Merge branch 'cb/maint-fetch-refspec-wo-dst' into maint

[git.git] / Documentation / SubmittingPatches

diff --git a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
index 9b559adefce5c9a89e58d30ae79820a9ef2e9072..76fc84d8780762e083cd4ca584b9d783b8c0cd81 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
+++ b/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
@@ -6,9 +6,13 @@ Checklist (and a short version for the impatient):
        - check for unnecessary whitespace with "git diff --check"
          before committing
        - do not check in commented out code or unneeded files
-       - provide a meaningful commit message
        - the first line of the commit message should be a short
          description and should skip the full stop
+       - the body should provide a meaningful commit message, which:
+               - uses the imperative, present tense: "change",
+                 not "changed" or "changes".
+               - includes motivation for the change, and contrasts
+                 its implementation with previous behaviour
        - if you want your work included in git.git, add a
          "Signed-off-by: Your Name <you@example.com>" line to the
          commit message (or just use the option "-s" when
@@ -62,6 +66,14 @@ Describe the technical detail of the change(s).
 
 If your description starts to get too long, that's a sign that you
 probably need to split up your commit to finer grained pieces.
+That being said, patches which plainly describe the things that
+help reviewers check the patch, and future maintainers understand
+the code, are the most beautiful patches.  Descriptions that summarise
+the point in the subject well, and describe the motivation for the
+change, the approach taken by the change, and if relevant how this
+differs substantially from the prior version, can be found on Usenet
+archives back into the late 80's.  Consider it like good Netiquette,
+but for code.
 
 Oh, another thing.  I am picky about whitespaces.  Make sure your
 changes do not trigger errors with the sample pre-commit hook shipped
@@ -491,6 +503,12 @@ message, complete the addressing and subject fields, and press send.
 Gmail
 -----
 
+GMail does not appear to have any way to turn off line wrapping in the web
+interface, so this will mangle any emails that you send.  You can however
+use any IMAP email client to connect to the google imap server, and forward
+the emails through that.  Just make sure to disable line wrapping in that
+email client.  Alternatively, use "git send-email" instead.
+
 Submitting properly formatted patches via Gmail is simple now that
 IMAP support is available. First, edit your ~/.gitconfig to specify your
 account settings:
@@ -503,6 +521,9 @@ account settings:
        port = 993
        sslverify = false
 
+You might need to instead use: folder = "[Google Mail]/Drafts" if you get an error
+that the "Folder doesn't exist".
+
 Next, ensure that your Gmail settings are correct. In "Settings" the
 "Use Unicode (UTF-8) encoding for outgoing messages" should be checked.
 
@@ -513,3 +534,4 @@ command to send the patch emails to your Gmail Drafts folder.
 
 Go to your Gmail account, open the Drafts folder, find the patch email, fill
 in the To: and CC: fields and send away!
+