Better explanatory text inside editor launched by commit needed

[Ian Clatworthy]

As of 0.15rc3, the editor displays a list of files. It could do with a more user friendly message about what to do, the importance of a clear commit message, etc.

[Andrew Bennetts (spiv)]

For reference, SVN just says:

"""

--This line, and those below, will be ignored--

M twisted/test/test_defer.py
M twisted/internet/defer.py
"""

So we're currently almost exactly the same as SVN. From memory, CVS is very
similar too.

It may be good to briefly explain that this editor is for you to enter your
commit message, but this isn't the place to try explain what commit messages are
for or what makes a good commit message (which is highly dependent on
per-project policy anyway). I wouldn't want lines and lines of help text
showing every time, obscuring the status summary which is something that is
interesting every time.

[Elliot Murphy (statik)]

Directly related to Andrew's comment about per-project policy, I would very much like the ability to customize what is displayed in this message for some of my projects, reminding people about commit message policies or formats.

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

cvs has

CVS: ----------------------------------------------------------------------
CVS: Enter Log. Lines beginning with `CVS:' are removed automatically
CVS:
CVS: Committing in .
CVS:
CVS: Modified Files:
CVS: pep.txt
CVS: ----------------------------------------------------------------------

which is a bit better though still pretty terse. Maybe "enter your
commit message, then save and exit the editor."

On 3/30/07, Elliot Murphy <email address hidden> wrote:
> Directly related to Andrew's comment about per-project policy, I would
> very much like the ability to customize what is displayed in this
> message for some of my projects, reminding people about commit message
> policies or formats.

yes, see bug 99983

--
Martin