bug#20328: outdated CONTRIBUTE info re ChangeLogs

[Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>]

Dmitry Gutov wrote:

> Since a commit message contains a summary, maybe a few headers, and a
> ChangeLog entry, it's fair to describe what a "ChangeLog entry" should
> contain.

IMO the file should be rewritten to explain that commit logs are to be
written in the style of ChangeLogs.

>>    In ChangeLog entries, there is no standard or recommended way to
>>    identify revisions.
>
> This still applies. Even though it could say "in commit messages",
> this also emphasized the fact that the same non-sandardized references
> will appear in the ChangeLog file.

s/could/should.

I guess we are supposed to use those silly "action stamps", but
understandably no-one does. I'm sure people are going to keep using
hashes in commit logs, which will be meaningless in the generated C'log.

>>    There is no need to make separate ChangeLog entries for files such
>>    as NEWS, MAINTAINERS...
>
> Still true, and I'm not sure how to rephrase this to refer to commit
> messages.

If they are in a commit all of their own, you can use the "; " prefix to
omit that entire commit log entry from the generated C'log.

If they are mixed in with other changes, then IIUC there is nothing you
can do. I asked for such a feature (to exclude specific lines of a
commit log), but I don't think it exists.

It would be better if the generate script simply always omitted such
files from the C'log, since they are never interesting.