Re: Modifications of the changelog.

[Gergely Nagy <algernon@balabit.hu>]

Tomasz Muras <nexor1984@gmail.com> writes:

> On 04/22/2012 02:48 PM, Bernhard R. Link wrote:
>> * Arno Töll<arno@debian.org>  [120421 11:51]:
>>> The whole point of a changelog is a time dependent frozen point of view
>>> at your package. Once you released a version of a package, you should
>>> consider it untouchable
>>
>> I strongly disagree. First of all, a changelog is there to see what has
>> changed when, i.e. it is a documentation of what important changed where
>> done and when (i.e. which package version) they were done for.
>> There is normally no reason to change older entries as most details get
>> less important over time, but if there is anything importing misleading
>> in them, something important incorrect or something important enough
>> missing, then not correcting the changelog is not acceptable in my eyes.
>>
>> The new changelog should be about what was changed since the version
>> before (that might be some hint that the older changelog was corrected
>> if you prefer), but import changes in the old package should be in the
>> part of the changelog for the old package.
>
> I fully agree with Bernhard - basically if there is a good reason to
> improve old changelog entry, you should do it.

I agree (to a point) with both. I believe old changelog entries should
not be touched (apart from typo fixes and the like): adding or removing
elements from old entries is Bad(tm).

There are very few exceptions, when adding or removing an entry from an
old changelog is acceptable, and in those cases, these changes should be
documented in the new version aswell, so that those who do not follow
the packages VCS, will know that an old entry was modified too, and they
might wish to have another look at it.

Something like "* Changelog for $VERSION updated to reflect reality" can
work for me, as long as there is some indication in the new changelog
that the old was modified.

But - and I want to stress this - having to modify old changelogs should
be a rare exception.

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