0i4.fsf@gnu.org> X-Eric-Conspiracy: There is no conspiracy User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.23 (2014-03-12) X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 208.118.235.43 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:114527 gmane.emacs.devel:201033 Archived-At: Mathieu Lirzin : > On a more spiritual side, I think they belong to the zen of contributing > to a GNU project. :) Dear Goddess, I hope you're joking. Speaking as a very, *very* long-time GNU contributor (I'm pretty sure my earliest Emacs patches predated the formation of the FSF), I consider ChangeLogs a relic of a bygone era. Changelogs made some sense as a way of grouping together what we now call a changeset back in the days of file-oriented version-control systems. Nowadays, set against the actual changeset comments in version-control histories, Changelogs are a pointless and duplicative ritual. I think we should have dispensed with this practice during the CVS-to-bzr transition. As it is, the sooner gone the better. It's not as if retaining arbitrary hoops for new developers to have to jump through is a *good* idea. -- Eric S. Raymond