ChangeLog format [WAS: Error making pot file]

[Chris Shoemaker]

On Thu, Jan 05, 2006 at 10:52:18AM -0500, Derek Atkins wrote:
> Quoting Chris Shoemaker <c.shoemaker at cox.net>:
> 
> >For that reason (and because I'm hoping ChangeLog will oneday become
> >more automated) I'm not in favor of adding a dependency on ChangeLog.
> 
> 1) I don't see this particular change happening anytime soon.  There's
>   just no consensus to do it this way, and frankly it just isn't that
>   much additional work to cut-and-paste the log message.

Actually, last time I did it, it was a considerable about of work to
undo the whitespace damage of the xslt script.  It would be almost
trivial if I could use the format output by `svn log`.  Incidentally,
I prefer that format for legibility and informative purposes, too.  (I
like seeing revision # and time; seeing the 'action' character instead
of '*' is very nice; starting on column 1 means I can see more at
once.)

Tell you what: I propose changing the format of the ChangeLog
slightly.  Not so much that the entries _have_ to be cut-n-pasted from
svn log, but enough so that entries that _are_ cut-n-pasted from svn
log don't look horribly out-of-place.  I'll even volunteer to reformat
the ENTIRE file (from the beginning of 2006 :) and fix the spelling of
your name.  :)

Proposed format changes: 
        1) Email addresses are not required (They're already in
AUTHORS, and how many 1000's of times do we need to repeat them in the
logs?)  But they may be included in the message for a new contributor,
(and should be if they're not in AUTHORS.)

        2) 'Action' characters may replace '*'.  E.g.:
   M /trunk/Makefile.am
   A /trunk/po/glossary/nb.po (from /trunk/po/glossary/no.po:12015)
   D /trunk/po/glossary/no.po
   M /trunk/po/nb.po

        3) Changed filepaths may specify what branch the change was
made on.

        4) Commit dates may include time, too.

        5) Commit messages don't have to be block-indented.

        6) Fields in the first log line may be delimited by ' | '
instead of only ' '.

        7) First log line may include svn revision number.

These changes would mean I could cut-n-paste from svn log without
removing useful info and adding useless info.

Any complaints?  (/me dons flame-retardant jump-suit)

> 2) Even if Changelog IS automated, adding the dependency doesn't hurt
>   anything.  At worst it's a no-op.  At best it gets us an updated
>   file at appropriate times.

"At best"?  If I touched ChangeLog as I edited files, like you
suggest, I'd constantly be remaking POTFILES.in.  How's that for a
reason not to add ChangeLog as a dependency for anything being remade?

-chris