bug#66554: [PATCH] Add the public API of Compat to the core

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>
> Cc: Daniel Mendler <mail@daniel-mendler.de>,  66554@debbugs.gnu.org,
>   eliz@gnu.org,  Stefan Kangas <stefankangas@gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2024 20:24:25 +0000
> 
> > The addition cab done procedurally, as in
> >
> >     ;;;;####autoload (push (list 'compat emacs-major-version
> > emacs-minor-version) package--builtin-versions)
> 
> If this work, I like this idea a lot!  I'll test it out to see if this
> could simplify things.

I'm not sure I understand the effects of the above -- can you explain?

In general, if something needs to be done when the Emacs version is
bumped, that action should be described in make-tarball.txt.  It is a
nuisance to follow the procedure there, only to be reminded of
something else via a warning emitted by the build (and that is even
before we consider the possibility that someone launches a build and
goes for a coffee, while the warnings scroll on the screen with no one
to see them).  Likewise, if a file is modified by whatever commands we
invoke to bump an Emacs version, that file should be mentioned in
make-tarball.txt, because the person who performs that procedure will
then need to commit the changes with a suitable log message, like we
do today with configure.ac and the rest.