compat.el and Emacs unstable master branch features (was: bug#63513: [PATCH] Make persist-defvar work with records and hash tables)

[Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net>]

Daniel Mendler <mail@daniel-mendler.de> writes:

> On 9/9/23 13:35, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
>>> So using Compat here has to wait until compat-30.x is released.
>> 
>> And do I understand correctly that compat-30 will only be released after
>> Emacs 30 is released? If so, it is awkward for :core packages.
>
> compat-30 can be released as soon as Emacs 30 has been reasonably
> stabilized, e.g., when the emacs-30 branch has been frozen, or a bit
> before that. We cannot release much earlier since APIs may still change
> and it is probably undesired to release unfinished APIs to the public
> too early. For reference, I've created the compat-29.1.1 release around
> the day that Eli announced the emacs-29 branch freeze.

I understand the logic, but it does not make things less awkward.

Sometimes, Emacs core packages that are also distributed on ELPA rely on
bugfixes (changed functions) or new functions from master.

It is indeed viable to copy-paste the needed functions into the package
code, but it _feels_ like something compat.el may provide support for.

May it be possible to provide a public API in compat.el to define
compat function versions before they appear in compat.el properly?

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
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