Commit Policy

Commit generation

• Keep commits both small and separated.
• Only one semantic change/extension/addition per commit. This way it's easier to track down problems afterwards with a bisect search.
  • Don't do e.g. coding style improvements and feature additions (in unrelated code) in one single commit.
  • Never mix substantial and structural changes (e.g. indentation changes) into one commit.

Commit Comments

• Commit comments must be written in English.
• Comment lines are limited to 72 characters with exception of longer URLs or cited text that would otherwise be unintelligible (e.g. error messages or code sequences).
• They begin with a single line log message indicating what has been changed. This line should start with an indicator as to the primary item/file/module/subsystem affected by the change, followed by a short summary. The short log message is analogous to the git "commit summary".
• The short log message in the beginning must be followed by an empty line.
• Next, a full description of the change may be included, specifying the intent of your change and, if necessary, how the change resolves the issue. If applicable, this block is followed by another empty line.
• This is followed by at least one Signed-off-by: tag line (identifying the developer responsible for the check-in).
• For a commit to join the dev and master branches, it is required to contain one Signed-off-by: and two Acked-by: lines. (see the following note)
• If applicable, additional tag lines are added as follows:
  • Each developer who has contributed to the patch is responsible for adding a Signed-off-by: tag line.
  • Each reviewer adds an Acked-by: tag line.
  • Each tester adds a Tested-by: tag line.

Example:

ssh_conn: switch to python-xyz ssh implementation

python-abc ssh implementation was declared obsolete by it's maintainers
and should be replaced by python-xyz.

Signed-off-by: Susi Sorglos <susi@dresearch-fe.de>
Signed-off-by: Klaus Kleister <klaus@dresearch-fe.de>
Acked-by: Willi Wusel <willi@dresearch-fe.de>