GNU bug report logs - #21998
Run 'make change-history' on release branch

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Message #60 received at 21998 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Eric S. Raymond" <esr <at> thyrsus.com>
To: Mathieu Lirzin <mthl <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 21998 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>,
 Emacs developers <emacs-devel <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: Is it time to drop ChangeLogs?
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2016 20:19:58 -0500

Mathieu Lirzin <mthl <at> gnu.org>:
> On a more spiritual side, I think they belong to the zen of contributing
> to a GNU project.  :)

Dear Goddess, I hope you're joking.

Speaking as a very, *very* long-time GNU contributor (I'm pretty sure
my earliest Emacs patches predated the formation of the FSF), I
consider ChangeLogs a relic of a bygone era.

Changelogs made some sense as a way of grouping together what we now
call a changeset back in the days of file-oriented version-control
systems.  Nowadays, set against the actual changeset comments in
version-control histories, Changelogs are a pointless and duplicative
ritual.

I think we should have dispensed with this practice during the CVS-to-bzr
transition. As it is, the sooner gone the better.  It's not as if retaining
arbitrary hoops for new developers to have to jump through is a *good* idea.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

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