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Does the majority read commit messages as "If applied, this commit will..."? I always treated log messages as a history of events, i.e. describing what had hap
by divan 11y ago
Does the majority read commit messages as "If applied, this commit will..."?
I always treated log messages as a history of events, i.e. describing what had happened in the past - this commit "fixed" something, and this one "changed" something, "refactored", "implemented", etc.
- seiji 11y agoA commit object is a container talking about itself. You don't talk about your present state in the past tense.
- GavinMcG 11y agoA commit object is a container of changes. A commit message is a label placed on that container by whoever packed it. It's not the container talking about itself – it's a programmer labeling something for other programmers to read (in the future) about something they have already done.
- jarfil 11y agoThat would be the egocentric view, instead of letting the commit stand on its own.
- donatj 11y agoI've generally taken the tone of what the commit does "Fixes widget 22", "Adds foo bar"
- nanny 11y agoThe "use the imperative mood" trope has gotten completely out of hand, and the "If applied, this commit will ..." argument is entirely nonsensical. You can slightly adjust the lead-in and make the same exact argument for a different tense, e.g., simply take "will" out of the sentence and you have the same argument for the present tense. The most important thing is to discuss it with your team and consistently use the tense chosen.