ChangeLog entries (Was: [PATCH v3] Use fallthrough attribute)

[Ulf Hermann]

> For people that don't like them, what exactly is it about them that you
> don't like? And what would you suggest as replacement?

I don't like them because they constantly give me problems when merging and for me at least they only repeat, in a less convenient form, what the commit message already states. I like to put the "what" part in the commit message, too. And there I can write paragraphs of text that describe changes that span multiple directories. In ChangeLog I have to restrict myself to only that directory, which often doesn't make sense. So, the ChangeLog entries often are glorified "change line X in file Y", which doesn't really tell you what's going on. Also, the format encourages you to keep the ChangeLog entries overly short, which, especially in combination with the other problems, IMO makes them mostly unreadable.

So, as a replacement: Write more verbose commit messages.

br,
Ulf