From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Neil Jerram Newsgroups: gmane.lisp.guile.devel Subject: Re: NEWS entries -- user-visible? Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:41:06 +0100 Message-ID: <87bpoq8mm5.fsf@arudy.ossau.uklinux.net> References: <2bc5f8210906141243l630335e0o3fb771f22e94a962@mail.gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1245019300 667 80.91.229.12 (14 Jun 2009 22:41:40 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:41:40 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Andy Wingo , guile-devel To: Julian Graham Original-X-From: guile-devel-bounces+guile-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Jun 15 00:41:36 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: guile-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1MFyON-0001Lb-0t for guile-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:41:35 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:57636 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MFyOM-0004w2-Ir for guile-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:41:34 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MFyO3-0004fn-O7 for guile-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:41:15 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MFyNz-0004ZP-2b for guile-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:41:15 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=35077 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MFyNy-0004ZB-T2 for guile-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:41:10 -0400 Original-Received: from mail3.uklinux.net ([80.84.72.33]:46365) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1MFyNy-0003UQ-CZ for guile-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:41:10 -0400 Original-Received: from arudy (host86-152-99-133.range86-152.btcentralplus.com [86.152.99.133]) by mail3.uklinux.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 210741F9C47; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:41:08 +0100 (BST) Original-Received: from arudy.ossau.uklinux.net (arudy [127.0.0.1]) by arudy (Postfix) with ESMTP id F27223801F; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:41:06 +0100 (BST) In-Reply-To: <2bc5f8210906141243l630335e0o3fb771f22e94a962@mail.gmail.com> (Julian Graham's message of "Sun\, 14 Jun 2009 15\:43\:24 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.2 (gnu/linux) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4-2.6 X-BeenThere: guile-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Developers list for Guile, the GNU extensibility library" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: guile-devel-bounces+guile-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: guile-devel-bounces+guile-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.lisp.guile.devel:8685 Archived-At: Julian Graham writes: > Hi Andy, > > As mentioned on IRC, I bet there are ways to pitch these changes to > make them comprehensible to users. I think you're right to ditch the > second one, but for the first and third: > >> =A0 =A0** Guile now uses Gnulib as a portability aid > > ** Guile now uses components from Gnulib for portability to a wider > variety of POSIX and non-POSIX systems. I see where you're heading with this, but for me this NEWS item still isn't specific enough to mean anything to a user. It seems we're aiming towards saying: ** Guile now runs correctly on more platforms. Since the 1.8.x series, support for the following platforms has been added: A, B, C. But (1) I'm not sure we have precise information to hand on what A, B and C are; and there's no value in the NEWS item without the detail. And (2) to be honest there is no such thing as "runs correctly". What we really mean is that we've fixed particular portability-related bugs on particular platforms by using Gnulib. And we really ought to have - and in most cases I think we already do have - specific NEWS items for each of those bugs. So, overall, I'm not persuaded that there's any value in this item. >> =A0 =A0** Primitive procedures with more than 3 arguments (aka. "gsubrs"= ) are >> =A0 =A0no longer implemented using the "compiled closure" mechanism. =A0= This >> =A0 =A0simplifies code and reduces both the storage and run-time overhea= d. > > ** Primitive procedures accepting more than 3 arguments now execute > faster and consume less memory. Here, on the other hand, I now agree with you; this is likely to be interest to application developers. It would be even better if it had a pointer to where to find more details - even a mailing list thread or a commit, if there's nothing better? Regards, Neil