[RFC 0009] Nix rapid release

rfcs/0009-nix-rapid-release.md

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+---
+feature: nix-rapid-release
+start-date: 2017-04-04
+author: Shea Levy
+co-authors: John Ericson (@Ericson2314)
+related-issues: (will contain links to implementation PRs)
+---
+
+# Summary
+[summary]: #summary
+
+Nix master is always release-ready and new releases are cut often.
+Release preparation is amortized across every PR to achieve this.
+
+# Motivation
+[motivation]: #motivation
+
+Currently, Nix releases are unpredictable and new features (and, less often, bug fixes) sit on master for a long time before people can rely on them.
+Nix 1.12 in particular has a large number of changes that are not generally available yet.
+A rapid release policy would allow more users to benefit from the latest greatness, while also forcing us to make our improvements to Nix more incremental and unitary and to be more considerate of what we consider merge-ready.
+
+# Detailed design
+[design]: #detailed-design
+
+1. Do non-trivial work in feature branches.
+   Branches should always be merged with a PR, even if they are not reviewed.
+   This is done for consistency of the repo history, and ease of browsing on the web.
+
+2. If a feature branch may introduce regressions, including performance regressions, ensure they are tested by relevant parties before merge.
+   If the regression test can be automated, write it and commit first to demonstrate behavior is unchanged.
+
+3. Release master frequently.
+   Community members can make a request for a new release and it's almost always granted.
+
+4. If the need arises, start maintenance branches that *only* do bug fixes.
+
+# Drawbacks
+[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
+
+This policy change will change developer workflows.
+Since the burden is amortized, the additional work per PR is minuscule, but developers could nevertheless find it frustrating.
+The change may also make some large-scale features harder to develop, though practice disputes this.
+Other projects following this policy haven't found that to be much of an issue.
+
+# Alternatives
+[alternatives]: #alternatives
+
+Status quo, mostly.
+We could also switch to a more up-front planned releases, or merge windows, or time-based releases.
+
+# Unresolved questions
+[unresolved]: #unresolved-questions
+
+The steps needed to get 1.12 out.
+
+# Future work
+[future]: #future-work
+
+1. Get a new Nix out ASAP.
+   Identify the bugs that need fixing and optionally features that absolutely need finishing (or possibly temporary reverting), get people to test, and release it as `2.0.0`.
+2. Switch to semver.