Subject: Proper commit messages when updating packages
To: Alistair Crooks <agc@pkgsrc.org>
From: Johnny Lam <jlam@pkgsrc.org>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 11/17/2005 09:13:02
Alistair Crooks wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2005 at 10:36:40PM +0000, Roland Illig wrote:
> 
>>Module Name:	pkgsrc
>>Committed By:	rillig
>>Date:		Wed Nov 16 22:36:40 UTC 2005
>>
>>Modified Files:
>>	pkgsrc/lang/chicken: Makefile PLIST distinfo
>>	pkgsrc/lang/chicken/patches: patch-aa patch-ab
>>Removed Files:
>>	pkgsrc/lang/chicken/patches: patch-ad
>>
>>Log Message:
>>Updated chicken to 2.2 using some patches by Peter Bex via private mail.
>>There are far too many details that have changed to mention here. Fixes
>>PR 30783.
> 
> 
> Please provide a cogent, concise summary of all the changes when you
> upgrade a package. This helps everyone.

Just to give people a more concrete plan to follow when creating commit 
messages for package updates...

When I update a package, I go through the ChangeLog and only keep the 
changes that I consider important.  This means that changes that only 
affect platforms we don't support in pkgsrc are dropped from the commit 
message, and entries of the "plug memory leak" or "fix minor bug" 
variety are lumped together in a single "Fix minor bugs and memory 
leaks" entry in the commit message.  When the update is "major" in the 
"1.0 -> 2.0" sense, I use the text that describes the major changes from 
1.0 to 2.0 that are usually in the announcement for that piece of software.

	Cheers,

	-- Johnny Lam <jlam@pkgsrc.org>