When should I update the date of my patches?

[Scott Kostyshak]

In Git, it is easy to change the date of a commit, for example with

git commit --amend --date="$(date -R)"

I have not been doing this because my first thought is that the date
should reflect when the patches were written.

Is there any guideline on when the date of a patch should be
"updated"? I've searched online but most results are about _how_ to
update the date.

As an example, I have a couple of patches from January that I am about
to commit to master. I updated one of the patches to revert a
temporary fix. Since I changed the patch (even though just by adding
one line) should I update the date?

Scott

[Vincent van Ravesteijn]

Post by Scott Kostyshak
In Git, it is easy to change the date of a commit, for example with
git commit --amend --date="$(date -R)"
I have not been doing this because my first thought is that the date
should reflect when the patches were written.
Is there any guideline on when the date of a patch should be
"updated"? I've searched online but most results are about _how_ to
update the date.
As an example, I have a couple of patches from January that I am about
to commit to master. I updated one of the patches to revert a
temporary fix. Since I changed the patch (even though just by adding
one line) should I update the date?
Scott

I've no idea what's the best thing to do. My feeling would be that the date
should reflect the first time the patch becomes public. When the patch is
under review, or when it is committed to a staging branch, the patch might
be applied to master a month later or so, then the date would be useful. I
don't think it is very useful to see that you wrote it in January. Just my
feeling.

Vincent

[Scott Kostyshak]

Post by Vincent van Ravesteijn

Post by Scott Kostyshak
In Git, it is easy to change the date of a commit, for example with
git commit --amend --date="$(date -R)"
I have not been doing this because my first thought is that the date
should reflect when the patches were written.
Is there any guideline on when the date of a patch should be
"updated"? I've searched online but most results are about _how_ to
update the date.
As an example, I have a couple of patches from January that I am about
to commit to master. I updated one of the patches to revert a
temporary fix. Since I changed the patch (even though just by adding
one line) should I update the date?
Scott

I've no idea what's the best thing to do. My feeling would be that the date
should reflect the first time the patch becomes public. When the patch is
under review, or when it is committed to a staging branch, the patch might
be applied to master a month later or so, then the date would be useful. I
don't think it is very useful to see that you wrote it in January. Just my
feeling.

Sounds good. I will try to remember to go with "when the patch became public".

Thanks,

Scott