threads / discuss / 24976

inaccurate commit message message?

Subject: inaccurate commit message message?

## tl;dr

4 messages between Sep 4, 2010 and Sep 4, 2010.

replies: 3people: 2as markdown or json

Ramana Kumar· Sep 4, 2010, 21:37 UTC · lore

The commit message message says "Lines starting with '#' will be ignored", but fails to say "Lines below this message will be ignored, even if they don't start with '#'". If the second sentence is true, I think it (or something equivalent) should be said, especially because of the relevance during commit --verbose.

In fact the documentation for commit --verbose explicitly says to note that the diff lines won't start with '#'s, as if warning people that those lines might show up in the commit message. Yet they do not seem to show up... (and I don't think they should)

Sverre Rabbelier· Sep 4, 2010, 21:55 UTC · re: Ramana Kumar · lore

Re: inaccurate commit message message?

Heya,
On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 16:37, Ramana Kumar <ramana.kumar@gmail.com> wrote:
> The commit message message says "Lines starting with '#' will be
> ignored", but fails to say "Lines below this message will be ignored,
> even if they don't start with '#'".
Because they're not. Only those starting with # are ignored.
> If the second sentence is true, I think it (or something equivalent)
> should be said, especially because of the relevance during commit
> --verbose.
It is not true.
> In fact the documentation for commit --verbose explicitly says to note
> that the diff lines won't start with '#'s, as if warning people that
> those lines might show up in the commit message.
> Yet they do not seem to show up... (and I don't think they should)

Ah, you are apparently talking about 'git commit --verbose'. It works a little different there, all lines starting with # are ignored, as well as everything in and after the diff.

-- 
Cheers,

Sverre Rabbelier
Ramana Kumar· Sep 4, 2010, 22:55 UTC · re: Sverre Rabbelier · lore

Re: inaccurate commit message message?

On Sun, Sep 5, 2010 at 7:55 AM, Sverre Rabbelier <srabbelier@gmail.com> wrote:
Show 23 quoted lines
> Heya,
>
> On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 16:37, Ramana Kumar <ramana.kumar@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The commit message message says "Lines starting with '#' will be
>> ignored", but fails to say "Lines below this message will be ignored,
>> even if they don't start with '#'".
>
> Because they're not. Only those starting with # are ignored.
>
>> If the second sentence is true, I think it (or something equivalent)
>> should be said, especially because of the relevance during commit
>> --verbose.
>
> It is not true.
>
>> In fact the documentation for commit --verbose explicitly says to note
>> that the diff lines won't start with '#'s, as if warning people that
>> those lines might show up in the commit message.
>> Yet they do not seem to show up... (and I don't think they should)
>
> Ah, you are apparently talking about 'git commit --verbose'. It works
> a little different there, all lines starting with # are ignored, as
> well as everything in and after the diff.

The documentation, both in man git-commit and in the commit message message, is misleading when you do git commit --verbose. My proposal is to make it less misleading, by saying in at least one, and ideally both, of those places what you just told me for the first time: when you do a git commit --verbose, the diff lines and everything after will be ignored for the commit message.

Show 6 quoted lines
>
> --
> Cheers,
>
> Sverre Rabbelier
>
Sverre Rabbelier· Sep 4, 2010, 23:07 UTC · re: Ramana Kumar · lore

Re: inaccurate commit message message?

Heya,
On Sat, Sep 4, 2010 at 17:55, Ramana Kumar <ramana.kumar@gmail.com> wrote:
> The documentation, both in man git-commit and in the commit message
> message, is misleading when you do git commit --verbose.
Correct.
> My proposal is to make it less misleading, by saying in at least one,
> and ideally both, of those places what you just told me for the first
> time: when you do a git commit --verbose, the diff lines and
> everything after will be ignored for the commit message.

Sounds like a good idea. See builtin/commit.c around line 660. You'll want to check for the verbose flag and adjust the message printed there accordingly. See Documentation/SubmittingPatches.txt on how to submit patches.

Please do ask if you have any questions, I'd be glad to help.
-- 
Cheers,

Sverre Rabbelier

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