[MPlayer-cvslog] r27550 - in trunk: libmpdemux/demux_mkv.c mpcommon.c

[Reimar Doeffinger]

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 01:17:06AM +0200, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 11:23:32PM +0200, Dominik 'Rathann' Mierzejewski wrote:
> > On Tuesday, 09 September 2008 at 23:16, Diego Biurrun wrote:
> > > On Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 09:11:41AM +0200, Reimar Döffinger wrote:
> > > > On Mon, Sep 08, 2008 at 11:26:22PM +0200, uau wrote:
> > > > > 
> > > > > Log:
> > > > > Revert bad changes to SSA/ASS subtitle packet format
> > > > > [...]
> > > > 
> > > > That is not an acceptable commit message. If it needs such a long
> > > > explanation, explain it on the mailing list and reference the mail, but
> > > > commit messages are supposed to be messages, not whole reference books.
> > > 
> > > I disagree.  It's better to have it in the log message than on the ml.
> > 
> > I agree with Reimar. Such long commit messages take a while to read.
> > IMHO the point of a commit message is to describe the changes concisely
> > in a couple of sentences so that one can look at "svn log" output without
> > needing the diffs.
> 
> No.  The diffs can never explain why the change they describe was made,
> they only show you what the change consists of.  Very often, it is not
> at all easy to deduce one from the other.  This is an example of such a
> case.

And the commit message does not help too much, because in the load of text it
is very hard to find the relevant information.
Stuff like "AFAIK" do only in very exceptional circumstances belong there, and I do
not see that here.
The text is also prose, instead of e.g. a list of abbreviated reasons.
As it is, the message simply does _not_ allow me to quickly see _why_ things were
changed as they are.
Even just emphasizing some keywords somehow would have helped a lot.
If a majority really wants to have prose in commit messages I do not really care,
but only _in addition_ to some kind of abreviated "executive summary" of max. 4 lines
that mentions the major what and whys.

Greetings,
Reimar Doeffinger