bug#19113: Generate a ChangeLog file from commit logs

[Stefan Monnier]

> are important forms of documentation; and frankly I don't even see that
> it will save much work. But I'm obviously in a minority, so don't let me
> stop you. I do have a list though; do whatever you like in response to it.

Good, so let's do it.

> 1) There are still things to deal with from the last big change, so I'd
> appreciate it if you not do this before January at the earliest.

Fine.

> 2) Announce the change well in advance, and make it very clear what
> people need to do (ie, take much more care with their logs than before).

Right.  the ./CONTRIBUTE file should pay special attention to it.

> Put a clear set of instructions in admin/notes. Eg how will I replace `C-x
> 4 a', `C-c C-a' now? (Frankly I expect to keep doing that, just not

Indeed, I think for now this will be the recommendation.

> 3) How will I mark a change so that it does not generate a ChangeLog?

Why bother?

> 4) What if I commit something, realize it was wrong, and remove it right
> away? Normally I'd delete the ChangeLog entry too.

I don't think it's a serious problem.  We already use "reverted last
change to <foo>" regularly.

> 5) Will I be able to mark a portion of a log to be excluded from the
> generated ChangeLog?

I don't think so, but I don't see why that would be a problem.

> 6) How does the correction method work (I'm being lazy and not reading
> the patch).

I think by and large it doesn't: it's too complicated to be of regular use.
And since it only fixes the ChangeLog but not the "git log" output, its
usefulness is rather limited.

> I'm not going to bother to correct them anymore.

That's one of the work it will save us.

> 7) What dates will entries get? The commit date? This may not match the
> push date. What will happen with the dates of entries merged from other
> branches.

They'll probably gt the commit date.  If you want more a more precise
explanation of what happened, you'll need to use the "git log"
output instead.


        Stefan