Re: Gitlab Migration

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: John Yates <john@yates-sheets.org>
> Date: Wed, 1 Sep 2021 07:35:10 -0400
> Cc: Dmitry Gutov <dgutov@yandex.ru>, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>, 
> danflscr@gmail.com, 
>       Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>, Stefan Monnier 
> <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>, 
>       Emacs developers <emacs-devel@gnu.org>
> 
> > Emacs is an old and _stable_ package.  "Stable" means just that:
> > features burned into users' muscle memory don't just change every
> > weekend.
> 
> At 70, I still count myself as an "early adopter".  I am unlikely to
> accept having my world and habits disrupted every weekend.  But
> with somewhat longer time scales (e.g. Ubuntu's six month and
> Android yearly cadences) I am quite comfortable.

How long is "somewhat longer" is obviously very personal and differs
between people.  I've met people for whom 6 months is a blink of an
eye.

> > So we do it slowly, cautiously, and preferably via opt-in
> > features, because we respect our users and their habits.
> 
> Ah, but the model is opt-in to change, not opt-out.  Thus
> opponents of change start off with an advantage and set
> the terms of debate.

I said "preferably opt-in".  We do make opt-out changes as well, just
less so, for the reasons I tried to explain.

> Other models are possible:
> * Long term releases with sunset dates
> * Previews of features that will become defaults with opt-out
> * ?

Someone™ should step forward and volunteer to manage such models.  If
and when they do, I don't see why not, at least not in principle.

> Anyway, thank you, Eli, for your long, thoughtful reply and
> for your project leadership.

You are welcome.