[fpc-pascal] Separate release cycle for RTL and compiler proposal

[Marco van de Voort]

Op 2021-04-19 om 07:52 schreef Karoly Balogh via fpc-pascal:
>> No, the RTL and the compiler are tightly coupled.
>>
>> What might be possible are further packages like the FCL and
>> interfaceing units, but the core RTL itself definitely not.
> I think the need comes from the fact that the release cycle for the
> compiler is horribly long, which I tend to agree with. But I think this
> comes from the fact that the release for Tier 1 platforms is still mostly
> prepared manually.

Doc upload also is a bottleneck.

It is not the work to those tiers that keeps up, but unforeseen things 
happening while doing that, because nobody tests them inbetween 
releases, and things pop up last minute.

If you have automated systems, but nobody pays attention to them till 
just before release time, you get the same problem.

That doesn't mean I'm against automation. The problem is just more than 
that, which is why I hope to moving to a bi-annual release scheme would 
be best.  It would reduce the need for this or that fix to get in last 
minute, and somewhat grease the wheels of releasing.

Major releases can be a pain, minor releases should be reasonably 
effortless.