[darcs-users] How to name patches

[Wolfgang Jeltsch]

Hi!

A patch is a change to a file tree. So the name of a patch should
describe this change. Sometimes, I see patch names that do exactly this.
An example is “version and changelog bump” in the repository of darcs
itself. On the other hand, I have never seen patch names like “addition
of README file”.

Instead, I often see names like “add README file”. Such names sound
strange to me, as they sound like imperatives. For example, you can get
the impression that somebody is commanded to add a README file, although
the README file has already been added.

Another approach is to have names like “added README file”, which does
not really describe the patch, but the situation after applying the
patch. Then again, there are patch names like “initial version”, which
actually describe the file tree after applying the patch.

Is there any agreement of how patches should be named and maybe some
motivation for this? In my own repositories, I would like to follow a
naming convention that is sensible, preferably not too far away from
established practices, but first and foremost consistent. It is just
that at the moment, I cannot really see a clear common convention.

All the best,
Wolfgang