Re: [PATCH] Add short author date to Fixes tag

[Alejandro Colomar]

Hi Greg,

On 2026-02-25T13:23:24-0800, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> > > Commit date also doesn't matter.  If I commit a fix to one of my
> > > branches today, but Linus pulls it in in 2 years from now, what would
> > > that date really show to anyone?
> > 
> > I think this is a bit confused.
> > 
> > If you commit a fix for a commit that is in Linus's tree, your Fixes tag
> > will refer to the mainline commit, and the Fixes tag will remain valid
> > if the fix is pulled by Linus in the future, because it will continue to
> > refer to the same commit with the same hash and date.
> 
> But we do not need the date!  It provides no additional information that
> we can't just look up if we really need it.
> 
> The HASH ("text") format does 2 things, it provides an id we can use to
> look up more, and the text is there to give humans a hint if they don't
> want or need to look it up.

The date gives more information to humans to decide if the commit is
important to look up.  Sometimes, a subject can be ambiguous to the
human, even if it's not ambiguous to a machine.  The date can help give
some context to a human.  For example, one could relate a commit to a
series that was merged around that date.

The date uses few characters, so it's not too expensive in terms of
space.  You may even take some space back by dropping a few characters
from the hash.  Also, by having a fixed-width, it doesn't distract much,
as all subjects will still be aligned, so the eyes can jump it easily if
not interesting (just like the hash).

I appreciate seeing the date in my Fixes tags elsewhere, as it avoids
looking up some commits, which I would look up if I hadn't seen the
date.

Secondarily, it helps with the ID, in case it becomes ambiguous.  But
I started using it for the human part of it.

>  There is no need to include anything else,
> let's keep it simple please.

Okay; I won't insist.


Have a lovely night!
Alex

> 
> thanks,
> 
> greg k-h

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>

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