Re: Is it time to drop ChangeLogs?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: John Wiegley <address@hidden>
> Date: Sun, 06 Mar 2016 16:15:14 -0800
> Cc: address@hidden, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <address@hidden>,
>       Richard Stallman <address@hidden>, Emacs developers <address@hidden>
> 
> I respect that Richard may use them in a constructive way, but he's no longer
> doing the majority of the work on Emacs

Neither are some of those who expressed their views here.  Unlike
Richard, those others cannot present a history of contributions and of
leading the development that is anywhere near what Richard has on his
record.

> I want to choose the path that works for the core developers, and
> will make Emacs more welcoming to new contributors.

It is IMO a grave mistake to remove parts of our development process
just because they need to be learned by new contributors.  The result
will be increased burden on the shoulders of those who review the
submissions, due to the need to coach them, catch their mistakes, ask
for re-submissions, etc.  It will eventually be a net loss, because
those contributors will not enjoy the need to produce several versions
of the patch before it is admitted, and the reviewers will not enjoy
the extra burden.

We should consider each part of the development process on its own
merit, first and foremost.  If a part is useful, and its removal will
make the quality of the code or the documentation lower, then it
should not be removed, and new contributors will have to learn it and
to live by it.

There's no useful way into Emacs development that doesn't require
negotiating a few barriers.  No free lunch here (or anywhere).  We
should recognize this fact instead of trying to bury our head in the
sand.