(Back on this week-old message, sorry.)
If the "GNU coding standards" guidelines suggest not to include "why"
a change was made in a ChangeLog entry, then it should be corrected.
What they suggest is to include the reason for a change as a comment in
the code. From
http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Change-Log-Concepts.html:
There's no need to describe the full purpose of the changes or how
they work together. If you think that a change calls for explanation,
you're probably right. Please do explain it--but please put the
explanation in comments in the code, where people will see it whenever
they see the code. For example, "New function" is enough for the
change log when you add a function, because there should be a comment
before the function definition to explain what it does.
Personally, I sometimes put *some* such information in the ChangeLog,
because it helps me when I go back later.
As for what information should be in the commit logs, the coding
standards are silent, and I think that is fine. Different packages and
people have different needs and ways of working.
karl
