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,
>   monnier@iro.umontreal.ca,  stefankangas@gmail.com
> Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2024 22:27:37 +0000
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> 
> >> > I guess I'm misunderstanding something.  The scenario that I have in
> >> > mind is this:
> >> >
> >> >   . we bump Emacs version to NN.1.90 as part of pretesting version NN.2
> >> >   . as part of the pretest, some function changes that requires
> >> >     addition or change in compat.el
> >> >   . compat.el still claims version NN.1, although it includes changes
> >> >     not present in Emacs NN.1
> >> >
> >> > Did I succeed in explaining my worries?
> >> 
> >> I hope I understood your reasoning correctly. Shortly after you bump
> >> NN.1.90 we can release compat-NN.2.0 which will include the necessary
> >> change.
> >
> > Release where? on ELPA or as part of the Emacs tarball?
> >
> > And how do we make sure we will not forget to release this new version
> > of compat.el?
> 
> We have to distinguish the ELPA package Compat and the compat.el file
> being added here.

Yes, we should.  I'm asking exactly that: when you say "we can release
compat-NN.2.0", do you mean ELPA or do you mean compat.el in Emacs?

> The ELPA package Compat is manually released on our
> behalf, usually after a release of Emacs has been announced.  The plan
> is that the compat.el file does not have to be touched at all, since it
> registers itself to use the right version, while Emacs is scraping the
> for autoloads.  So there shouldn't be any additional effort from the
> side of Emacs maintenance, and nothing one can "forget".

But that's exactly the problem I'm struggling with: compat.el in Emacs
registers itself with inaccurate version, which lacks the last part
after emacs-minor.

As for "forgetting", I do mean whoever should remember to release a
new version of Compat on ELPA -- if this is a manual operation, it can
be forgotten, especially if it has to be related to pretest releases
as well as the official releases.

I guess I lack an overall picture of how this is supposed to work, as
part of our pretest and release flow.  Could you or someone else post
such a complete description?  Without this, I'm not sure I agree with
the changes being considered, or at least don't quite understand their
impact on the routine maintenance.

Thanks.