Re: PG 19 release notes and authors

On Sat, Apr  4, 2026 at 10:29:15PM -0400, Peter Geoghegan wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 4, 2026 at 10:13 PM Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> wrote:
> > Yes, that was the original purpose.
> 
> I didn't actually know that. That's likely my own fault. (OTOH I
> haven't actually used the new tag at all, at least not yet.)

Yes, that is what I used it for in the past.

> > Basically, if a commit has no
> > "Author" tag, the committer is assumed to be the author.  If there is an
> > "Author" tag, the committer is not assumed to be the author.  If there
> > is an Author tag and the committer wants author credit, they must add
> > their name as an author.  If the committer wants to indicate they
> > changed the patch, and potentially added bugs, but doesn't want credit,
> > the wiki says to use Co-authored-by.
> 
> Got it. That makes sense to me (obviously, since I already said that
> that's the only policy that could possibly be useful).
> 
> > > What I'm saying here boils down to this: I don't think it's sensible
> > > to expect the use of a specific tag variant (or even the order in
> > > which author names appear) to convey much useful information. I really
> > > hope nobody reads too much into my choices in this area.
> >
> > Well, I don't care what we decide, but we should decide something.  You
> > can say they don't convey information, but I need to put something in
> > the release notes, so they are forced to have some effect.
> 
> I think that Co-authored-by should either: 1. have a specific
> mechanical purpose (like affecting how the release notes are written),
> OR 2. not exist at all.
> 
> What's the point, otherwise? It just doesn't make sense to have a
> Co-authored-by that merely conveys a general vibe. These things are
> inherently squishy and subjective. Pretending otherwise would be a
> mistake (to be clear I'm not suggesting that you or anybody else has
> made that mistake).

Yes, that was the argument --- Co-authored-by should have some purpose
because making it behave like Author has little value.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  Do not let urgent matters crowd out time for investment in the future.