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How to write Git commit messages like a Pro!

Ritik Banger on October 10, 2022

When a developer go back into time to look for something he has worked on six months ago, many times he does not understand why he made that partic...

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Casper • Oct 11 '22

... a one-liner commit message is preferable.

I disagree with this. You said it yourself, a commit should explain why a change was made. Be it due to a bug, or to prepare for a new feature, or anything else. The title (first line) should be as you say, short and concise about what the commit does. But the commit body should contain more detailed reasons why. Explain the original bug or give an example on how to use the new feature.

I'm not saying every commit needs this. Sometimes line is enough. But far from always.

Ritik Banger • Oct 11 '22

Thanks for the comment, I have updated the article adding your inputs and why I mentioned that one linear messages are preferable.

Jon Randy 🎖️ • Oct 11 '22 • Edited

But, in reality, most pros write them like this:

Fixes stuff

😜

Martial Anouman • Oct 14 '22 • Edited

Quite true, even if we shouldn't 😂.
But we are working on it...

Ritik Banger • Oct 11 '22

That's why we are here to change the reality. Happy Committing Jon.

𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️ • Oct 11 '22

but a one-liner commit message is preferable.

Absolutely not!

Whether adding fancy metadata to the commit summary is useful or adds clutter is arguable, but saying that adding a well-written commit description below should preferably be skipped is just a very dumb take.

Always always always add as much context as necessary. Whether this means you add one more sentence to clarify why the change was necessary, or add a full description of how a bug was identified, anything that can help another developer figure out why a change was made is valuable information.