Fixing commit dates before pushing

Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Tom de Vries via Gdb]

Hi,

back in 2014, a requirement was added to the contribution checklist: 
fixing commit dates ( 
https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#Fixing_commit_dates ).

The related discussion is here ( 
https://inbox.sourceware.org/gdb/20140814083231.GA6283@blade.nx/T/#u ).

Looking at recent commits, this is done by a few people, but not everybody.

[ FWIW, I'm using a push script (see below) that takes care of this for 
me. ]

If not too many people actually do this, and nobody's complaining about 
it, should we drop the requirement?

Otherwise, perhaps we could invest in some pre-commit infrastructure to 
enforce/implement this more easily.

Thanks,
- Tom

$ cat ../push.sh
#!/bin/sh

set -e

branch=$(git branch \
              | grep "\*" \
              | awk '{print $2}')

echo "REMINDER: Did you apply the Approved-By/Tested-By/Reviewed-By tags?"
echo
echo "Push branch $branch upstream?"
echo "Press ^C to cancel"

read

git fetch -fp origin
git rebase --ignore-date origin/$branch
git push --set-upstream origin $branch:$branch
$

Re: Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Eli Zaretskii via Gdb]

> Date: Tue, 12 May 2026 10:19:26 +0200
> From: Tom de Vries via Gdb <gdb@sourceware.org>
> 
> Hi,
> 
> back in 2014, a requirement was added to the contribution checklist: 
> fixing commit dates ( 
> https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#Fixing_commit_dates ).
> 
> The related discussion is here ( 
> https://inbox.sourceware.org/gdb/20140814083231.GA6283@blade.nx/T/#u ).
> 
> Looking at recent commits, this is done by a few people, but not everybody.
> 
> [ FWIW, I'm using a push script (see below) that takes care of this for 
> me. ]
> 
> If not too many people actually do this, and nobody's complaining about 
> it, should we drop the requirement?

My vote is to drop the requirement.  With all the possible cases which
Git supports of getting a commit into the upstream repository, I don't
think we can guarantee monotonous dates anyway.

However, I push commits only rarely, so my opinion's weight is
probably not too high.

Re: Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Arsen Arsenović via Gdb]

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Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> My vote is to drop the requirement.  With all the possible cases which
> Git supports of getting a commit into the upstream repository, I don't
> think we can guarantee monotonous dates anyway.

On top of that, Git already provides monotonous dates (assuming no
deliberate effort to make them non-monotonous) on commits in the
'CommitDate' field.  (Parts of) Git already assume(s) such a monotonous
timestamps:

       --committer-date-is-author-date
           Instead of using the current time as the committer date, use
           the author date of the commit being rebased as the committer
           date. This option implies --force-rebase.

               Warning
               The history walking machinery assumes that commits have
               non-decreasing commit timestamps. You should consider if
               you really need to use this option. Then you should only
               use this option to override the committer date when
               rebasing commits on top of a base which commit is older
               (in terms of the commit date) than the oldest commit you
               are applying (in terms of the author date).
  -- git-rebase(1)

See also 'git log --format=fuller'.
-- 
Arsen Arsenović

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Re: Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Simon Marchi via Gdb]

On 5/12/26 4:19 AM, Tom de Vries via Gdb wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> back in 2014, a requirement was added to the contribution checklist: fixing commit dates ( https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#Fixing_commit_dates ).
> 
> The related discussion is here ( https://inbox.sourceware.org/gdb/20140814083231.GA6283@blade.nx/T/#u ).
> 
> Looking at recent commits, this is done by a few people, but not everybody.
> 
> [ FWIW, I'm using a push script (see below) that takes care of this for me. ]
> 
> If not too many people actually do this, and nobody's complaining about it, should we drop the requirement?

I must admit that I have never done this myself, so I am not very
attached to this rule.

Simon

Re: Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Guinevere Larsen via Gdb]

On 5/12/26 11:15 AM, Simon Marchi via Gdb wrote:
> On 5/12/26 4:19 AM, Tom de Vries via Gdb wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> back in 2014, a requirement was added to the contribution checklist: fixing commit dates ( https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#Fixing_commit_dates ).
>>
>> The related discussion is here ( https://inbox.sourceware.org/gdb/20140814083231.GA6283@blade.nx/T/#u ).
>>
>> Looking at recent commits, this is done by a few people, but not everybody.
>>
>> [ FWIW, I'm using a push script (see below) that takes care of this for me. ]
>>
>> If not too many people actually do this, and nobody's complaining about it, should we drop the requirement?
> I must admit that I have never done this myself, so I am not very
> attached to this rule.
>
> Simon
>
I did see that in the contributor checklist, but since the history log 
already had dates that were out of order, I never bothered with doing 
it. I can start if we think it is important, but for whatever my vote is 
worth, I think we can drop it...

-- 
Cheers,
Guinevere Larsen
It/she

Re: Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Tom Tromey]

>>>>> "Simon" == Simon Marchi via Gdb <gdb@sourceware.org> writes:

Simon> I must admit that I have never done this myself, so I am not very
Simon> attached to this rule.

I haven't done it either.  I am not sure I ever even knew about it.

It seems like a mild pain to do and there doesn't seem to be a real
benefit.  So let's just drop this.

Tom

Re: Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Andrew Burgess via Gdb]

Tom de Vries via Gdb <gdb@sourceware.org> writes:

> Hi,
>
> back in 2014, a requirement was added to the contribution checklist: 
> fixing commit dates ( 
> https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ContributionChecklist#Fixing_commit_dates ).
>
> The related discussion is here ( 
> https://inbox.sourceware.org/gdb/20140814083231.GA6283@blade.nx/T/#u ).
>
> Looking at recent commits, this is done by a few people, but not everybody.
>
> [ FWIW, I'm using a push script (see below) that takes care of this for 
> me. ]
>
> If not too many people actually do this, and nobody's complaining about 
> it, should we drop the requirement?

As some others have said, I have never done this myself, so I'm +1 for
dropping the rule.

Thanks,
Andrew

Re: Fixing commit dates before pushing

[Tom de Vries via Gdb]

Thanks all for the feedback.

I've received 6 votes to drop this, and 0 votes to keep this.

I've tagged the item with "optional" in the contribution checklist.

Thanks,
- Tom