Re: Options menu is broken on CVS

[Stefan Monnier]

>> Let's take it as a reminder that when we commit a fix, we should make sure
>> we describe the bug it fixes, either in comments in the code (when
>> possible/meaningful) or in the ChangeLog entry.

> Alas, there's no machinery in GNU coding/development standards to
> record such information.  In Emacs, we don't even have a bug
> repository to which one can refer, like "see bug #12345" or some such
> (a reference to the mail-list thread might serve as a replacement, but
> only if the problem was discussed publicly in enough detail).  A
> description of a bug with enough info to reproduce it later could take
> a lot of text,

Even if we had a bug repository, I'd prefer a longish text, so you don't
need to refer to the bug database to know what it is.  The only alternative
would be if the bug database is stored alongside the source files.

> In addition, there are situations where you don't have a good place to
> put a comment, e.g. if the fix was to _delete_ something.

You can replace the deleted code with the comment (of course, only if the
location of the comment makes sense: if you delete a whole function at the
toplevel, replacing it with a toplevel comment won't be much help), or you
can put the info in the ChangeLog.
It's a fundamental problem and there's not much we can do about that, really.

>> Of course, if the old code was just plain wrong it's not necessary.
> ``Plain wrong'' is in the eyes of the beholder.

Very much so,


        Stefan