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In-Reply-To: <adPLXU1Pf6TivcVq@momjian.us>
From: "David G. Johnston" <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2026 08:15:51 -0700
Message-ID: 
 <CAKFQuwas9hh7tBbhAXnAsTh79hbtbwvHw1yzsWG78PPWFZ0OWA@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: PG 19 release notes and authors
To: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
Cc: Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net>, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>,
	Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>,
 =?UTF-8?Q?=C3=81lvaro_Herrera?= <alvherre@kurilemu.de>,
	Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie>, Andrey Borodin <x4mmm@yandex-team.ru>,
	PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>
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On Mon, Apr 6, 2026, 08:04 Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> wrote:

> On Mon, Apr  6, 2026 at 10:56:49AM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:
> >
> > On 2026-04-06 Mo 10:29 AM, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> >
> >     I think having "Co-authored-by:" mean one thing when "Author" appears
> >     and a different thing when "Author" is missing is too confusing.
> >
> >
> >
> > Possibly. I think we're tying ourselves up in knots needlessly here,
> though. To
> > me, without having to interpret the exact meaning by consulting a wiki,
> > Co-authored-by signifies that the person made a significant
> contribution, but
> > not as much as the Author(s). These things shouldn't be technical terms
> of art.
> >
> > Personally, I'm in favor of being fairly liberal about giving release
> note
> > credits.
>
> So "Co-authored-by:" shows a level of involvement, but doesn't have any
> effect on the major release notes.  That works too.
>

"Liberal" here means give it even for the lesser contributions.  They
should appear in the release notes.

If everyone explicitly lists every author using the author tag for
non-committer-only commits the rule that all authors are equal applies and
we can move one with that preferred wording. Co-authors becomes
unnecessary.  But the usage as it stands historically is that co-authors
are authors and if a commit doesn't have an explicit author the committer
is one.  We can leave that stand as historical and when people fall back on
old habits.

Maybe add Assisted-by if we want to introduce a intermediate level between
author and reviewer.  It does seem we failed to make that be co-author and
redefining should be avoided.

David J.

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<div dir=3D"auto"><div><br><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_contai=
ner"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Mon, Apr 6, 2026, 08:04 Bruce=
 Momjian &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:bruce@momjian.us">bruce@momjian.us</a>&gt; w=
rote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0 0 0 .8ex=
;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On Mon, Apr=C2=A0 6, 2026 at =
10:56:49AM -0400, Andrew Dunstan wrote:<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; On 2026-04-06 Mo 10:29 AM, Bruce Momjian wrote:<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt;=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0I think having &quot;Co-authored-by:&quot; mean one=
 thing when &quot;Author&quot; appears<br>
&gt;=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0and a different thing when &quot;Author&quot; is mi=
ssing is too confusing.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; Possibly. I think we&#39;re tying ourselves up in knots needlessly her=
e, though. To<br>
&gt; me, without having to interpret the exact meaning by consulting a wiki=
,<br>
&gt; Co-authored-by signifies that the person made a significant contributi=
on, but<br>
&gt; not as much as the Author(s). These things shouldn&#39;t be technical =
terms of art.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; Personally, I&#39;m in favor of being fairly liberal about giving rele=
ase note<br>
&gt; credits.<br>
<br>
So &quot;Co-authored-by:&quot; shows a level of involvement, but doesn&#39;=
t have any<br>
effect on the major release notes.=C2=A0 That works too.<br></blockquote></=
div></div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">&quot;Liberal&quot;=
 here means give it even for the lesser contributions.=C2=A0 They should ap=
pear in the release notes.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"aut=
o">If everyone explicitly lists every author using the author tag for non-c=
ommitter-only commits the rule that all authors are equal applies and we ca=
n move one with that preferred wording. Co-authors becomes unnecessary.=C2=
=A0 But the usage as it stands historically is that co-authors are authors =
and if a commit doesn&#39;t have an explicit author the committer is one.=
=C2=A0 We can leave that stand as historical and when people fall back on o=
ld habits.</div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">Maybe add Ass=
isted-by if we want to introduce a intermediate level between author and re=
viewer.=C2=A0 It does seem we failed to make that be co-author and redefini=
ng should be avoided.</div><div dir=3D"auto"></div><div dir=3D"auto"></div>=
<div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto">David J.</div><div dir=3D"aut=
o"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto"><br></div><div dir=3D"auto"><div class=3D"gm=
ail_quote gmail_quote_container"><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D=
"margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote></div></div></div>

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