Splitting Commits via Past Code Changes.

It is generally said that we should not perform code changes for multiple tasks in a single commit. Such code changes are called tangled ones. Committing tangled changes is harmful to developers. For example, it is costly to merge a part of tangled changes with other commits. Moreover, the presence of such tangled changes hinders analyzing code repositories. That is because most of the mining software repository approaches are designed under the assumption that every commit includes only changes for a single task. In this paper, we propose a technique which informs developers that they are about to commit tangled changes. The technique also suggests how to split a given commit into multiple commits by using past code changes. The proposed technique allows developers to determine whether they accept the suggestion or commit as it stands. By providing such support to developers, they can avoid committing tangled changes.