GNU bug report logs - #20400
wrong author line in generated ChangeLog

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Message #3 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
To: submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: wrong author line in generated ChangeLog
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 2015 16:41:59 -0400

Package: emacs
Version: 25.0.50

`make ChangeLog' gives me a file containing this:

2015-04-19  Steve Purcell  <steve <at> sanityinc.com>
            Steve Purcell  <steve <at> sanityinc.com>

Presumably this is due to a mistake in
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-diffs/2015-04/msg00308.html

Three things to fix IMO:

1) That specific ChangeLog entry

2) The description of Co-authored-by in CONTRIBUTE seems misleading. I
guess it should say something along the lines of "If the commit has
authors other than the one listed in the Author: header (ie, the one
passed to git commit --author")..." rather than "other than yourself".

3) The ChangeLog generation script should avoid listing literally
identical authors twice.

Message #8 received at 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Artur Malabarba <bruce.connor.am <at> gmail.com>
To: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20400: wrong author line in generated ChangeLog
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 15:40:45 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Sorry about this.

> 2) The description of Co-authored-by in CONTRIBUTE seems misleading. I
> guess it should say something along the lines of "If the commit has
> authors other than the one listed in the Author: header (ie, the one
> passed to git commit --author")..." rather than "other than yourself".

Yes, please. That's exactly what caused my confusion.
CONTRIBUTE should tell us to use the regular git author, and then mention
that the header is available for when additional authors are needed. The
way it is written sounds like you must use the header if the author is not
you.

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #11 received at 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: bruce.connor.am <at> gmail.com
Cc: rgm <at> gnu.org, 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20400: wrong author line in generated ChangeLog
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 17:49:16 +0300

> Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 15:40:45 +0100
> From: Artur Malabarba <bruce.connor.am <at> gmail.com>
> Cc: 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > 2) The description of Co-authored-by in CONTRIBUTE seems misleading. I
> > guess it should say something along the lines of "If the commit has
> > authors other than the one listed in the Author: header (ie, the one
> > passed to git commit --author")..." rather than "other than yourself".
> 
> Yes, please. That's exactly what caused my confusion. 
> CONTRIBUTE should tell us to use the regular git author, and then mention that
> the header is available for when additional authors are needed. The way it is
> written sounds like you must use the header if the author is not you. 

I fixed this, although with a different text than suggested above
(which I find too long and confusing).  Let me know if the new text
needs more work.

Message #14 received at 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Artur Malabarba <bruce.connor.am <at> gmail.com>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>, 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#20400: wrong author line in generated ChangeLog
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2015 15:41:05 +0100

Looks fine to me. Thanks Eli.

2015-04-24 15:49 GMT+01:00 Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>:
>> Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 15:40:45 +0100
>> From: Artur Malabarba <bruce.connor.am <at> gmail.com>
>> Cc: 20400 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
>>
>> > 2) The description of Co-authored-by in CONTRIBUTE seems misleading. I
>> > guess it should say something along the lines of "If the commit has
>> > authors other than the one listed in the Author: header (ie, the one
>> > passed to git commit --author")..." rather than "other than yourself".
>>
>> Yes, please. That's exactly what caused my confusion.
>> CONTRIBUTE should tell us to use the regular git author, and then mention that
>> the header is available for when additional authors are needed. The way it is
>> written sounds like you must use the header if the author is not you.
>
> I fixed this, although with a different text than suggested above
> (which I find too long and confusing).  Let me know if the new text
> needs more work.

Message #19 received at 20400-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: 20400-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: wrong author line in generated ChangeLog
Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2015 16:43:44 -0700

I ran 'make change-history', committed the typo fix to ChangeLog.2, and am 
marking this as done.

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