[webkit-dev] bugid in ChangeLog

[Maciej Stachowiak]

On Mar 28, 2011, at 11:21 AM, Darin Adler wrote:

> On Mar 28, 2011, at 10:44 AM, Jeremy Orlow wrote:
> 
>> If the issue is simply one of overhead, then we should allow committers to omit change logs when they're not necessary as well.
> 
> Sure I am open to discussion about that. I think that some check-ins, especially LayoutTest ones, don’t need change log entries.
> 
> What we need is a rationale for when change log entries are needed, and when that rationale was not met, the check-in could happen without one.

Two benefits of ChangeLog entries apply to almost any kind of change:

1) They strongly encourage you to write a reasonably good commit message. (It might be possible to achieve that without ChangeLogs, but I have never seen a project that fails to use ChangeLogs and yet has comparably detailed commit messages.)

2) They let you see the change history of a file offline, even if you're not using a version control system that stores every revision locally.

I think #1 is the most important, even if it's an indirect effect. It certainly applies to test cases. It might not apply to regression test meta-files, but I think it's better to have no exceptions than a very narrow exception.

Regards,
Maciej