[ghc-steering-committee] Remove the * kind syntax (#143); Recommendation: accept

[Richard Eisenberg]

I think you have the polarity backwards. -XNoStarIsType will be enabled by default in 12 releases, and -XStarIsType will be removed after 15.

The future is always up for debate. The question, to me, is this: At the 15-release mark, would it take another proposal to

A) remove -XStarIsType, or
B) keep -XStarIsType

Accepting this proposal as-is means (B). In that scenario, we're not committed irreversibly to removing -XStarIsType; it just means that's our current plan. Someone from the future might propose changing the plan, and that could be considered in light of the greater information available in the future.

Thus, I think it's all good as is.

Richard

> On Jul 15, 2018, at 9:06 AM, Joachim Breitner <mail at joachim-breitner.de> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Am Samstag, den 14.07.2018, 19:42 -0400 schrieb Ben Gamari:
>> This proposal involves a protracted but warranted transition period. In short:
>> 
>> 1. `-XNoStarIsType` will be introduced in GHC 8.6
>> 
>> 2. Warnings will be introduced in GHC 8.8, increasing in visibility in
>>    later releases.
>> 
>> 3. `-XStarIsType` will be enabled by default starting 12 releases
>>    (roughly 7 years from now) after GHC 8.6.
> 
> fine with me so far.
> 
>> 4. 15 releases (8.5 years from now) after GHC 8.6 `-XNoStarIsType` will
>>    be removed.
> 
> I would rather reword this to “may be removed”, and leave it to the
> future GHC developers to make the call. It may be that they decide that
> the cost keeping the StarIsType code around is not that big, and that
> the benefit of running old code  with less effort is higher, and I see
> no reason to force their hand at this point. Instead of forcing, we
> should at most give a mandate.
> 
> Cheers,
> Joachim
> 
> -- 
> Joachim Breitner
>  mail at joachim-breitner.de
>  http://www.joachim-breitner.de/
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