Re: PG 19 release notes and authors

On Mon, Apr 6, 2026 at 08:15:51AM -0700, David G. Johnston wrote:
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 6, 2026, 08:04 Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)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.

Sorry, I meant to say that whether a name is "Author" or
"Co-authored-by:" doesn't matter --- both appear in the release notes.

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

Right, that is what I hear Andrew saying.

> 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.

Uh, do people actually want to use that? I would rather not add
complexity unless I hear someone wants it.

> 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.

Uh, yeah, good question. We can define what we want going forward and I
we have different rules for PG 19.

--
Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> https://momjian.us
EDB https://enterprisedb.com

Do not let urgent matters crowd out time for investment in the future.