Re: PG 19 release notes and authors

On Mon, Apr  6, 2026 at 09:37:39AM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> On Sun, Apr  5, 2026 at 11:10:52AM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> > Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> writes:
> > > On 2026-04-05 16:09:57 +0200, Álvaro Herrera wrote:
> > >> On 2026-Apr-05, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> > >>> I just updated the wiki to handle this case because obviously
> > >>> Co-authored-by is listing more than just committers:
> > 
> > > I think that is a completely unwarranted change for which there is zero
> > > concensus.
> > 
> > Indeed.  You exceeded your authority here.
> > 
> > Even if there were consensus about making this change going forward,
> > the existing commit records were made under a different understanding.
> > You can't just say you're going to reinterpret them in a way that
> > excludes giving credit where credit is due.
> 
> My email said:
> 
> 	I need to know what to do for PG 19, and what to do for later major
> 	releases.  I think Peter's point is why are people using Author
> 	and Co-authored-by in the same commits, and not just two Authors.
> 
> Any changes to the wiki are going forward.  While receiving emotional
> replies, I have not received answers to my specific questions.

I now realize the Commit Message Guidance used during PG 19 was unclear;
it was:

	Used to indicate the patch authors.  "Co-authored-by:" is used by
	committers when they want to give full credit to the named individuals,
	but also indicate that they made significant changes.

I doesn't really say we are giving credit to "Author" individuals but
list committers as co-authors with no credit, so that bad wording is on
me.  It should have said:

	Used to indicate the patch authors.  "Co-authored-by:" is to list
	committers when they want to give full credit to the "Author"
	individuals, but also indicate that they made significant changes.

Again, we now need rules for PG 19, and for the future.  It now says:

	Used to indicate the patch authors. "Co-authored-by:" should list
	individuals, particularly committers, who modified the patch but
	should not be listed as authors in the release notes.

Again, that will be changed once we decide what we want.

I think having "Co-authored-by:" mean one thing when "Author" appears
and a different thing when "Author" is missing is too confusing.

-- 
  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.