Proposal on the platform API policy question

[Ben Moseley]

Sounds good.

--Ben

On 20 May 2009, at 23:54, Duncan Coutts wrote:

> All,
>
> Thanks to everyone who took part in the recent discussion on API
> compatibility in minor platform releases. In response to the points
> raised, Don and I would like to propose the following:
>
>      * Bug fix only in minor releases
>      * Change platform version numbers to follow the PVP
>      * 4 month major release cycles for the first 12 months
>      * Review major release cycle frequency after 12 months
>
> We hope we can achieve consensus around this proposal. Please could
> people indicate if they think they can support this.
>
> Note that there are plenty of other issues that we have yet to  
> address,
> so don't worry that we're not talking about those yet. We raised this
> issue first because we need a decision.
>
> Details:
>
>      * "bug fix only" means no api changes or additions in library
>        packages and no new user-accessible features in programs. In
>        terms of the PVP it means only the 4th digit may increment, eg
>        X.Y.Z.0 -> X.Y.Z.1.
>      * Having the platform following the PVP means the next minor
>        release will be 2009.2.0.1 (rather than 2009.2.1) to indicate
>        that it has (or more accurately it's constituents have)  the
>        exact same API as the previous major release. In general the
>        version will be of the form "X.Y.0.Z" with "X.Y" being the  
> major
>        version and Z the minor.
>      * Initially using a 4 month major release cycle means we'll get
>        one release before ghc 6.12 and another after (assuming 6.12 is
>        released in November again).
>      * After 12 months we'll review (via this mailing list) the  
> release
>        cycle frequency based on the experience of 4 month release
>        cycles and with input from HP users, HP package maintainers and
>        HP release wranglers.
>
> Duncan
>
> _______________________________________________
> Libraries mailing list
> Libraries at haskell.org
> http://www.haskell.org/mailman/listinfo/libraries