Index: llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst =================================================================== --- llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst +++ llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst @@ -104,6 +104,51 @@ software. Please see :doc:`CodeReview` for more information on LLVM's code-review process. +.. _breaking: + +Making Potentially Breaking Changes +----------------------------------- + +Please help notify users and vendors of potential disruptions when upgrading to +a newer version of a tool. For example, deprecating a feature that is expected +to be removed in the future, removing an already-deprecated feature, upgrading a +diagnostic from a warning to an error, switching important default behavior, or +any other potentially disruptive situation thought to be worth raising +awareness of. For such changes, the following should be done: + +* When performing the code review for the change, please add any applicable + "vendors" group to the review for their awareness. The purpose of these + groups is to give vendors early notice that potentially disruptive changes + are being considered but have not yet been accepted. Vendors can give early + testing feedback on the changes to alert us to unacceptable breakages. The + current list of vendor groups is: + + * `Clang vendors `_ + * `libc++ vendors `_ + + People interested in joining the vendors group can do so by clicking the + "Join Project" link on the vendor's "Members" page in Phabricator. + +* When committing the change to the repository, add appropriate information + about the potentially breaking changes to the ``Potentially Breaking Changes`` + section of the project's release notes. The release note should have + information about what the change is, what is potentially disruptive about + it, as well as any code examples, links, and motivation that is appropriate + to share with users. This helps users to learn about potential issues with + upgrading to that release. + +* After the change has been committed to the repository, the potentially + disruptive changes described in the release notes should be posted to the + `Announcements `_ channel on + Discourse. The post should be tagged with the ``potentially-breaking`` label + and a label specific to the project (such as ``clang``, ``llvm``, etc). This + is another mechanism by which we can give pre-release notice to users about + potentially disruptive changes. It is a lower-traffic alternative to the + joining "vendors" group. To automatically be notified of new announcements + with the ``potentially-breaking`` label, go to your user preferences page in + Discourse, and add the label to one of the watch categories under + ``Notifications->Tags``. + .. _code owners: Code Owners @@ -181,7 +226,12 @@ programming paradigms. * Modifying a C stable API. * Notifying users about a potentially disruptive change expected to be made in - a future release, such as removal of a deprecated feature. + a future release, such as removal of a deprecated feature. In this case, the + release note should be added to a ``Potentially Breaking Changes`` section of + the notes with sufficient information and examples to demonstrate the + potential disruption. Additionally, any new entries to this section should be + announced in the `Announcements `_ + channel on Discourse. See :ref:`breaking` for more details. Code reviewers are encouraged to request a release note if they think one is warranted when performing a code review.