Re: [PATCH 1/1] commit-graph: fix UX issue when .lock file exists

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: May 10, 2018, 04:53 UTC
Message-ID: <20180510045310.GA27259@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <926ef4a5-83c1-3d5f-6dfc-0b74fc7090bd@gmail.com>

On Wed, May 09, 2018 at 10:53:56AM -0400, Derrick Stolee wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

> > Your cover letter is way longer than this description. Should some of
> > that background perhaps go in the commit message?
> 
> I did want a place to include the full die() message in the new behavior,
> but that seemed like overkill for the commit message.

I think it would be fine. In general, it's probably a good idea to err on the side of more information in the commit message than less. The one exception is that if your commit message grows very long, make sure it's organized well. I find there are two "modes" in which I read old commit messages:

  1. Skimming through log, etc, to try to get the gist of what the
     commit is doing and find out whether it might be related to my
     problem.

  2. Once I've identified it as a problem, I want to know every single
     thing in the mind of the writer that might help me.

(I'm not speaking to this particular message or your messages in general here; I just didn't want to claim that a blanket "longer is better" is without limitations).

-Peff