Use of [XY] initials in debian/changelog

[G. Milde]

On  3.01.08, Rafael Laboissiere wrote:
> Some time ago we decided to tag the items in debian/changelog with the [XY]
> initials of the person responsible for each item. Unfortunately we have not
> followed this rule in a systematic way (for instance, I inadvertently used
> another convention in jed-extra 2.4.2-1).

> I will try to follow the rule more carefully in the future.  I am wondering
> whether we can change it slightly to require that the [XY] tag goes in the
> beginning of the item, in order to improve the legibility of the file.  Look
> at the lintian changelog [1], for instance.

IMO, the name-tag should go to the end because:

* It is similar to a signature

* The most important part of the message should come first and I expect that
  the user is more interested in what is changed than in the person
  responsible.

This is why i find the example [1] even less legibly than our changelogs.

We should continue to allow generic markers for compound changes like e.g.

   * Updated debconf templates translations: [RL]
     + German: thanks to Helge Kreutzmann (closes: #424115)
     + Dutch: thanks to Bart Cornelis (closes: #424664)
     

OTOH, I vote for a loosening of the rule:

Quite often, the majority of changes in a new version are done by just
one developer (maybe with a few exceptions). Also, all members are
allowed to sign the changelog now (where at the time when the rule was set
up, only Rafael was).

To reduce visual clutter and redundancy I propose:

  Only changes that are done by onother developer than the signing one
  need to be marked with the [VN] initials. 
  

This could be extended to complex changes where the tag in a second order
item would override the first order tag, e.g.

   * Updated debconf templates translations: [RL]
     + German: thanks to Helge Kreutzmann (closes: #424115)
     + Dutch: thanks to Bart Cornelis (closes: #424664)
     + Marmish: thanks to Mar Mish [GM]
     
Günter