[Python-Dev] feature freeze questions (original) (raw)

Eli Bendersky eliben at gmail.com
Thu Jul 26 10:24:26 CEST 2012

I have a few questions about feature freeze:

(1) Is increasing test coverage acceptable during feature freeze, even if it does not involve fixing a bug? (2) When adding new tests (e.g. in the course of fixing a bug or increasing test coverage), are we allowed to refactor other tests so that supporting test code can be shared? Or should the tests be added in a less DRY fashion and refactored only after the branch goes back to pre-alpha? You can do basically anything you want to tests just as long as you don't make them less stable.

(3) What types of documentation changes are allowed during feature freeze? For example, are we only allowed to fix incorrect information, or is it acceptable to improve or add to the information about existing functionality? All documentation changes are accepted.

A follow-up question: during the RC stage, do documentation & test changes require code review by an additional core dev?

This also leads me to think about minor (= bugfix) releases. For example, current commits to the 3.2 branch will (presumably) go into 3.2.4 once it's out. Should these commits have the same restrictions as commits to an upcoming release that's in RC stage? Common sense would suggest they should (since any change can break existing functionality and lead to regressions in a previously stable release), but in practice I don't think this is followed. At least not to the letter, with the devguide stating:

You cannot skip the peer review during an RC, no matter how small!

Even if it is a simple copy-and-paste change, everything requires peer review from a core developer.

Eli

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