Re: Organizing the NEWS file a bit better

[Stefan Kangas]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> > AFAICT, VC archeology is already not very convenient after we cut the
> > release branch and move the file from etc/NEWS to etc/NEWS.28.  One
> > would need to visit the relevant release branch first.
>
> I use VC archeology on NEWS all the time.  It is handy when I need to
> know who and when added some new feature.

In NEWS, I'm pretty sure that most of us do.

Lars' point was that it's nice that file history is preserved when the
markers are removed.  But those markers are only removed on the
release branch, in preparation of a release.  On master, the file is
moved to make way for a new NEWS file.  This breaks archeology
anyways.

(I hope we could improve this process so we don't have to move the
file.  This has been discussed elsewhere.)

> > (As a Magit user, walking backwards in "git blame" history for one
> > line that hasn't moved is just a matter of typing "b" one or more
> > times.  I have no idea how easy this is using vc, but I've assumed
> > it's harder since people are concerned about it.)
>
> Wrong tool, I think.  Try vc-region-history (I'm sure Magit has
> something similar).  The relevant Git command is "git log -L".

I've never used vc-region-history, but it is pretty neat.  If I
understand correctly, it breaks when lines are moved?

I think the better tool to use for archeology in NEWS, where lines are
frequently moved, is vc-annotate.  Using it, I can now see that it
allows me to trace changes backward in time (but it does involve more
typing and more new buffers than in Magit, and I remember now that
this is why I stopped using it).