[webkit-dev] I *HATE* CHANGELOGS!!!

[David Hyatt]

If the files could just merge properly, I would not be so annoyed, but  
the fact that you basically have to re-resolve conflicts every time  
anyone beats you to a checkin is just horrible.  Surely other people  
run into this.  It wastes time for me on practically every single  
checkin.... and I have ended up causing regressions because I don't  
wait to re-run layout tests every time just because I am trying to get  
my files landed before someone else modified the ChangeLog again.

On top of that sometimes the ChangeLog merges cleanly but puts your  
entry underneath others, and then you have to open the file and move  
your entry back to the top.  Sometimes I have not noticed this and  
then I land with someone else's commit message.

I just don't get why people are willing to put up with this.  It's  
really driving me crazy.

dave

On Aug 26, 2009, at 3:34 PM, Chris Marrin wrote:

>
> On Aug 26, 2009, at 3:26 PM, David Hyatt wrote:
>
>> I am so sick of Changelogs.  Every time I get a patch ready to  
>> land, I end up being blocked on commit because of conflicts in the  
>> stupid ChangeLog files.  Often even after I resolve conflicts,  
>> someone checks in again, and then I get conflicts all over again.
>>
>> If I have to make a minor change because of a code review, I often  
>> don't feel like I can even re-run layout tests, because waiting  
>> even 5 minutes just means I'm going to have conflicts again!
>>
>> Having everyone in the project hitting the same file when all of  
>> this information could be specified as part of checkin messages is  
>> just crazy.  How much productivity has been lost from everyone  
>> having to fix that stupid file... we've even written whole scripts  
>> just to deal with merge headaches from this file.
>>
>> What purpose do these stupid files even serve at this point?
>>
>> They need to die.
>
>
> It's great to hear you say this. I agree and hit this issue all the  
> time as well. Like you say, the SVN log has the same information as  
> the Changelog. Maybe prepareChangelog should become  
> prepareCommitMessage which can generate a message template with  
> slots for the reviewer and list the files changed so you can still  
> add details about the changes. It would make life easier, I think...
>
> -----
> ~Chris
> cmarrin at apple.com
>
>
>
>