On Mon, Apr 18, 2022 at 13:34 Ryosuke Niwa <rn...@webkit.org> wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 18, 2022 at 08:30 Jonathan Bedard via webkit-dev < > webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org> wrote: > >> As we migrate WebKit from Subversion to git, I would like to migrate the >> project away from ChangeLogs. The reason for this is that ChangeLogs make >> some of the features of git hard to use, namely, cherry-picking commits >> between branches requires conflict resolution every time. Rotating >> ChangeLogs is also moderately difficult in git with locked down commit >> access like our project has, only repository administers would, in >> practice, be able to rotate ChangeLogs. Lastly, ChangeLogs are uncommon in >> git based projects, so new contributors will find them difficult to manage. >> >> Currently, our git tooling makes very little effort to either support >> ChangeLogs or to provide alternatives. I have listed bellow some of the >> reasons I understand folks to like ChangeLogs along with possible git-based >> solutions, if necessary. >> >> 1) Subversion commit messages are stored server side, local development >> needs a copy >> git doesn’t have this problem. We have a local record of commit messages >> in every checkout. >> 2) We need a way to comment on commit messages in review >> Current tooling sets the pull request description as the commit message, >> “Quote Reply” kind of provides a way to inline comment, although it’s not >> the formal review UI >> *Proposal*: Tooling should support a “COMMIT_MESSAGE” file in each pull >> request commit that becomes COMMIT_MESSAGE when a pull request is landed >> 3) Edit commit messages while creating a change, not just when committing >> the change >> The “overwrite” workflow already sort of support this idea by using amend >> commits instead of appending commits to an existing branch >> *Proposal*: The above “COMMIT_MESSAGE” file workflow would allow >> iterative building of a commit message before committing >> > > There is another issue to add here. Right now, change log entry exists for > many sub directories of the respiratory like Source/WebCore and > LayoutTests. With a commit message, however, there could be only one per > patch / PR. > > This makes it harder to review each part separately. For example, I'd like > to focus on core changes first and then onto test changes, or vice versa > depending on patches I'm reviewing. > > So ideally, this commit message field mirror where change log files > currently exist such that "commit message" for each sub directory will show > up separately. > > 4) Using git commands to view commit messages is hard >> There don’t seem to be many projects which have a solution for this. In >> practice, it seems that reducing the scope of messages shown by restricting >> history to a specific directory or even file is one solution, another is >> shorter commit messages >> *Proposal*: Have Tools/Scripts/git-webkit setup configure hooks in >> contributors local git repositories to lay down CommitMessages.history >> files on merge, checkout and commit which contain the last 5000 commit >> messages. We can put these in similar places to where ChangeLogs are today, >> although we would likely want them in fewer places because this will >> increase local compute time on many git operations. We could also make this >> a configurable setting so that engineers who are more comfortable with the >> raw command line tooling do not have to deal with slower git operations. >> >> I like the COMMIT_MESSAGE and hooks proposals because they are opt-in. >> Contributors who wish to use native git tooling to contribute and interact >> with the project do not have to use either tool, but the tools are >> compatible enough with native git workflows that contributors who find >> editing and viewing commit messages primarily in a text editor >> >> Looking forward to the discussion, >> >> Jonathan Bedard >> WebKit Continuous Integration >> _______________________________________________ >> webkit-dev mailing list >> webkit-dev@lists.webkit.org >> https://lists.webkit.org/mailman/listinfo/webkit-dev >> > -- > - R. Niwa > -- - R. Niwa
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