- the first line of the commit message should be a short
description (50 characters is the soft limit, see DISCUSSION
in git-commit(1)), and should skip the full stop
+ - it is also conventional in most cases to prefix the
+ first line with "area: " where the area is a filename
+ or identifier for the general area of the code being
+ modified, e.g.
+ . archive: ustar header checksum is computed unsigned
+ . git-cherry-pick.txt: clarify the use of revision range notation
+ (if in doubt which identifier to use, run "git log --no-merges"
+ on the files you are modifying to see the current conventions)
- the body should provide a meaningful commit message, which:
. explains the problem the change tries to solve, iow, what
is wrong with the current code without the change.
run git diff --check on your changes before you commit.
-(1a) Try to be nice to older C compilers
-
-We try to support a wide range of C compilers to compile
-git with. That means that you should not use C99 initializers, even
-if a lot of compilers grok it.
-
-Also, variables have to be declared at the beginning of the block
-(you can check this with gcc, using the -Wdeclaration-after-statement
-option).
-
-Another thing: NULL pointers shall be written as NULL, not as 0.
-
-
(2) Generate your patch using git tools out of your commits.
git based diff tools generate unidiff which is the preferred format.
You often want to add additional explanation about the patch,
other than the commit message itself. Place such "cover letter"
-material between the three dash lines and the diffstat.
+material between the three dash lines and the diffstat. Git-notes
+can also be inserted using the `--notes` option.
Do not attach the patch as a MIME attachment, compressed or not.
Do not let your e-mail client send quoted-printable. Do not let