Having flexibility for “pointless” commit messages is really important for research-y projects. Sadly, the practice often clashes with readers who have never really done research before.
A nice compromise is to use Github PRs plus squash-merge commits (search for “Github squash merge button”). For example, you might start a project, commit a bunch of “garbage” commit messages, and then decide the project is ready for initial release. Then take your branch, create a PR, and squash-merge it to your master branch with a nice commit message.
Need to update your paper on arxiv? Create a branch, commit willy-nilly, the squash-merge the result with a nice message (that perhaps references the updated arxiv version).
If for some reason your project grows like Caffe did years ago, then it can be time for smaller PRs and more organized commit messages.
A nice compromise is to use Github PRs plus squash-merge commits (search for “Github squash merge button”). For example, you might start a project, commit a bunch of “garbage” commit messages, and then decide the project is ready for initial release. Then take your branch, create a PR, and squash-merge it to your master branch with a nice commit message.
Need to update your paper on arxiv? Create a branch, commit willy-nilly, the squash-merge the result with a nice message (that perhaps references the updated arxiv version).
If for some reason your project grows like Caffe did years ago, then it can be time for smaller PRs and more organized commit messages.