Subject: Re: bug#7498: 23.2; scheme-mode.el doesn't parse racket file correctly

From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 13:45:53 -0700

Philip Kaludercic <[email-masked]> writes:

>> What do you think of adding racket-mode to NonGNU ELPA?  Is doing that
>> something you would be willing to volunteer for?
>
> By coincidence, the racket-mode maintainer just responded to my
> request[0] from a weeks ago, and he isn't that enthusiastic because ELPA
> is stable-by-default, and he prefers a rolling release model.
>
> Of course it would still be possible, but the lack of upstream
> cooperation would make it more difficult.
>
> [0] https://github.com/greghendershott/racket-mode/issues/389#issuecomment-948738602

(I've CC:ed in Stefan Monnier.)

I see no need for us to be strict about such things, any more than
Debian is trying to be strict with the packages they distribute.  So I
would encourage the maintainer to keep his current release model, or
whichever one he happens to prefer, and explain explicitly that we have
no interest in imposing any kind of release model on anyone.

However, it would be very useful if he could periodically update the
"Version" header, for example on the 1st of each month or whatever suits
him, so that the package is automatically updated ("released") on NonGNU
ELPA.

Beyond that, I don't see that we do anything in particular to raise user
expectations on our end, but I don't think that his concerns are
therefore invalid.  One way to manage user expectations could be to add
a brief note to the documentation (e.g. the README and/or Commentary
section) explaining the release model of the package.