Re: [RFC PATCH 2/4] doc: gitbreaking-changes: replace msg-ids with URLs

[Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im>]

On Mon, Sep 28, 2026 at 12:41:26PM +0200, kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail.com wrote:
> From: Kristoffer Haugsbakk <code@khaugsbakk.name>
> 
> This document has used msg-ids to reference emails since its
> inception.[1] This makes the text a bit more terse, and is perhaps
> also convenient for people who can use msg-ids to link to messages
> in their inbox. But we should consider how convenient this is for people
> in general, now that this is a more public-facing page (see previous
> commit). And I suspect that most people will be forced to paste the
> msg-id according to the described URL template:
> 
>     https://lore.kernel.org/git/$message_id/
> 
> Let’s instead replace all of the msg-ids with complete links. That way
> everyone can jump right to the discussions.

Fair. The links may of course break if at any point in time
lore.kernel.org were to vanish or change its interface. But if so we can
adapt accordingly, also because the message ID can still be extracted
trivially.

> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/gitbreaking-changes.adoc b/Documentation/gitbreaking-changes.adoc
> index c6b974b6d8c..9aba419efc9 100644
> --- a/Documentation/gitbreaking-changes.adoc
> +++ b/Documentation/gitbreaking-changes.adoc
> @@ -59,15 +59,14 @@ make the described change that can be easily understood without having to read
>  the mailing list discussions. If there are alternatives to the changed feature,
>  those alternatives should be pointed out to our users.
>  
> -All items should be accompanied by references to relevant mailing list threads
> -where the deprecation was discussed. These references use message-IDs, which
> -can visited via
> +All items should be accompanied by links to relevant mailing list threads
> +where the deprecation was discussed. These links use this format:
>  
>    https://lore.kernel.org/git/$message_id/
>  
> -to see the message and its surrounding discussion. Such a reference is there to
> -make it easier for you to find how the project reached consensus on the
> -described item back then.
> +I.e. they link to the `Message-ID` of the email on the mailing
> +list. These references are there to make it easier for you to find how
> +the project reached consensus on the described item back then.
>  
>  This is a living document as the environment surrounding the project changes
>  over time. If circumstances change, an earlier decision to deprecate or change

I wonder whether the information on how to add new entries should now go
towards the end of this document. The target audience is expanding with
your patch series, and most of those new readers will not care about how
to add an entry.

> @@ -332,7 +331,7 @@ The command will be removed.
>  * Support for `core.commentString=auto` has been deprecated and will
>    be removed in Git 3.0.
>  +
> -cf. <xmqqa59i45wc.fsf@gitster.g>
> +cf.  https://lore.kernel.org/git/xmqqa59i45wc.fsf@gitster.g
>  
>  * Support for `core.preferSymlinkRefs=true` has been deprecated and will be
>    removed in Git 3.0. Writing symbolic refs as symbolic links will be phased

Nit: two spaces.

Patrick