changes to library interfaces (was Re: Data.List.join)

[Ross Paterson]

On Sun, Oct 22, 2006 at 12:50:14PM +1000, Donald Bruce Stewart wrote:
> Getting bogged down in fiddly details will just derail this effort. See
> here. Perfectionists will not be tolerated! ;)
>     http://haskell.org/haskellwiki/Protect_the_community
> [...]
> So, I propose we start with just, say, 'connect', with some QC
> properties, and get that into base, before we get dragged out into a big
> discussion about the entire api design.

I don't care much about this particular case, but we really need a better
way of handling interface changes than this.  We don't want proposals to
rot, but changes to basic interfaces also need thorough consideration.
At present, unless a proposal meets with a chorus of approval, the
only way to get a decision is from SimonM or unilateral action by some
committer.  That needs to change, I think.

BTW, I find that "Protecting the community from poisonous people" stuff
incongruously negative compared with my experiences on the Haskell
mailing lists.  There are some positive suggestions in there; let's
focus on those, rather than the witch hunting.