Martin, Given that currently everything is backported to the 4.0.x branch (except for mixins feature), I really see no value in maintaining two (almost identical) branches, it is only a burden for us.
In other words, why not have it all on master as 4.0.x instead, and make certain features (like mixins) "dormant", disabled by default. The value is that these "dormant" features could be enabled by users (and it would be clear to them, these are "preview features"), but they could still try them out, and provide valuable feedback. Today, their only option is to build Maven for themselves off master. To make this clear(er), Maven could consistently emit a warning at start if a "preview feature" got enabled, as that would imply, that the build may rely on something not yet released (vetted/approved) by us, we are just showcasing the feature. My 5 cents T On Tue, Oct 7, 2025 at 12:36 PM Martin Desruisseaux <[email protected]> wrote: > > It is fine for me. Just curious: why backporting instead of using git > merge? I mean real merges, not rebases as we do on github. Maybe it > would have to be done on the command-line (I'm not sure that github has > the necessary user-interface). The workflow would be: > > * Master branch represents 4.0.0-SNAPSHOT. > * Preview branch represents 4.1.0-SNAPSHOT. > * Execute an initial `merge master --strategy=ours` on the preview > branch. It will not make any change in the preview branch, but will > record that the next merges from `master` to `preview` will consider > only the commits after this point. > * Commits on master. > * When there are a bunch of commits that we want to port to the > preview branch (4.1.0-SNAPSHOT), use `git merge` from master to preview. > * If there are a series of commits that we don't want to port to the > preview branch, first merge the commits that we want, then > execute `merge master --strategy=ours` again for skipping the > unwanted commits. > > I'm maintaining that way 3 branches in the Apache SIS project for a > similar reason. > > Martin > > > Le 07/10/2025 à 12:15, Guillaume Nodet a écrit : > > Hi all, > > > > I’d like to suggest we switch the master branch to 4.0.0-SNAPSHOT and > > enable new features as “preview” options, guarded behind feature flags. > > > > Maintaining the gap between master and 4.0.x has become increasingly > > difficult, especially around tracking which changes have or haven’t been > > backported. By making master represent 4.0.0-SNAPSHOT, we can include all > > upcoming features with their default disabled, allowing contributors and > > advanced users to experiment without impacting stability or production uses. > > > > (...snip...) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
