include the commit id in the changelog entry

5 files changed, 26 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/docs/chapters/releases.sgml b/docs/chapters/releases.sgml
index 4e1874b4..1130d1d3 100644
--- a/docs/chapters/releases.sgml
+++ b/docs/chapters/releases.sgml
@@ -93,9 +93,18 @@ Thanks: cool upstream
 </screen>
     would result in a changelog entry
 <screen>
-    * New upstream version (Closes: #1000) - thanks to cool upstream    
+    * New upstream version (Closes: #1000) - thanks to cool upstream
 </screen>
 You can use multiple <option>Closes:</option> tags.
+</para><para>
+Often changelog entries correspond to a single &git; commit. In this case it's
+convenient to include the commit id in the chagenlog entry. This can be done
+via the <option>--id-length</option> option. Using
+<option>--id-length</option>=<replaceable>7</replaceable>  would change the above example to:
+<screen>
+    * [571bfd4] New upstream version (Closes: #1000) - thanks to cool upstream
+</screen>
+This makes it much easier to see which commit actually fixed bug #1000.
 </para>
 </sect1>
 </chapter>
diff --git a/docs/manpages/git-dch.sgml b/docs/manpages/git-dch.sgml
index acc2e5c8..727eabf2 100644
--- a/docs/manpages/git-dch.sgml
+++ b/docs/manpages/git-dch.sgml
@@ -144,6 +144,15 @@
           <para>options passed on verbatim to git-log(1)</para>
         </listitem>
       </varlistentry>
+      <varlistentry>
+        <term><option>--id-length=</option><replaceable>N</replaceable>
+        </term>
+        <listitem>
+	  <para>include <replaceable>N</replaceable> digits of the commit id in
+	  the changelog enty. Default is to not include any commit ids at
+	  all.</para>
+        </listitem>
+      </varlistentry>
     </variablelist>
   </refsect1>
   <refsect1>
diff --git a/gbp.conf b/gbp.conf
index 9acdc4d7..29561a2c 100644
--- a/gbp.conf
+++ b/gbp.conf
@@ -44,4 +44,4 @@
 [git-dch]
 #git-log = --no-merges
 #snapshot-number = snapshot + 1
-
+#id-length = 0
diff --git a/gbp/config.py b/gbp/config.py
index 2cc98b1e..8f672e92 100644
--- a/gbp/config.py
+++ b/gbp/config.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ class GbpOptionParser(OptionParser):
                  'tarball-dir'     : '',
                  'ignore-new'      : 'False',
                  'meta'            : 'False',
+                 'id-length'       : '0',
              }
     config_files = [ '/etc/git-buildpackage/gbp.conf',
                      os.path.expanduser('~/.gbp.conf'),
diff --git a/git-dch b/git-dch
index a46805a3..147c9b36 100755
--- a/git-dch
+++ b/git-dch
@@ -182,6 +182,8 @@ def parse_commit(repo, commitid, options):
         if thanks:
             thanks = ' - thanks to %s' % thanks
         msg += closes + thanks
+    if options.idlen:
+        msg = "[%s] " % commitid[0:options.idlen] + msg
     return msg, (author, email)
 
 
@@ -231,6 +233,9 @@ def main(argv):
                       help="parse meta tags in commit messages, default is '%(meta)s'", action="store_true")
     parser.add_option("--full", action="store_false", dest="short", default=True,
                       help="include the full commit message")
+    parser.add_config_file_option(option_name="id-length", dest="idlen",
+                      help="include N digits of the commit id in the changelog entry, default is '%(id-length)s'",
+                      type="int", metavar="N")
     (options, args) = parser.parse_args(argv[1:])
 
     if options.snapshot and options.release: