GEODE-nn: 50 chars or less summary

More detailed explanation with linefeeds to wrap at 72 characters after a blank line following the summary.

Further paragraphs come after blank lines.  Bullet points are okay, too.  Typically a hyphen or asterisk is used for the bullet, followed by a single space, with blank lines in between, but conventions vary here.  Use a hanging indent.

Be verbose.  Your commit message should tell the story of your work.  People read our commit logs and understanding what changed (and why) is very helpful.  

Wording of the Commit Message

The commit message should follow imperative style [1]. The wording should fit this phrasing "If I apply this commit, then it will..." for any of the git commits.

For example, use this wording:

GEODE-nn: Fix failing CompositePropertySourceTest

Instead of:

• GEODE-nn: Fixing failing CompositePropertySourceTest
• GEODE-nn: Fixed failing CompositePropertySourceTest
• GEODE-nn: failing CompositePropertySourceTest
• GEODE-nn: polishing stuff
• GEODE-nn: CompositePropertySourceTest is failing intermittently
  
• GEODE-nn: variable name fixes

[1] How to write a Git commit message.