[GH-ISSUE #568] Specification doesn't permit footers without a body #4257

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GiteaMirror · 2026-04-27T15:45:18-05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-27 15:45:18 -05:00

Originally created by @Susko3 on GitHub (Feb 4, 2024).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/conventional-commits/conventionalcommits.org/issues/568

A longer commit body MAY be provided after the short description [...]

[...]

One or more footers MAY be provided one blank line after the body. [...]

Since the footers are after the body, if there is no body -- there can't be any footers.

The examples show a commit message with only a description and footers, but no body:

325b74fbc4/content/v1.0.0/index.md (L65-L70)

Originally created by @Susko3 on GitHub (Feb 4, 2024). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/conventional-commits/conventionalcommits.org/issues/568 > 6. A longer commit body MAY be provided after the short description [...] > 7. [...] > 8. One or more footers MAY be provided one blank line after the body. [...] Since the footers are after the body, if there is no body -- there can't be any footers. The examples show a commit message with only a description and footers, but no body: https://github.com/conventional-commits/conventionalcommits.org/blob/325b74fbc44bf34d9fa645951d076a450b4e26be/content/v1.0.0/index.md?plain=1#L65-L70

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-27 15:45:22 -05:00

@javier-godoy commented on GitHub (Feb 4, 2024):

The syntax given in the summary already makes clear that body is optional, and footers can be added even if body is absent, as in the example that you referred:
325b74fbc4/content/v1.0.0/index.md (L21-L25)

However, it's not clear whether "summary and example" take precedence over "specification" or vice-versa. Not without reason, one could assert that the "specification" holds the utmost authority as the definitive source of truth, while any other text simply strives to convey or interpret such specification.

-One or more footers MAY be provided one blank line after the body
+One or more footers MAY be provided one blank line after the body (or one blank line after the description, if body is omitted).

@javier-godoy commented on GitHub (Feb 4, 2024): The syntax given in the summary already makes clear that body is optional, and footers can be added even if body is absent, as in the example that you referred: https://github.com/conventional-commits/conventionalcommits.org/blob/325b74fbc44bf34d9fa645951d076a450b4e26be/content/v1.0.0/index.md?plain=1#L21-L25 However, it's not clear whether "summary and example" take precedence over "specification" or vice-versa. Not without reason, one could assert that the "specification" holds the utmost authority as the definitive source of truth, while any other text simply strives to convey or interpret such specification. ```diff -One or more footers MAY be provided one blank line after the body +One or more footers MAY be provided one blank line after the body (or one blank line after the description, if body is omitted). ```

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Reference: github-starred/conventionalcommits.org#4257