Re: Texinfo 7.0.92 pretest on AIX 7.3.1

[Bruno Haible]

Gavin Smith wrote:
> Once a pretest is out and tested, and builds successfully on some platforms,
> I am loth to update gnulib again and risk breaking the build.
> ...
> At the time of a release, the Gnulib checkout is set in stone.  It will not
> be updated as a matter of course for any bug-fix releases; it would only
> be deliberately updated if there was an apparent bug or reported compatability
> issue.  This is to reassure users and distributors that we are making
> minimal changes in bug-fix releases.  Many Gnulib changes may be
> inconsequential or not relevant for Texinfo.  In view of this, there seems
> to be little downside to fixing the Gnulib checkout at the time of the
> first pretest, rather than at the eventual release.

This makes perfect sense.

> I did not know about the stable branches of gnulib, and using one of these
> is a possibility, but this might reduce testing of gnulib itself.  In the
> past, Texinfo prereleases have occasionally found bugs in gnulib, and it
> seems that using a recent development version of gnulib is a way to improve
> the quality of gnulib.

That's true. By using the master branch of gnulib, you help its QA.
By using a stable branch of gnulib, you leave that QA work to others. :-)

> Another way, I guess, is for me to check the recent gnulib ChangeLog for
> any relevant changes, but this would be very hard for me to do, I expect, as
> I wouldn't know which changes were important to include.

Yes.

Bruno