Re: Options menu is broken on CVS

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Cc: rms@gnu.org,  nickrob@snap.net.nz,  ismail@uludag.org.tr,
> 	  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> From: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
> Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 17:02:05 -0400
> 
> Let's take it as a reminder that when we commit a fix, we should make sure
> we describe the bug it fixes, either in comments in the code (when
> possible/meaningful) or in the ChangeLog entry.

Alas, there's no machinery in GNU coding/development standards to
record such information.  In Emacs, we don't even have a bug
repository to which one can refer, like "see bug #12345" or some such
(a reference to the mail-list thread might serve as a replacement, but
only if the problem was discussed publicly in enough detail).  A
description of a bug with enough info to reproduce it later could take
a lot of text, and it's IMHO impractical to put all that text in the
source files or in the logs.

In addition, there are situations where you don't have a good place to
put a comment, e.g. if the fix was to _delete_ something.

> Of course, if the old code was just plain wrong it's not necessary.

``Plain wrong'' is in the eyes of the beholder.  Such judgment calls
are part of the problem: what's ``plain wrong and doesn't need any
explanation'' so some, is a mystery to others.