What is the use of commit messages?

Posted by eteubert on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by eteubert
Published on 2010-05-10T21:47:30Z Indexed on 2010/05/10 21:54 UTC
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Hi folks,

I struggled asking that question but here it is. I am using source control since several years for multiple projects using different systems (svn, hg, git) and I learned how to improve my messages by following guidelines etc. But as far as I can remember I never ever had a look at them afterwards.

So ... how do you profit from your own commit messages? When I need to go back because I smashed something and need a fresh start, I usually just go back to the latest "node" (where I started or merged a branch). Do I write those messages just for people monitoring the project who are curious what is going on?

Regards

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