Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755473AbZDPBIZ (ORCPT ); Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:08:25 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752188AbZDPBIP (ORCPT ); Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:08:15 -0400 Received: from smtp1.linux-foundation.org ([140.211.169.13]:43970 "EHLO smtp1.linux-foundation.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752104AbZDPBIP (ORCPT ); Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:08:15 -0400 Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:03:29 -0700 (PDT) From: Linus Torvalds X-X-Sender: torvalds@localhost.localdomain To: Ingo Molnar cc: David Miller , hpa@zytor.com, tglx@linutronix.de, rusty@rustcorp.com.au, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org, davej@redhat.com Subject: Re: Fix quilt merge error in acpi-cpufreq.c In-Reply-To: <20090416004430.GA22616@elte.hu> Message-ID: References: <49E62BD5.6090508@zytor.com> <20090415.142326.97287514.davem@davemloft.net> <20090415224800.GA22425@elte.hu> <20090416004430.GA22616@elte.hu> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (LFD 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2222 Lines: 66 On Thu, 16 Apr 2009, Ingo Molnar wrote: > > So would a: > > The impact of this change: it is a pure cleanup. > > Formalization be acceptable? We tried to make it short and fit into > a single line - but we can certainly make it longer. Language is not a "fit to one string" thing. It doesn't matter what the string is: if you haev a fixed format, it's not human language. It's that easy. Don't make up stupid fixed-format rules, and most certainly don't make them make the real payload harder to tread. If people write "The impact of this is to fix compilation", then that's fine as an occasional thing, although it's damned stilted English, and I certainly wouldn't ever recommend it. Why not just say This fixes a compile problem in file so-and-so. instead? Much clearer to everybody. > You just dont seem to understand why i find it useful. You also seem > to try to deprive us the basic right of creating new, field-specific > language variants we find useful in our everyday work. And that > sucks. YOU HAVE NEVER GIVEN A COHERENT REASON FOR FINDING IT USEFUL! Yes, you bring up the same reason every time: namely that you want to know what the patch does. But never _once_ have you given a reason fo why that fixed-format string helps at all. That's what i've been trying to tell you: don't use stilted and artificial fixed formats where it doesn't make sense. Instead of Impact: cleanup just write Cleanup xyz by doing abc which is MORE informational, and much easier for everybody to read. That's all I'm asking. Stop making the commit messages harder to read, uglier, and less informative. [ And if it's purely for "grep", then you can damn well hide it at the end where nobody sane cares any more, but you seem to not have been able to acknowledge that if it's for 'grep', then you're _missing_ all the changes that don't have that string in the first place, so that's not a very good reason _either_. ] Linus -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/