On January 21 we plan to change the procedure for committing changes to
the Emacs git repository, so that the ChangeLog file in the Emacs
distribution is generated automatically from git commit messages,
instead of being maintained manually as a near-copy of the commit
messages.

Because the ChangeLog file will no longer be fixed up by hand after
changes are installed, it will be more important to write good commit
messages.  The suggested format is:

  * The first line should be a brief summary without trailing period.

  * The second line should be empty.

  * Any general explanatory text should come next.

  * Finally, the ChangeLog entries themselves should appear, in the
    format specified by the GNU coding standards.

  * Append a "Fixes: bug#NNNN" line if the change fixes a bug.

Lines should hold at most 78 characters.  Here is an example commit
message:

	Deactivate shifted region

	Do not silently extend a region that is not highlighted;
	this can happen after a shift.
	* lisp/window.el (handle-select-window):
	* src/frame.c (Fhandle_switch_frame, Fselected_frame):
	Deactivate the mark.
	Fixes: bug#19003

(The actual commit message should not be indented.)

- If you use Emacs VC, one way to format ChangeLog entries is to create
  a top-level ChangeLog file, and update it with 'C-x 4 a' file as
  usual.  Do not register the ChangeLog file under git; instead, use
  'C-c C-a' to insert its contents into into your *vc-log* buffer.

- Alternatively, you can use the GNU command vc-dwim (if installed)
  to maintain commit messages in ChangeLog format.  When you create a
  source directory FOO, run the shell command 'cd FOO;
  git-changelog-symlink-init' to create a symbolic link from ChangeLog
  to .git/c/ChangeLog.  Edit this ChangeLog via its symlink with Emacs
  commands like 'C-x 4 a', and commit the change using the shell
  command 'cd FOO; vc-dwim'.