bug#50999: 29.0.50; Deleting libraries obsolete since Emacs 24

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> Assuming that Emacs 29 will be released in 2022 or 2023, removing
> anything from 24.1-24.3 should mean it's been 9-10 years since the
> libraries were obsoleted in an official release.  If we remove stuff
> obsoleted in 24.4 and 24.5 as well, that would mean it's only been 7-8
> years.  The former should be okay and in line with our historical
> practice, the latter is a bit more enthusiastic and could be
> discussed.

Yeah, I think removing 24.4 and 24.5 things would be premature, but the
older stuff should be fine.

> FWIW, it is kind of nice to have the easy to understand principle that
> we generally delete obsolete stuff after five major releases, but it
> is true that version 24 is somewhat different from 23, 25, 26 and 27
> in that it was around for longer.

We've changed our naming methodology -- we used to have major and minor
releases, but with Emacs 27 we ditched that, so the obsoletion strategy
has to be adjusted a bit.

> I think we should just decide what we want to do in Emacs 29, and then
> apply the same principle for deleting obsolete functions, variables,
> etc.

Yup.  I think everything obsoleted before Emacs 24.3 should be up for
removal in Emacs 29 (since that'd be about a decade old when Emacs 29 is
released), but perhaps Eli has a different opinion.  Eli?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no