Re: Using VC for change descriptions

[Paul Eggert]

On 11/27/2017 03:31 PM, Richard Stallman wrote:
> I am talking about the need to provide some
> sort of change log data in the releases -- for situations where someone
> does not have access to the repository because
>
> There is no internet there.
> The internet is totally surveilled.
> Access is blocked from that place.
> ssh is blocked in that place.
> There is no repository any more in that year.
> There is no internet in that year.

If someone has no access whatsoever, then they cannot get a copy of the 
release in the first place. On the other hand if they can get a copy of 
a release tarball (via a smuggled USB stick, for example), they can get 
a copy of the development repository via the same means (on the same USB 
stick). These days it is practical and easy to copy development 
repositories even under adverse conditions such as those you posit. For 
example, the complete Git-format repository for the master branch of GNU 
Emacs currently fits into a 605 MB tarball (uncompressed), and nowadays 
it's easy to store something that small on a USB flash drive.

> Would someone like to determine
> what rules people should practice, so as to assure that the output gives us
> all the useful information that a properly written ChangeLog file has?
Here is a suggestion: use the current ChangeLog format, except omit 
information that is obvious from the diff output. For example, there is 
no need to list every file that was changed, because that is obvious 
from the diff output and someone interested in changes to a file FOO can 
simply run 'git log FOO' which is better than grepping through a 
ChangeLog file anyway.

For example, here's the most recent commit message from the current 
Emacs master branch:

    Fix probable typo in elisp-mode constant name

    * lisp/progmodes/elisp-mode.el (emacs-lisp-byte-code-comment-re):
    Rename from emacs-list-byte-code-comment-re.  Add doc string.
    (elisp--byte-code-comment, elisp-byte-code-syntax-propertize):
    Update for the above.

I would shorten this to:

    Fix probable typo in elisp-mode constant name

as that is enough for this minor change, as the details are obvious from 
the diff (attached).

t.diff
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