Re: Following etc/NEWS on the development branch (was: Confused by y-or-n-p)

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Kévin Le Gouguec <kevin.legouguec@gmail.com>
> Cc: rms@gnu.org,  emacs-devel@gnu.org,  rudalics@gmx.at,
>   stefankangas@gmail.com,  ghe@sdf.org,  juri@linkov.net,
>   monnier@iro.umontreal.ca
> Date: Sat, 09 Jan 2021 15:06:15 +0100
> 
> > Reading NEWS each time one updates from the development branch of the
> > repository is something we expect from every user.  I suggest to start
> > reading it when you build a new development version
> 
> FWIW, after pulling changes, one can ask Git "What changed in NEWS since
> my last update?" like so:
> 
>     git diff @{1} etc/NEWS
> 
> "@{1}" means "the previous value of the current branch"
> (cf. gitrevisions(7)).

Why not

   git log -p --since="<last date I updated>" etc/NEWS

?

It's easier, since it frees the user from remembering the tricky
syntax of reflog-revisions.

Or how about simply using "C-x h C-x v h" with NEWS the current
buffer?  One can stop reading when one gets to the date of the
previous update from Git.

> While I personally spend a few minutes reading every commit after
> fetching[1], I wouldn't fault anyone for not watching etc/NEWS
> conscientiously.

I wouldn't, either.  But people who are interested in tracking the
development, not just in having the latest version, should do that,
and if they don't, there should be little surprise that some
developments are left unnoticed.  Right?

> A list like emacs-diffs focusing on etc/NEWS would make sense to me;

Sure, if someone wants to set that up, and there are people who'd like
to have that, why not?

OTOH, it shouldn't be hard to subscribe to emacs-diffs and only read
the changes to NEWS in it with some simple filter.  This is Emacs,
after all.