Here is a draft discussion document on proposed changes to our upgrade procedures that will be submitted to the Member’s Assembly in October. The more that we can agree on before we get to Rome, the more likely we are to come away with a framework that works for all. I would urge everyone who has expressed interest in this matter to engage.
Could you make major comments in this thread (quoting sections here when relevant) and restrict comments on the Google Doc to finer/pedantic points.
This document is very different from the one we presented in Dar es Salaam. Hopefully it takes on board the further learnings we have gone through with 2.03 over the past months.
The biggest change is to make a clear distinction between content and technical implementation. We propose that we should formally approve the content - the explicit use cases for each proposal - before going anywhere near schemas, xml, etc.
Other changes include
- New responsibilities for the Governing Board in initiating and approving decimal upgrades and overseeing integers
- Procedures for involving the Governing Board in resolving disputes.
- Specifying the necessary phases of an upgrade without prescribing the timeline (which should be determined on a case-by-case basis to take into account likely complexity and TAG and MA meeting timings).
I look forward to an open and constructive discussion.
Many thanks, Tim Davies
TimDavies:We agree that this is a better solution and have made appropriate changes to the proposal
TimDavies:Agreed and changed
TimDavies:All our documentation should make this distinction. Rules should be a MUST and guidelines a SHOULD or be RECOMMENDED. We will check consistency.
I think you mean “MUST”!
+1 for semver and RC – that’s great.
Thanks Bill.
On rules and guidelines, I was also thinking of a wider separation in terms of governance.
I.e. should changes to guidelines only be possible with a new version of the standard, or could they be updated outside that versioning process?
Personally, I’d suggest that it should be possible to update Guidelines through a Patch Upgrade, so:
Rules may be:
Guidelines may be:
I agree with this approach Hayden Field