Git Consistent is a set of config files to keep your commit messages and branch names consistent for all contributors of a project. It works with Linux and macOS.
It can be very useful for large projects, personal projects, and as an easy to configure client-side tool when your git host doesn't support server-side git hooks.
To the extent possible under law, I waive all copyright and related or neighboring rights to git-consistent.
- Download/copy the ".gitconfig" directory into your new git repository.
- Edit the TOPICS and BRANCHES file to taste (or remove either to go laissez-faire).
- Each contributor runs
.gitconfig/installto setup their repo after clone.
.gitconfig/TOPICS
# Project-style topics client server tools # OR Issue-style topics story task fix
.gitconfig/BRANCHES
# We could use git-flow style master develop release/* feature/* hotfix/*
The .gitconfig directory uses git hooks and templates to enforce consistent commit messages and branch names.
The rules are mostly based off of Chris Beam's "How to Write a Git Commit Message", in addition to using the torvalds/linux, python/cpython, hashicorp/terraform, facebook/react, and angular/angular repositories as references.
- Subject line is like either "Add change" or "project: implement it"
- Subject line must not be longer than 50 characters
- Subject line must not end with a period
- Subject line must be imperative (eg. "add", not "added" or "adding")
- When using "topic: summary", the topics can be configured in TOPICS
- Larger commits must include a description (like this!)
- A body/description, when included, must be wrapped at 72 characters
In general, I chose to implement two styles instead of one so that sub-project/package/module specific changes can be quickly identified, while repository-level commits are consistent with git's builtin commit defaults like "Merge", "Revert", etc.