Tentative high-level plans for 7.10.1

[Austin Seipp]

Hi *,

Today, Mikolaj and I discussed and plotted out a quick, high-level
roadmap for the 7.10.1 release, based on our earlier plans. Consider
this the 10,000 foot view (the last one was like a view from space).

**The TL;DR** - We think the freeze and branching for major things
will happen in _5 to 6 weeks from now_, in early/mid November. The
release will happen in Feburary. Developers, please read some code
(see below), and get your stuff in! The initial bug list will come
next week for you to look at.

---------------------------

The not-quite-TL;DR version:

We'll get about 4 months of fixes into STABLE. This stability period
will come at a typically low-point during the year, when many people
will be preoccupied with Holidays. So, we're trying to aim far ahead,
and try to give STABLE a long, official 'cooking period'.

Feature inclusions after the freeze _are_ negotiable, but not large
changes. Expect us to say "No" more often this time around. The STABLE
branch will only be touchable by me and Herbert.

We do not believe we will ship a 7.8.4 at all, contrary to what you
may have seen on Trac - we never decided definitively, but there is
likely not enough time. Over the next few days, I will remove the
defunct 7.8.4 milestone, and re-triage the assigned tickets.

We don't have any expected time for an RC just yet.

I will spend the next few days culling the 7.10.1 milestone to contain
appropriate tickets. Expect a list of these tickets early next week,
with more info.

Developers: if you have time, **please** review some code, and get
your stuff in too! Petition people to review things of yours. Review
things other people wrote, and learn new stuff. High five each other
afterwords.

Here are the major patches on Phabricator still needing review, that I
think we'd like to see for 7.10.1:

   - D168: Partial type signatures
   - D72: New rebindable syntax for arrows.
   - D155: LLVM 3.5 compatibility
   - D169: Source code note infrastructure
   - D202: Injective type families
   - Edward Yang's HEAP_ALLOCED saga, D270 through D293
   - D130: Implementation of hsig (module signatures)

It is possible not all of these will make it. But I think they're
solid priorities to try and land soon. Please let me know if you
disagree with this.

After I publish the bug list, please also take a look, and use your
judgement to include or remove things you think are sensible for
7.10.1 (I trust your judgement, and we can always talk it out later).

I think that's all. Here's a full roadmap below from our notes:

-----------------------------------

 - Expected ETA for 7.10.1:
   - Roughly Feburary 2015.
   - Expected code freeze ~5wks
     - Entails making the stable branch
     - Tentatively create branch on Nov. 7th.
     - ~3-4mo's of freeze time for STABLE.
     - Empirically a low-point in development due to Holidays, but
gives us a lot of time.

 - Cull and probably remove the 7.8.4 milestone.
   - Simply not enough time to address almost any of the tickets
     in any reasonable timeframe before 7.10.1, while also shipping them.
   - Only one, probably workarouadble, not game-changing
     bug (#9303) marked for 7.8.4.
   - No particular pressure on any outstanding bugs to release immediately.
   - ANY release would be extremely unlikely, but if so, only
     backed by the most critical of bugs.
   - We will move everything in 7.8.4 milestone to 7.10.1 milestone.
     - To accurately catalogue what was fixed.
     - To eliminate confusion.

 - Cull the 7.10.1 milestone
   - Currently ~700 tickets.
   - 31 high tickets.
   - 1 highest priority ticket.
   - Bulk of them will need moved out to 7.12.1.
     - Ask developers/users to move things back in.
     - Demote any old tickets out of highest according to bug tracker policy.
     - Alert people these are our priorities.

 - Go through ONLY high/highest priority tickets for 7.10.1.
   - Email ghc-devs with plans.

 - Major tentative patches for 7.10
   - D168: Partial type signatures
   - D72: New rebindable syntax for arrows.
   - D155: LLVM 3.5 compatibility (not big, but important for users!)
   - D169: Source code note infrastructure (partially reviewed, Austin
to review)
   - D202: Injective type families
   - Edward Yang's HEAP_ALLOCED saga, D270 through D293
   - D130: Implementation of hsig (module signatures)

-- 
Regards,

Austin Seipp, Haskell Consultant
Well-Typed LLP, http://www.well-typed.com/