[PATCH] D123957: Update the developer policy to mention release notes

Tue Apr 19 05:39:17 PDT 2022

aaron.ballman added inline comments.

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Comment at: llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst:195
+* Adding, removing, or regrouping a diagnostic.
+* Fixing a bug (please link to the issue fixed in the bug database).
+* Adding or removing an optimization.
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nikic wrote:
> I disagree with this point. Bug fixes should not make it into the release notes as a matter of course -- there may be specific high-impact bug fixes that may be worth mentioning, but bug fixes should not be included in the release notes as a matter of policy.
> 
> I agree that release notes for Clang/LLVM are currently insufficient, but we should also be careful not to over-compensate in the other direction, but including too much irrelevant noise.
> I disagree with this point. Bug fixes should not make it into the release notes as a matter of course -- there may be specific high-impact bug fixes that may be worth mentioning, but bug fixes should not be included in the release notes as a matter of policy.

I disagree (quite strongly) with this and would point out that users have explicitly requested this information be included: https://discourse.llvm.org/t/rfc-update-developer-policy-on-release-notes/61856/3

> I agree that release notes for Clang/LLVM are currently insufficient, but we should also be careful not to over-compensate in the other direction, but including too much irrelevant noise.

Bug fixes are generally far from irrelevant, but I agree that reviewer and author discretion is advised (as with any release note). For example, if you introduce a bug in version N and fix the bug in version N, there's no need for a release note in that situation because there's no user-facing change as far as users care about. But I don't want to try to spell that out in precise detail because there will always be edge cases.

CHANGES SINCE LAST ACTION
  https://reviews.llvm.org/D123957/new/

https://reviews.llvm.org/D123957