victorokoroji · January 10, 2022 09:08 · Oct 28, 2019 · Mar 29, 2019 · Mar 29, 2019 · Mar 29, 2019
diff --git a/git-commit-template.md b/git-commit-template.md
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ what I see in my editor:
 # Body: Explain *what* and *why* (not *how*). Include task ID (Jira issue).
 # Wrap at 72 chars. ################################## which is here: #
 
-
+# At the end: Include Co-authored-by for all contributors. 
+# Include at least one empty line before it. Format: 
+# Co-authored-by: name <[email protected]>
+#
 # How to Write a Git Commit Message:
 # https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
 #
@@ -70,6 +73,10 @@ home directory:
 # Wrap at 72 chars. ################################## which is here: #
 
 
+# At the end: Include Co-authored-by for all contributors. 
+# Include at least one empty line before it. Format: 
+# Co-authored-by: name <[email protected]>
+#
 # How to Write a Git Commit Message:
 # https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
 #

diff --git a/git-commit-template.md b/git-commit-template.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Using Git Commit Message Templates 
+# Using Git Commit Message Templates to Write Better Commit Messages
 
 One of my colleagues shared an article on writing (good) Git commit messages 
 today: 

diff --git a/git-commit-template.md b/git-commit-template.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Using Git commit message templates 
+# Using Git Commit Message Templates 
 
 One of my colleagues shared an article on writing (good) Git commit messages 
 today: 

diff --git a/git-commit-template.md b/git-commit-template.md
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+# Using Git commit message templates 
+
+One of my colleagues shared an article on writing (good) Git commit messages 
+today: 
+[How to Write a Git Commit Message](https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/). 
+This excellent article explains why *good* Git commit messages are important, 
+and explains what constitutes a good commit message. I wholeheartedly agree 
+with what @cbeams writes in his article. (Have you read it yet? If not, go 
+[read it now](https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/). I'll wait.) 
+It's sensible stuff. So I decided to start following the 
+[seven rules](https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/#seven-rules) 
+he proposes. 
+
+...There's only one problem: My mind is already stuffed with things I should do 
+and things to remember. The chance of me remembering every rule every time I 
+commit something, are next to 0. So I made myself a Git commit message 
+template. That way, I don't have to remember the rules, they are presented to 
+me whenever I write a commit message. So now, when I do `git commit`, this is 
+what I see in my editor: 
+
+```
+# Title: Summary, imperative, start upper case, don't end with a period
+# No more than 50 chars. #### 50 chars is here: #
+
+# Remember blank line between title and body.
+
+# Body: Explain *what* and *why* (not *how*). Include task ID (Jira issue).
+# Wrap at 72 chars. ################################## which is here: #
+
+
+# How to Write a Git Commit Message:
+# https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
+#
+# 1.Separate subject from body with a blank line
+# 2. Limit the subject line to 50 characters
+# 3. Capitalize the subject line
+# 4. Do not end the subject line with a period
+# 5. Use the imperative mood in the subject line
+# 6. Wrap the body at 72 characters
+# 7. Use the body to explain what and why vs. how
+
+# Please enter the commit message for your changes. Lines starting
+# with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit.
+#
+# On branch master
+# Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.
+#
+# Changes to be committed:
+#       new file:   installation.md
+#
+```
+
+What I see consists of two parts; first my own template, then Git's standard 
+message asking me to "Please enter the commit message". 
+No need to remember everything - or really much at all, except to *not* use 
+`git commit -m "Commit message"`, as this means I won't see the template 
+I made. 
+
+## Template File 
+Here is my template*, which i put in a file called `.gitmessage` in my 
+home directory: 
+
+```
+# Title: Summary, imperative, start upper case, don't end with a period
+# No more than 50 chars. #### 50 chars is here: #
+
+# Remember blank line between title and body.
+
+# Body: Explain *what* and *why* (not *how*). Include task ID (Jira issue).
+# Wrap at 72 chars. ################################## which is here: #
+
+
+# How to Write a Git Commit Message:
+# https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
+#
+# 1.Separate subject from body with a blank line
+# 2. Limit the subject line to 50 characters
+# 3. Capitalize the subject line
+# 4. Do not end the subject line with a period
+# 5. Use the imperative mood in the subject line
+# 6. Wrap the body at 72 characters
+# 7. Use the body to explain what and why vs. how
+```
+
+## Git Configuration 
+
+To tell Git to use the template file (globally, not just in the current repo), 
+I used the following command: 
+
+`git config --global commit.template ~/.gitmessage`
+
+And that's all there was to it. (Except I have my dotfiles in a repo, so I had 
+to do some symlinking and update one of my config-scripts to be able to 
+recreate this setup from scratch if I need to.) 
+
+## Links and Documentation 
+
+The Git documentation contains a chapter on 
+[Customizing Git - Git Configuration](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Configuration) 
+which in turn contains a section on the `commit.template` configuration value. 
+
+[Better Commit Messages with a .gitmessage Template](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/better-commit-messages-with-a-gitmessage-template) 
+has a different kind of template, which is an actual template: It contains text 
+which will become a part of the commit message. 
+
+## Footnotes 
+
+*) It may be argued that this is, strictly speaking, not a template, as 
+no part of it is actually used/included in the commit message. :)