[GHC] #13532: Work out better way of interacting with boot library upstreams

[GHC]

#13532: Work out better way of interacting with boot library upstreams
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           Reporter:  bgamari        |             Owner:  (none)
               Type:  task           |            Status:  new
           Priority:  normal         |         Milestone:
          Component:  Compiler       |           Version:  8.0.1
           Keywords:                 |  Operating System:  Unknown/Multiple
       Architecture:                 |   Type of failure:  None/Unknown
  Unknown/Multiple                   |
          Test Case:                 |        Blocked By:
           Blocking:                 |   Related Tickets:
Differential Rev(s):                 |         Wiki Page:
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 Currently our protocol for tracking boot library upstreams is a bit
 painful. Namely, I periodically try updating the library submodules,
 typically all at once, and see what breaks. We then have to go about
 pushing various patches fixing the breakage. After a week or three when
 all of these patches are upstream we can try bumping the submodules again.
 Ideally nothing else has broken and we can push the result. However, let's
 just say that Murphy's law has an unfortunately truth to it.

 I wonder whether moving in the direction of what we currently do with
 `haddock` would be an improvement. Namely, we maintain a `ghc-head` branch
 of each of the libraries. We can then pull upstream in `master` and make
 fixes as necessary. These changes can then be asynchronously pushed
 upstream. In principle, we could even try pulling nightly to catch issues
 early. Of course, prior to a release we would ensure that `ghc-head` sat
 on a proper `master` commit.

 Anyways, I've been meaning to do something about this. Another task for
 post-8.2.

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Ticket URL: <http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/13532>
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