Subject: Re: [bug#78332] GCD005: Regular and efficient releases (submitted)

From: Andreas Enge <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2025 19:53:48 +0200

Hello,

Am Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 11:28:19AM -0400 schrieb Greg Hogan:
> > I think you put it very mildly; the real problem of our current process
> > is that it apparently has turned into "no releases"... This for me is
> > the most important motivation for this GCD, we need some momentum to
> > turn around this inertia.
> The GCD process is not designed for building momentum but rather for
> agreeing on significant changes. From GCD 001:

hm, I do not get your point. Of course it is not the *process* of
submitting this GCD that is supposed to generate momentum, but the
*result* of the GCD (in case it gets accepted) that should generate
momentum to reach releases.

> """The GCD process is a mechanism to determine whether a proposed
> change is *significant* enough to require attention from the community
> at large and if so, to provide a documented way to bring about broad
> community discussion and to collectively decide on the proposal.
> 
> A change may be deemed *significant* when it could only be reverted at
> a high cost or, for technical changes, when it has the potential to
> disrupt user scripts and programs or user workflows."""
> 
> What from GCD 005 is significant by this definition?

If I follow this definition in the second paragraph, then this GCD
proposal is not significant; it can be reverted at low to zero cost.

On the other hand, I think that putting into place a process for releases
is a significant change; and since there are several ways of getting to
a release, it is good to have a community discussion and to collectively
decide.

My conclusion would rather be that the definition of "significant
change" in GCD 001 is a bit too narrow. For instance, I would include
organisational change in the Guix project also as significant, even if
it could easily be reverted.

Do you have a different suggestion to end up with more regular releases?
Or do you think that regular releases are not desirable?

Andreas