Re: [PATCH] git-send-email: Add auto-cc to all body signatures

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

Joe Perches <joe@perches.com> writes:

> Many types of signatures are used by various projects.
>
> The most common type is formatted:
> 	"[some_signature_type]-by: First Last <email@domain.tld>"
> e.g:
> 	"Reported-by: First Last <email@domain.tld>" (no quotes are used)

This is just a phrasing issue, but I am a bit reluctant about the name
"signature". "Acked-by:", "Tested-by:" and "Reviewed-by:" are originally
written in the message sent to the author by the person who is giving an
Ack, a successful test report, and a review comment, and the author (at
least in spirit) copies & pastes them to the final text used in the commit
log message, so it would not be incorrect to call them "signatures". But
other "Random-by:" would not fall into that pattern.

"Reported-by:" certainly does not.  It is almost always added by the
author of the patch that is different from the reporter, and the reporter
wouldn't have written "Reported-by: me" in the original bug report that
triggered the discussion and resulted in the commit to fix the bug. Such a
line is certainly not a signature of/by the reporter. Same can be said for
"Helped-by:" for the author to share credits.

Also I've seen these "Random-by:", especially the ones that the author
adds on his own initiative like "Reported-by:", followed by just a name
but not an addresses [*1*].

Does your change do the right thing on such an address-less entry?  The
answer to this question must start with the definition of "the right thing
to do is X", of course.

> diff --git a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
> index 327233c..17ea825 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-send-email.txt
> @@ -246,8 +246,9 @@ Automating
>    patch body (commit message) except for self (use 'self' for that).
>  - 'sob' will avoid including anyone mentioned in Signed-off-by lines except
>     for self (use 'self' for that).
> +- 'signatures' will avoid including anyone mentioned in any "<foo>-by:" lines.
>  - 'cccmd' will avoid running the --cc-cmd.
> -- 'body' is equivalent to 'sob' + 'bodycc'
> +- 'body' is equivalent to 'sob' + 'bodycc + signatures'

The quotes do not match quite well.


[Footnote]

*1* This seems to be done deliberately so; I understand that this is to
avoid running afoul of EU privacy legislation or something.