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    It also makes them searchable. You can search commit messages in commandline git and sourcetree eg.. If you just use notepad, most likely the files never gonna be opened again and are hard to search without knowing some extensive bash and writing a script that searches all the relevant places. Commented Aug 27, 2016 at 16:26
  • I try to do this in both my commit statements as well as the bug or feature request with links to the commit. I also do dated inline comments in the code with reasons why I changed the code. This helps dramatically in our creaky old code base where comments are largely unknown. Commented Aug 27, 2016 at 17:46
  • No, this is something else. Commit messages should describe what was done, not why. The why goes in your documenting code comments, accompanying documentation and issue tracker resolution. You can't put five pages of notes and design work in a commit message, nor should you want to. Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 12:44
  • It is great to put it in the version control system. A better place is a plain text file inside though. Those are easier to use than commit messages. Commented Aug 28, 2016 at 16:18