Everything that ships with a pre-release version of GHC is ultimately subject to change before its final release, and that includes the libraries that it ships with, too. In the case of the base library, the version that GHC 8.6.1-beta ships with (4.12.0.0) doesn't yet correspond to any version number released on Hackage, so one can think of the base-4.12.0.0 shipped with GHC 8.6.1-beta being itself a form of beta release. Importantly, that means we can change it if necessary before the final base-4.12.0.0 Hackage release (which usually coincides with the final GHC 8.6.1 release).

Ryan S.

On Sun, Aug 26, 2018 at 11:04 PM, David Feuer <david@well-typed.com> wrote:

On Sunday, August 26, 2018 9:54:09 AM EDT Ryan Scott wrote:
> I'm confused. base-4.12.0.0 hasn't been released yet, so can't we just make
> this StableName change a part of 4.12.0.0?
>
> (Regardless of what we choose, we should make sure to advertise this change
> in base's changelog—currently it's unmentioned.)
>
> Ryan S.

I don't know what the policy is, to be honest! Is an alpha version a "real" version,
whose base library has its own version number? Or is it a version that is expected
to disappear as soon as the beta or full release comes out?

--
David Feuer
Well-Typed