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-rw-r--r--HACKING30
1 files changed, 19 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/HACKING b/HACKING
index 98c19e7f..5a1b86bf 100644
--- a/HACKING
+++ b/HACKING
@@ -6,10 +6,9 @@ the <systemtap@sources.redhat.com> mailing list.
Submissions should be in an easy-to-read diff/patch form, unless
this is inappropriate due to size, relevance, or fraction of novel
- content. They should be accompanied by an explanation, and
- ChangeLog entries. The relevant test suites should be run before
- and after your changes, and regressions avoided, explained, or
- corrected.
+ content. They should be accompanied by an explanation. The
+ relevant test suites should be run before and after your changes,
+ and regressions avoided, explained, or corrected.
Established contributors may be considered for direct GIT write
access. Other contributors should simply pack up the goods into a
@@ -31,13 +30,22 @@ the <systemtap@sources.redhat.com> mailing list.
- coding style
Abide by the general formatting of the code you are modifying. The
- code base generally follows the GNU standards. ChangeLog entries
- are used for nontrivial changes to source or documentation files.
- Some subdirectories have ChangeLog files of their own, so make sure
- you find the correct ones to prepend.
-
- In the git commit message, make the first line an brief summary of
- the patch. There is no need to transcribe the ChangeLog entries there.
+ code base generally follows the GNU standards in usermode code and
+ the Linux kernel standards in runtime code.
+
+- commit messages
+
+ In the git commit message, make the first line a brief (<=50 char)
+ summary of the patch, and leave the second line blank. If you have
+ trouble coming up with a concise summary, consider whether your
+ patch might be better broken into smaller commits.
+
+ For trivial changes, the summary alone may be sufficient, but most
+ commits should include a paragraph or two giving more details about
+ what the change is and why it is needed. Extra information like
+ bugzilla numbers and mailing-list discussion links are appreciated
+ as a supplement, but they are not a replacement for a real
+ description.
- test suites