Re: [PATCH 00/10] Spring cleanup of "contrib/"

From: Todd Zullinger <tmz@pobox.com>
Date: May 7, 2025, 01:32 UTC
Message-ID: <aBq4J6UTZVPF8rb4@teonanacatl.net>
In-Reply-To: <CAPig+cT6XbdzeOFoeZUmX+ozPa2XNOv=H85xQhY4y8NYmJZ6-g@mail.gmail.com>

Eric Sunshine wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> Although we periodically hear that someone uses it, git-contacts
> probably falls into the "tool has a clear alternative" category. In
> this case, git-related[*] is a separately-maintained more functional
> drop-in replacement which people could be using instead of
> git-contacts.
> 
> [*]: https://github.com/felipec/git-related/blob/master/git-related

It may be worth noting that git-contacts is suggested in both MyFirstContribution.adoc and SubmittingPatches.

It probably helps that since 824503ce88 (SubmittingPatches: clarify 'git-contacts' location, 2024-04-18) there has been a note stating this isn't "part of the core `git` binary and must be called directly." That is relatively recent, though.

I added git-contacts to the Fedora git packaging shortly after 92a5dbbc22 (SubmittingPatches: mention the git contacts command, 2018-04-11), presuming some readers would want to use it. (I never want to penalize users who are diligent enough to read SubmittingPatches. :)

All that said, I don't have any strong opinion on whether it is kept or removed, let alone when that might happen. I don't know that I've ever used it, other than for testing that it worked while packaging it.

-- 
Todd