Re: UTF-8 characters in commit messages (was: [PATCH] ; Simplify (with-current-buffer (get-buffer …) …))

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Tim Landscheidt <tim@tim-landscheidt.de>
> Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 09:16:34 +0000
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:
> 
> > […]
> 
> > For the future, please avoid using non-ASCII characters in commit log
> > messages.
> 
> I had only looked at CONTRIBUTE's:
> 
> | - Commit messages should contain only printable UTF-8 characters.
> 
> Further down, the test commit-msg performs is described as:
> 
> | - commit log message should include only valid printable ASCII and
> |   UTF-8 characters;

That's not a contradiction: ASCII characters are by definition valid
UTF-8 characters.

> The GNU Coding Standards are a bit more explicit about this:
> 
> | Sticking to the ASCII character set (plain text, 7-bit
> | characters) is preferred in GNU source code comments, text
> | documents, and other contexts, unless there is good reason
> | to do something else because of the application domain.  For
> | example, if source code deals with the French Revolutionary
> | calendar, it is OK if its literal strings contain accented
> | characters in month names like “Floréal”.  Also, it is OK
> | (but not required) to use non-ASCII characters to represent
> | proper names of contributors in change logs (see Change
> | Logs).
> 
> Perhaps the first line quoted above could be rephrased à la:
> 
> | - Commit messages should contain only valid printable ASCII
> |   characters.  If necessary, they may contain printable
> |   UTF-8 characters.

IMNSHO, this is simple and obvious rule: don't use non-ASCII unless
you must.  But since people insist on having every possible rule
explicitly codified, I've now modified CONTRIBUTE to say:

  - Commit messages should contain only printable UTF-8 characters.
    However, we ask that non-ASCII characters be used only if strictly
    necessary, not just for aesthetic purposes.