jgoerzen:
Don Stewart wrote:
I'll just quickly mention one factor that contributes:
* In 2.5 years we've gone from 10 libraries on Hackage to 2023 (literally!)
That is a massive API to try to manage, hence the continuing move to focus on automated QA on Hackage, and automated tools -- no one wants to have to resolve those dependencies by hand.
Yep, it's massive, and it's exciting. We seem to have gone from stodgy old language to scrappy hot one. Which isn't a bad thing at all.
Out of those 2023, there are certain libraries where small changes impact a lot of people (say base, time, etc.) I certainly don't expect all 2023 to be held to the same standard as base and time. We certainly need to have room in the community for libraries that change rapidly too.
I'd propose a very rough measuring stick: anything in the platform ought to be carefully considered for introducing incompatibilities. Other commonly-used libraries, such as HaXML and HDBC, perhaps should fit in that criteria as well.
Oh, the Platform has very strict standards about APIs, When a package may be added: http://trac.haskell.org/haskell-platform/wiki/AddingPackages and once it is in, only non-API changing bug fixes are during a minor series (12 month release cycle). On 12 month (major) releases, packages may modify their API under the current standard. We just haven't been around long enough to have much of an effect. The 2..5 year plan is that significant new stability is reintroduced via the HP. -- Don