GNU bug report logs - #21953
Eliminate warnings in the emacs-25 release branch

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Message #47 received at 21953 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stephen Leake <stephen_leake <at> stephe-leake.org>
To: John Wiegley <jwiegley <at> gmail.com>
Cc: Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org>, Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>,
 21953 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#21953: Eliminate warnings in the emacs-25 release branch
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 2015 11:20:54 -0600

John Wiegley <jwiegley <at> gmail.com> writes:

>>>>>> Glenn Morris <rgm <at> gnu.org> writes:
>
>> Sorry, but I have to say that I think this goal is firstly unachievable, and
>> secondly won't make the release any better. In fact probably the opposite,
>> by distracting from more important issues.
>
> I've never worked on a project where getting to warning free was not both
> achievable, and a good idea.
>
> For example, at one point the Borland C++ compiler had over 4,000 warnings. As
> such, every one of them was completely ignored. Later on, after much effort,
> we reduced that number to zero. While doing so, we discovered that a crash bug
> we'd been working for _days_ was loudly pointed out to us by the compiler in
> that same set of warnings. Had the warnings been "real" to us, it would have
> saved days of developer time, on several occasions. It's worth the effort.
>
> Having enough warnings that they no longer warn of anything is pretty much the
> same as turning them off. That's why I don't accept the "it's too hard"
> argument. If it adds another month or two to our release cycle, so be it.
> Emacs 25.1 is the time to get them under control.

+10

-- 
-- Stephe

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