On Sun, Jul 12, 2026 at 09:07:32AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Weijie Yuan [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

quoted

+2. **Solution (The Approach)**:
+3. **Command (The Instruction)**:
+   [[imperative-mood]]
+   Command the codebase to change.  Write this in the **imperative
+   mood** (e.g., "make xyzzy do frotz" instead of "This patch makes
+   xyzzy do..." or "I changed xyzzy..."), as if you are giving orders
+   to the codebase to change its behavior.

Stopped and confused for a moment. I am not sure that "Command" belongs
alongside "Observation" and "Solution" as a third part of the message.
Sometimes the command still describes the solution. In other words,
Solution and Command seem not to be logically completely separable.

I do not think "Command the codebase to change" is a good phrasing.
It would have been better to highlight the distinction between the
design of the solution (approach) and the implementation.  Perhaps

    2. Design (The Approach)

    3. Implementation (The Changes)
    [[imperative-mood]]
       Describe how the change is implemented.  Write this in the
       imperative mood. ...

or something?

Yeah, that is much clearer. I'm reading your draft in your reply to
Michael, seems good.

quoted

quoted

+* **The Body**:
+  * Explain the *why* rather than repeating the *what* of the diff.
+  * Try to make the explanation self-contained.  Avoid relying on
+    external URLs (like mailing list archives) as the sole
+    explanation; summarize the relevant points of the discussion
+    instead.
+  * Wrap lines to 68-72 columns.

MyFirstContribution:
  This commit message is intentionally formatted to 72 columns per line

Should we update both?

Perhaps just to stick to "around 70".

I do not think the defaults in various editors matter.

The "wrap around 70 columns" rule exists so that in a text based
email exchange, where you lose two columns to leading "> " when
quoted, and an additional column with each subsequent reply, the
lines will still fit on standard 80-column terminals.

Yes, got it. I just want to say that I often see 72 columns, but I
haven't seen 68 very often. (maybe I'm too young ;-)

Thanks.