Re: git-changelog package?

[Simon Josefsson]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi Simon and Jim,
>
> When I look at
> <https://git.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Interfaces,_frontends,_and_tools>,
> searching for the word "changelog", I see that there are three tools from
> GNU people for dealing with the ChangeLog file format that is part of GNU
> conventions and traditions:
>   - Simon, your 'git2cl' script, http://josefsson.org/git2cl/
>   - Jim, your 'build-aux/gitlog-to-changelog' script, residing in gnulib,
>   - my git-merge-changelog driver.
>
> I think it would serve the users if all three were bundled in a single
> package, because they solve similar problems in different ways. A common
> documentation could explain the advantages of one and of the other
> approach. Last not least, people don't expect tools to be distributed
> as part of a library. (Remember when it was necessary to install the X11
> sources in order to get the 'xmkmf' tool? That was equally ridiculous.)
>
> And, as mentioned in the other mail today, it would be essential to have a
> test suite for these tools.
>
> Do you agree with these plans?
>
> Would you join me in creating a GNU project for this?

Good idea, and, yes!  I would have offered git2cl as a GNU project
already unless it contained code from cvs2cl.  The code is easy to
isolate though.

git2cl and gitlog-to-changelog are written in Perl, and that would be
fine with me for a new tool.  Your git-merge-changelog driver is written
in C, but that feels like a poor language for something that is mostly
text reformatting?

/Simon