Improving commit logs

[Ngie Cooper]

On Tue, Apr 12, 2016 at 5:18 PM, O'Connor, Daniel <darius at dons.net.au> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> Some people on IRC were commenting about how commit logs without a 'why' in them are much less useful (both to others and yourself in the future) and how this can be improved in the FreeBSD project.
>
> Ed Maste pointed out that there is no real guidance about content of the commit log in the docs (https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/committers-guide/commit-log-message.html) except for the mechanical (PR, Reviewed By, etc).
>
> I propose changing the top part of it to..
>
> ===== SNIP =====
> This section contains some suggestions and traditions for how commit logs are formatted and what they should contain.
>
> A commit log should explain *why* a commit has taken place, and to a lesser degree *how* and *what* was changed.
>
> The why of a commit message is absolutely critical to allow other people (including your future self) to understand
> the reason a change was made.
>
> The how and what can be skipped if they are obvious (it's left as an exercise to the reader to determine what obvious is).
> Generally speaking *what* is obvious due to the diff itself, the *how* can provide context and is more likely to be useful.
>
> Due to the use of git and use of svn blame it is highly desirable to have a 1 line summary of the commit, however don't let that constrain you, a summary plus more detailed explanation is fine if necessary.
>
> As well as including an informative message with each commit you may need to include some additional information.
> ===== SNIP =====
>
> Does anyone have any (constructive) comments or feedback?

Isn't this just an extension of what others have written up before?
Googling "writing good commit messages yielded:

1. http://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
2. https://robots.thoughtbot.com/5-useful-tips-for-a-better-commit-message

This is what I generally try to follow with commits...
Thanks!
-Ngie