Merge pull request #4340 from angular-ui/JLLeitschuh-patch-3

swalters · swalters · commit e713b077caa2 · 2015-09-09T15:16:11.000-05:00
Adds Commit Message Guidelines to Changelog
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -144,3 +144,65 @@ included in the project:
 
 **IMPORTANT**: By submitting a patch, you agree to allow the project owners to
 license your work under the the terms of the [MIT License](LICENSE.md).
+
+## <a name="commit"></a> Git Commit Guidelines
+
+We have very precise rules over how our git commit messages can be formatted.  This leads to **more
+readable messages** that are easy to follow when looking through the **project history**.  But also,
+we use the git commit messages to **generate the AngularJS change log**.
+
+### Commit Message Format
+Each commit message consists of a **header**, a **body** and a **footer**.  The header has a special
+format that includes a **type**, a **scope** and a **subject**:
+
+```
+<type>(<scope>): <subject>
+<BLANK LINE>
+<body>
+<BLANK LINE>
+<footer>
+```
+
+The **header** is mandatory and the **scope** of the header is optional.
+
+Any line of the commit message cannot be longer 100 characters! This allows the message to be easier
+to read on GitHub as well as in various git tools.
+
+### Revert
+If the commit reverts a previous commit, it should begin with `revert: `, followed by the header of the reverted commit. In the body it should say: `This reverts commit <hash>.`, where the hash is the SHA of the commit being reverted.
+
+### Type
+Must be one of the following:
+
+* **feat**: A new feature
+* **fix**: A bug fix
+* **docs**: Documentation only changes
+* **style**: Changes that do not affect the meaning of the code (white-space, formatting, missing
+  semi-colons, etc)
+* **refactor**: A code change that neither fixes a bug nor adds a feature
+* **perf**: A code change that improves performance
+* **test**: Adding missing tests
+* **chore**: Changes to the build process or auxiliary tools and libraries such as documentation
+  generation
+
+### Scope
+The scope could be anything specifying place of the commit change. For example `core`,
+`infinite-scroll`, `pagination`, `cellnav`, `edit`, `importer`, `pinning`, etc...
+
+### Subject
+The subject contains succinct description of the change:
+
+* use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes"
+* don't capitalize first letter
+* no dot (.) at the end
+
+### Body
+Just as in the **subject**, use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes".
+The body should include the motivation for the change and contrast this with previous behavior.
+
+### Footer
+The footer should contain any information about **Breaking Changes** and is also the place to
+reference GitHub issues that this commit **Closes**.
+
+**Breaking Changes** should start with the word `BREAKING CHANGE:` with a space or two newlines. The rest of the commit message is then used for this.
+
