Re: using commit identifiers in bug reports

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Ivan Shmakov <ivan@siamics.net>
> Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 18:50:57 +0000
> Cc: 19594@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> >>>>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> >>>>> From: Ivan Shmakov  Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 23:47:37 +0000
> >>>>> Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:
> >>>>> Ivan Shmakov wrote:
> 
> 	[Moving to emacs-devel@; please drop Cc: 19594@ as irrelevant
> 	when replying.]
> 
>  >>>> As of 88bc8332eb14 (2015-01-07 13:51:41 +0000), url-ftp is
>  >>>> implemented as an alias to url-file,
> 
>  >>> I found this confusing.  You mean: "it's always been implemented as
>  >>> an alias, and this remains true as of last week."  Not: "last week
>  >>> it was changed to be an alias."
> 
>  >> Actually, by using present tense, I was intending to say that “it
>  >> was an alias for the last week’s Git checkout, and I didn’t bother
>  >> to check when it got changed, or if it was like that right from the
>  >> start.”
> 
>  > You don't need to mention any commits or dates to convey that.  Just
>  > state the facts.
> 
> 	While I understand that as commit identifiers are used to refer
> 	to both a tree state /and/ a change (diff) to said state, I find
> 	the ability to $ git log 88bc8332eb..HEAD -- lisp/url/url-ftp.el
> 	just too convenient to disregard.
> 
> 	Sure, I’d be just as happy to $ git log bug:19594..HEAD, but I
> 	doubt that there’ll be /that/ amount of integration between Git
> 	and Debbugs in the foreseeable future, not to mention that I do
> 	not always check the reports I file against the latest master.
> 	(Usually, I update my Emacs working copy just a few times a
> 	month, and only take a brief scan over the Git developments
> 	between the latest update and the current master, checking for
> 	any /obvious/ signs that the issue was fixed in the meantime.)

I'm sorry, but what does referring to bug numbers have to do with the
issue at hand?  All I said was that to describe the current behavior
there's no need to mention any commits, just say "as of now, Emacs
does this and that".

If you want to describe something that was caused by some specific
commit, by all means use that commit's SHA1, or any other means that
allow to easily display it.