45 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
45 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Referencing other commits in commit messages
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date: 2024-05-20
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permalink: daily/2024/05/20/referencing-other-commits-in-commit-messages
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tags:
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- software-development
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- git
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cta: ~
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snippet: |
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Have you tried referencing other commits when writing a commit message?
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---
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Last week, I asked [whether you should include issue IDs in commit messages][0].
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Another thing I like to reference in a commit message is the commit ID (or SHA) of a related commit.
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For example, when I run `git log` in my website repository, I see commits like this:
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```plain
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commit 0c91825c16217d0fe7eff4ea100a67550051c4a9
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Author: Oliver Davies <oliver@oliverdavies.dev>
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Date: Sat May 11 15:32:07 2024 +0200
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Create a cached talk counter
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Create a cached version of the talk counter service that returns a
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cached result of the talk count for that day.
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This uses the Decorator design pattern to decorate the existing
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`TalkCounter` service and works as they both implement the same
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`TalkCounterInterface`.
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```
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The sha for this commit is `0c91825c16217d0fe7eff4ea100a67550051c4a9`.
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If I was to make another commit that was related to this one, I can include this commit sha in my new commit message.
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I also don't need to include the entire thing - only enough for it to be unique (usually five or six characters).
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Once pushed, the commit IDs should never change, so this will be a permanent reference to the first commit.
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Helpfully, websites like GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket will identify it as a commit sha and make it clickable so you can easily navigate to the referenced commit.
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[0]: {{site.url}}/daily/2024/05/15/should-you-include-issue-ids-in-your-commit-messages
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