Please note that Wget has more than one ChangeLog file: ./ChangeLog: documents changes to files in the top-level directory and to files in subdirectories like po/ that don't have their own ChangeLogs src/ChangeLog: documents only changes to files in the src directory doc/ChangeLog: documents only changes to files in the doc directory windows/ChangeLog: documents only changes to files in the windows directory When checking to see if a patch you sent in has been applied, please look in the appropriate ChangeLog(s). In addition, you'll notice the ChangeLog-branches directories. In late 2000, time constraints delayed the release of Wget 1.6. While it was awaiting release, people had new features and other changes they wanted added to the CVS archive, but these were deemed not safe to introduce just before a release. The solution was to split the stable 1.6 off onto its own branch, while free-wheeling development continued on the main branch (whose version was changed from 1.5.3+dev to 1.7-dev). Unfortunately it's difficult to portray this branched development in the flat ChangeLog file. Either you include 1.6-branch changes in the 1.7-branch ChangeLog, in which case it becomes impossible to tell what release version a given change first went into Wget, just judging by date and position in the ChangeLog, or you omit all 1.6-branch changes from the 1.7-branch ChangeLog, in which case all evidence of the existence of 1.6 (and further information about that branch) disappears from future versions of Wget. The solution that was decided upon was to make a subdirectory called ChangeLog-branches adjacent to each ChangeLog file. Inside is the corresponding ChangeLog from the most recent release on the stable branch (e.g. 1.6_branch.ChangeLog). This way, no information is lost and there's no misleading information in the ChangeLog.