Re: Stop updating ChangeLog?

["Maciej W. Rozycki" <macro at mips dot com>]

Hi Yao,

>  #1 Are ChangeLog files useful in GDB releases to various people
>  who build GDB releases?
>  #2 Are ChangeLog files useful in GDB repo to various GDB
>  developers?
> 
> a) If answers are Yes/Yes, we keep unchanged,
> b) If answers are No/No, we don't need to write changelog entries in
> git commit log, nor updating ChangeLog file,
> c) If answer are Yes/No, developers still have to write changelog
> entries in git commit log, and we can generate ChangeLog on
> release from git log.
> d) If answers are No/Yes, get use to git to get the information from
> git log instead of ChangeLog,

 For me it's No/Yes for two reasons:

1. It is often cheaper in terms of computation or I/O to run `grep' on
   local ChangeLog files than on output from `git', which in turn means
   you get results sooner.  I know it's a weak argument, but still.

2. More importantly, many times I found writing a ChangeLog entry the last 
   reflection point when I realised the solution wasn't actually the right 
   one.  This is because at that point you need to give individual changes
   another thought, and then actually look at them from a different angle, 
   to have them properly expressed in ChangeLog-speak.  I expect that at 
   least some people have had a similar experience and I'd like to keep 
   that opportunity.

I reckon we had a discussion before (at the last GNU Tools Cauldron 
perhaps?) where we concluded that we ought to work towards having a GIT 
commit hook extracting embedded ChangeLog entries from the commit 
description and adding them to actual ChangeLog files automagically.  I 
would be in favour to that.  Although myself I have developed a work flow 
which makes pasting ChangeLog entries into files from a commit description 
very little involving, I still find ChangeLog file conflicts a problem 
with backports.

 FWIW,

  Maciej