A standard for commit messages

[Gedare Bloom]

Hi,

I want to reboot the conversation. Please do not bring up ChangeLog or
$id$ or anything else that is not germane to the topic of the commit
message.


Joel suggested that the commit message be something that starts with a
simple phrase that reads like a title/headline for the commit. After
that phrase should come additional details. The first words are what
gets propagated to the vc list subject line, so we should make those
words count.

If there is a bugzilla report associated with the commit then the
message should start with "PR #### - "; in many cases the title of the
bug report or something similar would work fine to begin the commit
message after the PR number.

The author and date tags are automatically generated so it is
unnecessary to state your (or anyone else's) name or the commit date
in the commit message. If you are committing on behalf of someone else
you should use the --author to credit the change.


Other suggestions?

-Gedare