For me the big gain is at the code review stage. It's much easier to review a set of patches that are a clear and distinct sequence of changes without "oops, fi

For me the big gain is at the code review stage. It's much easier to review a set of patches that are a clear and distinct sequence of changes without "oops, fix bug" changes later in the series. It does require extra work by the code author, but it means less work for the code reviewer. Depending on the project and the organisation and the workflow, that can be a worthwhile tradeoff.