Adopt a commit message style?

[alisianoi]

Hello, guardians of reasonable javascript style! It appears that you also follow some sort of a commit message style (but I could not find its description). Would you like to adopt some formal commit message style (like jquery style, angular style or maybe your own)?

Here is how commit history looks in those projects: jquery core and angular.js

[ljharb]

I generally try to preface commit messages with bracketed tags related to the commit, but I don't see the value of a tightly enforced commit message convention trumping the inconvenience of requiring everybody to follow it.

[lencioni]

If you find it useful, here are my thoughts on what makes a great commit message.

Regarding the inconvenience of requiring everyone to use it, this can be resolved fairly easy by standardizing on a tool like Overcommit for your team to manage Git hooks.

[ljharb]

On an open source project, however, it becomes much more difficult to require potential contributors - who are often newcomers - to follow a commit message convention. Being welcoming to newcomers is very important.

[lencioni]

Totally!

[alisianoi]

@ljharb @lencioni there is an npm module called commitplease that I help develop and would recommend you to use (if you decide to adopt a commit message style). It tells newcomers about what is wrong with their commit message, like so (with an exact error and a link to style description):

[lencioni]

Link for the lazy: https://www.npmjs.com/package/commitplease

[lencioni]

@all3fox You should submit a PR to Overcommit that adds commitplease as a CommitMsg hook. I've opened an issue over there if you are interested: sds/overcommit#405

[alisianoi]

Thank you, I have just been assigned to that too: jzaefferer/commitplease#72