# Commit Message Format Policy # {#commit_messages}

[TOC]

Commit messages should begin with a brief subject line.  Try to limit this
to no more than 72 characters.  The body of the message should be separated
from the subject line by a blank line and wrapped at 72 characters. The body
of a commit message should explain what the commit does and why.  Do not
explain *how* the changes work as the code itself should do that.

# Linking a commit to an issue # {#commit_bug_link}

If your commit fixes an issue that has been reported in the [issue
tracker](https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues), add a line indicating the
fixed issue number to your commit message. In such case, Gitlab will
automatically close the issue and add a link to your commit in the issue.

For example, the following line will automatically close issue #1234567:

    Fixes https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues/1234567

There is an [alias](#commit_fixes_alias) to simplify this step.
You can read more about automatic issue closing in the
[Gitlab documentation](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issues/managing_issues.html#closing-issues-automatically).

# Changelog tags {#commit_changelog_tag}

To facilitate following the code changes, you should include a changelog tag
to indicate modifications noticeable by the users.  There are three types of
changelog tags:

- `ADDED` to denote a new feature
- `CHANGED` to indicate a modification of an existing feature
- `REMOVED` to inform about removal of an existing feature

There is no need to add changelog tags for commits that do not modify the way
the users interact with the software, such as code refactoring or a bugfix for
unexpected behavior.  The main purpose of the changelog tags is to generate the
release notes and notify the documentation maintainers about changes.  Keep that
in mind when deciding whether to add a changelog tag.

## Making the Documentation Developers Aware of Changes {#commit_let_doc_team_know}

When a commit with changelog tag is pushed, the committer should create a new
issue in the [documentation
repository](http://github.com/KiCad/kicad-doc/issues) to notify the
documentation maintainers.  You should include a link to the commit containing
the reported changes.

## Extracting changelog {#commit_extract_changelog}

Thanks to the changelog tags, it is easy to extract the changelog using git
commands:

    git log -E --grep="ADD[ED]?:|REMOVE[D]?:|CHANGE[D]?:" --since="1 Jan 2017"
    git log -E --grep="ADD[ED]?:|REMOVE[D]?:|CHANGE[D]?:" <commit hash>

KiCad provides an [alias](#commit_changelog_alias) to shorten the changelog
extraction commands.

# Example # {#commit_example}

Following is an example of a properly formatted commit message:

    Eeschema: Adding line styling options

    ADDED: Add support in Eeschema for changing the default line style,
    width and color on a case-by-case basis.

    CHANGED: "Wire" lines now optionally include data on the line style,
    width and color if they differ from the default.

    Fixes https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues/594059
    Fixes https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues/1405026

# Git aliases file # {#commit_git_aliases}

There is a file containing helpful git aliases located at
`helpers/git/fixes_alias`. To install it, run in the source repository:

    git config --add include.path $(pwd)/helpers/git/fixes_alias

## 'fixes' alias # {#commit_fixes_alias}

Once the alias configuration file is installed, it may be used to amend the
most recent commit to include the bug report link:

    git fixes 1234567

For example, the command below will append a line to the last commit message:

    Fixes https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/issues/1234567

## 'changelog' alias # {#commit_changelog_alias}

With the alias configuration file installed, you get an alias to extract the changelog:

    git changelog --since="1 Jan 2017"
    git changelog <commit hash>