On 02/05/2013 12:22 AM, Peter Johansson wrote:
On 02/04/2013 11:31 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
When I did this, I should really have published a 1.11.x release offering
this same option as well; that would have removed all confusion. Sigh,
such a low-hanging fruit not picked :-(
I disagree. IMVHO micro releases should only fix bugs and not introduce new
features,
I agree, but this wouldn't have been the case; 'serial-tests' would have
just been recognized as a no-op option (as it is in 1.12), to enhance
forward compatibility.
The way to avoid these problems would have been to let the fruit sit
there for, say 3-5 years, and then change the default value.
Indeed (which is just what I've before admitted has been my mistake).
2013-01-01 Release automake 1.13.1 (parallel tests now default)
This isn't the only backwards incompatible change made recently,
and in my humble opinion I think the timeframes introducing
backwards incompatibility are too aggressive.
You are not the only one to think so, and I've come to agree (at least
partially); for some more discussions and background, see:
<http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/2013-02/msg00001.html>
<http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13578>
So things should proceed more carefully in the future (I hope).
In hindsight, I'm surprised no one objected to your aggressive changes.
From a backwards-compatibility point of view, I think the default
should be reverted to serial tests, and make it clearer that
parallel tests are available as an option.
With this I must disagree, sorry.
I agree with your disagreement ;) flip-flopping back and forth would
cause complete confusion and chaos. It would, however, be useful to
document a workaround (perhaps in FAQ)
I fear we don't have FAQs;