Missing release notes for point releases (#15330)

[Carl Meyer]

Hi Russell et al,

I don't agree with the wontfix resolution of #15330. I think the OP
there is right - we should be consistent in providing release notes
for all releases, even if they would be as short as "No significant
changes" (and I don't actually think that's true even for 1.2.1 or
1.2.3 -- in both cases the reason for the additional release on short
notice is in itself worthy of note in release notes).

If release notes are simply missing, someone about to upgrade to that
release has no way to be sure if they're missing because they weren't
considered necessary, or if they're missing because of a mistake (such
mistakes have certainly been known to happen), or because they're
trying the wrong URL, or... Clarity is important, and the effort
involved here is minimal. If the effort involved concerns anyone, I'm
quite happy to be the volunteer to make sure release notes exist for
all releases.

Carl

[Jorge Vargas]

Of course I agree with Carl :)

I should enforce my point that at least a link to the blog should be
there.

Personally I tracked it down and it took me a couple of minutes, to
figure out why they where missing. But the confusion was there as well
as a potential problem with more picky organizations (like packagers
or pointy hair bosses)

>
> Carl

[Russell Keith-Magee]

Well, I can't think of a *less* compelling reason to do this than
"keeping PHB's happy"... frankly, learning to live with a little
inconsistency would be good for their souls. :-)

That said, my wontfix was essentially reflecting what I understood to
be our existing policy -- i.e., that we didn't have point release
notes unless we really needed them. As a result, my mental picture was
that we didn't actually have that many point release notes -- only for
the couple of releases that introduced new features and backwards
incompatibilities.

However, if I take a closer look at our list of release notes, I now
see that this clearly isn't the case -- my mental picture of differed
significantly from reality. It looks like we are missing release notes
for:

* 1.0.3
* 1.0.4
* 1.1.1
* 1.2.1
* 1.2.3

which indicates that missing release notes are the exception, rather
than the rule.

Carl's point about being clear and open about saying *something* with
every release, even if it's just "No significant changes", is also
fair comment.

So - I'm happy to reopen on that basis, with the understanding going
forward that every point release should have release notes (rather
than adding them post facto as we have done for the last couple of
point releases).

Yours,
Russ Magee %-)