Re: [PATCH] Documentation: commit: explain the non-meaning of S-o-b

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Dec 29, 2009, 07:54 UTC
Message-ID: <7voclimd08.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
In-Reply-To: <20091228194001.7b4c68f4@perceptron>

Jan Krüger <jk@jk.gs> writes:

> In the manpage for git commit, the option --signoff is mentioned but
> there is no explanation of what it actually means. Add a brief hint that
> S-o-b doesn't have a pre-defined meaning.

The commands am, cherry-pick, commit, format-patch, and revert all share the "sign-off" and they more or less deliberately refused to define what it means to sign-off a patch; as your patch says, it is up to the project policy.

config.txt gives a description for format.signoff option that is too specific to git and the kernel, which I think is a mistake given the much wider audience we have these days.

How similar should the document for the "sign-off" options to these commands be? I am wondering if we should have the same description copied and pasted to all of them, or avoid repeating ourselves and instead have them refer to a central place, perhaps somewhere in the Tutorial or the Workflow document.

Show 27 quoted lines

> Signed-off-by: Jan Krüger <jk@jk.gs>
> ---
> Semi-resend. Nobody commented on this when I first sent it in early
> December, so here it is again, with a slightly more verbose
> explanation. The repetition is intentional.
>
>  Documentation/git-commit.txt |    3 ++-
>  1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.txt b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
> index d227cec..cae510b 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-commit.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-commit.txt
> @@ -114,7 +114,10 @@ OPTIONS
>  -s::
>  --signoff::
>  	Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
> -	log message.
> +	log message. This line has no inherent meaning; it is up to the
> +	potential recipient of the commit to decide what it stands for.
> +	It is typically understood as an assurance by the committer that
> +	the commit conforms to the receiving project's commit guidelines.
>  
>  -n::
>  --no-verify::
> -- 
> 1.6.5.3.171.ge36e