[vtk-developers] [EXTERNAL] Commit log guidelines

[Marcus D. Hanwell]

I agree with Rob, try to keep it to 40/50, but longer should be OK. I
tend to stick to thinking of that as the email subject, leave the
blank line and then write something similar to a mailing list post
explaining what I did and why (assuming you can look at the diff for
how).

I think these are good general guidelines, maybe settling on a tense
is nice but I don't get hung up about it. If it is simple then no body
should be OK too.

On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 2:22 PM, Robert Maynard
<robert.maynard at kitware.com> wrote:
> 50 characters is limiting if you want to list the class names in the
> subjects. I currently think the limit of 68/69 is more reasonable.
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 1:05 PM, Scott, W Alan <wascott at sandia.gov> wrote:
>> Nice.
>>
>> I would think that your last sentence, "How", depends on the code.  If there are non-obvious side effects of the bug or fix, explain how the code works and/or the fix works.  For subtle performance work (change taking cosine of a constant to a constant, used in bottom of loops), how can be invaluable.  But for simple, clear code, how probably isn't needed.
>>
>> Alan
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: vtk-developers [mailto:vtk-developers-bounces at vtk.org] On Behalf Of Utkarsh Ayachit
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 10:15 AM
>> To: vtk-developers at vtk.org
>> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [vtk-developers] Commit log guidelines
>>
>> Folks,
>>
>> I recently came across this: http://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
>>
>> Any thoughts on adopting this as a style guide? The rules are:
>>
>> 1. Separate subject from body with a blank line 2. Limit the subject line to 50 characters 3. Capitalize the subject line 4. Do not end the subject line with a period 5. Use the imperative mood in the subject line 6. Wrap the body at 72 characters 7. Use the body to explain what and why vs. how
>>
>> I think (7) really brings it home, although I wonder if a short "how"
>> can also be included.
>>
>> Utkarsh
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