When the commit message is wrong

You are going to read a commit message, then look at the code diffs, and realize they don’t match.

Often it’s something innocent, like simply being incomplete. There are more changes and fixes included than are mentioned in the commit message.

Other times there are changes in formatting or something else that result in no compiled or runtime change, yet the commit message says it fixes something. Or even optimizes it.

When it’s blatant and obvious, these situations are frustrating and, at best, amusing. The trouble is when you have doubts and then have to test and verify to find the truth. It can sometimes be worse than no message at all.

Code review can help prevent this. Be your first code reviewer and make sure what you write is actually true.