Welcome to GitGitGadget

Hi @GontuSujithReddy, and welcome to GitGitGadget, the GitHub App to send patch series to the Git mailing list from GitHub Pull Requests.

Please make sure that either:

• Your Pull Request has a good description, if it consists of multiple commits, as it will be used as cover letter.
• Your Pull Request description is empty, if it consists of a single commit, as the commit message should be descriptive enough by itself.

You can CC potential reviewers by adding a footer to the PR description with the following syntax:

CC: Revi Ewer <revi.ewer@example.com>, Ill Takalook <ill.takalook@example.net>

NOTE: DO NOT copy/paste your CC list from a previous GGG PR's description,
because it will result in a malformed CC list on the mailing list. See
example.

Also, it is a good idea to review the commit messages one last time, as the Git project expects them in a quite specific form:

• the lines should not exceed 76 columns,
• the first line should be like a header and typically start with a prefix like "tests:" or "revisions:" to state which subsystem the change is about, and
• the commit messages' body should be describing the "why?" of the change.
• Finally, the commit messages should end in a Signed-off-by: line matching the commits' author.

It is in general a good idea to await the automated test ("Checks") in this Pull Request before contributing the patches, e.g. to avoid trivial issues such as unportable code.

Contributing the patches

Before you can contribute the patches, your GitHub username needs to be added to the list of permitted users. Any already-permitted user can do that, by adding a comment to your PR of the form /allow. A good way to find other contributors is to locate recent pull requests where someone has been /allowed:

• Search: is:pr is:open "/allow"

Both the person who commented /allow and the PR author are able to /allow you.

An alternative is the channel #git-devel on the Libera Chat IRC network:

<newcontributor> I've just created my first PR, could someone please /allow me? https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/12345
<veteran> newcontributor: it is done
<newcontributor> thanks!

Once on the list of permitted usernames, you can contribute the patches to the Git mailing list by adding a PR comment /submit.

If you want to see what email(s) would be sent for a /submit request, add a PR comment /preview to have the email(s) sent to you. You must have a public GitHub email address for this. Note that any reviewers CC'd via the list in the PR description will not actually be sent emails.

After you submit, GitGitGadget will respond with another comment that contains the link to the cover letter mail in the Git mailing list archive. Please make sure to monitor the discussion in that thread and to address comments and suggestions (while the comments and suggestions will be mirrored into the PR by GitGitGadget, you will still want to reply via mail).

If you do not want to subscribe to the Git mailing list just to be able to respond to a mail, you can download the mbox from the Git mailing list archive (click the (raw) link), then import it into your mail program. If you use GMail, you can do this via:

curl -g --user "<EMailAddress>:<Password>" \
    --url "imaps://imap.gmail.com/INBOX" -T /path/to/raw.txt

To iterate on your change, i.e. send a revised patch or patch series, you will first want to (force-)push to the same branch. You probably also want to modify your Pull Request description (or title). It is a good idea to summarize the revision by adding something like this to the cover letter (read: by editing the first comment on the PR, i.e. the PR description):

Changes since v1:
- Fixed a typo in the commit message (found by ...)
- Added a code comment to ... as suggested by ...
...

To send a new iteration, just add another PR comment with the contents: /submit.

Need help?

New contributors who want advice are encouraged to join git-mentoring@googlegroups.com, where volunteers who regularly contribute to Git are willing to answer newbie questions, give advice, or otherwise provide mentoring to interested contributors. You must join in order to post or view messages, but anyone can join.

You may also be able to find help in real time in the developer IRC channel, #git-devel on Libera Chat. Remember that IRC does not support offline messaging, so if you send someone a private message and log out, they cannot respond to you. The scrollback of #git-devel is archived, though.

There are issues in commit 49ce99c:
sequencer: stop fixups when their target was not applied

• Commit not signed off
• Lines in the body of the commit messages should be wrapped between 60 and 76 characters.
  Indented lines, and lines without whitespace, are exempt

There is an issue in commit 8d49e5b:
sequencer: stop fixups when their target was not applied

• Commit not signed off

Hello, I’m new to contributing to Git and would appreciate some guidance on this draft PR.

I used ChatGPT to generate substantial parts of the code, tests, and commit message. I applied the changes and ran the tests, but I’m still working through the implementation to understand it fully. I haven’t added a sign-off or submitted the patch to the mailing list.

After reading the project’s AI guidance, I’d like to check the appropriate way forward. Is it reasonable to keep this PR as a draft and seek technical feedback, or would you recommend a different approach before proceeding?

Thank you for your time. I’d appreciate any advice on how to contribute responsibly and build the skills needed to work more independently.

There is an issue in commit ac62cf6:
sequencer: stop fixups when their target was not applied

• Commit not signed off

This is my first open-source contribution, and I worked on a bug in Git's interactive rebase functionality.

I used AI as an assistant during the development process, mainly to help me understand parts of the codebase, explore possible approaches, and troubleshoot issues. But I also made an effort to understand the underlying problem and the implementation.

For me, the biggest takeaway wasn't just writing code. It was learning how to navigate a large existing codebase, work with Git's contribution workflow, and understand how maintainers expect changes to be structured and tested.

I'm still learning, but this contribution gave me a much better understanding of how real-world open-source development works.

/allow

User GontuSujithReddy is now allowed to use GitGitGadget.

I used AI as an assistant during the development process, mainly to help me understand parts of the codebase, explore possible approaches, and troubleshoot issues. But I also made an effort to understand the underlying problem and the implementation.

@GontuSujithReddy You may want to be careful in how you describe this on the Git mailing list. There is a particularly outspoken opponent of AI on that list who will most likely oppose every AI contribution on principle.

My experience is that if you make sure that it is obvious that you really are the author of the code, that AI merely assisted, that the commit message sounds like you (and not like AI-generated messages). I pasted your commit message into a detector:

For comparison, I pasted the commit message of 64172cf (which I authored with AI assistance) and it is pretty accurate, I probably should have edited it more ;-)

Further, the sheer number of test cases as well as their verbosity also points quite clearly into the direction of un-edited (or merely very lightly edited) AI-generated code. If I were you, I would try quite hard to replace those test cases by one or two hand-written, succinct and precise test cases that cover the changed logic reasonably.

Finally, the diff of the code looks very much AI-generated: It mostly adds code, is happy to write a lot, and totally unwilling to modify existing logic to extend it as needed. In my work with AI assistants, I frequently have to iterate multiple times to counter those tendencies, pointing to the KISS and DRY principles, and sometimes exhorting the model for not even trying to touch existing code even though it most likely could be extended to cover the new use case, too.

Respected @dscho ,

-->I will take some time and redo it or i will sit and write each and everything thank you for guiding me, as I am new to the open source and new to the world of coding( i am 17 year old) I am still learning but this is my first contribution and that contribution is beginner one and that too it might become a GSOC project So that's the reason why I opted this issue.

-->while I was going through the git website I even read about AI assistance so i thought to use it and I will make sure that I will upskill my mindset and by that my skills will improve and completely remove AI for a particular period of time and after becoming a experience engineer I might start use ai but for mean while I am still learning the core languages so that's the reason why I used AI.

your faithful,
GontuSujithReddy

Well please understand that I am not the gate keeper here. I use AI myself, to great effect, and like you I learn using it, to assist me in my learning.

And welcome, since this is your first contribution, welcome to the world of open source! I hope that I can help you receive a warm welcome on the Git mailing list. It is a very tricky business to navigate AI in the Git project at the moment. I would hate for you to have a bad experience being greeted by one of those infamous replies that have deterred many a potential contributor.

Respected @dscho,

-->Yes I understand and for once in my mind i dint thought that way.
I hestitate to write something in the comments as I think it might affect the relationship between the mentors and me
but if necessary i will do it but mostly I will avoid it.

-->Thank you telling me about mailing list.

THANK YOU!
for guiding me

your faithful,
GontuSujithReddy