[Python-Dev] Commit messages: please avoid temporal ambiguity

[Oleg Broytman]

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 09:33:13AM -0400, R. David Murray wrote:
> commit:
>     11999: sync based on comparing mtimes, not mtime to system clock
> NEWS:
>     Issue 11999: fixed sporadic sync failure mailbox.Maildir due to its
>     trying to detect mtime changes by comparing to the system clock
>     instead of to the previous value of the mtime.
> 
> commit:
>     #11873: Improve test regex so random directory names don't cause test to fail
> NEWS:
>     Issue #11873: Change regex in test_compileall to fix occasional
>     failures when when the randomly generated temporary path happened to
>     match the regex.
> 
> You will note the *active* verbs "fixed", "improve", and "change"
> figure in there prominently :)

   Why "fixed" is in the past tense, but "improve", and "change" are in
present tense?

   I use past tense to describe what I did on the code, and present
simple to describe what the new code does when running. For example:

"Fixed a bug in time comparison: compare mtime to mtime, not mtime to system clock"

   I.e., "fixed" - that what I did, and "compare" is what the code does.

(I used an excerpt from above only for the example, not to correct
something.)

Oleg.
-- 
     Oleg Broytman            http://phdru.name/            phd at phdru.name
           Programmers don't die, they just GOSUB without RETURN.