Re: [Nmh-workers] Changelog policy

[Bill Wohler]

Jon Steinhart <address@hidden> wrote:

> Oh, since I'm probably about to go make some changes again, I had an
> email from somebody a while ago who was upset that I wasn't updating
> the Changelog when making changes. I wasn't doing it because I thought
> that it was done automatically.

If it were done automatically, there probably wouldn't be any point in
doing it ;-).

>                                 What's the policy on this? Is it
> supposed to be done automatically and is something broken? Should it
> be updated manually every time a change is made? Or is is updated
> manually before every release?

I don't know the particular policy for nmh, if there is one, but here is
how I create and use the ChangeLog entries.

Anyone who uses Emacs usually creates the ChangeLog entry first (using
C-x 4 a or similar tools) because the pcvs module uses the ChangeLog
entry when you check in the file.

If you add a function, for example, and add a ChangeLog entry for it,
and then find and fix a typo in the next day or two, there really isn't
a need to update the ChangeLog since it could be considered to be part
of the original change.

I use the ChangeLog entries in the MH-E project to create release notes,
so it's important that all pertinent information is in there. It's
probable that Ken uses it in the same way. A "cvs log" from the root is
less helpful since the log information is duplicated if you've checked
in more than one file in a single commit. That's why the ChangeLog is
important in a CVS environment. Now that I've started using Subversion,
I've stopped keeping ChangeLog files, since a "svn log" at the root
gives you the same information.

-- 
Bill Wohler <address@hidden>  http://www.newt.com/wohler/  GnuPG ID:610BD9AD
Maintainer of comp.mail.mh FAQ and MH-E. Vote Libertarian!
If you're passed on the right, you're in the wrong lane.