[PROJ] Closing in on PROJ 7 release date

[Greg Troxel]

Kristian Evers <kreve at sdfe.dk> writes:

> Breaking changes going from 6 to 7 will mainly be:
>
> 1. removal of proj_api.h as a public interface (this is the big one!)
> 2. removal of the Java Native Interface bindings (as they rely on the above)
> 3. ... and possibly RFC4-related changes regarding grid management (not sure about this one yet)

That's pretty big!

> As for the NEWS file, I update that as part of the release procedure so that
> won't cover 7.0 specifics until the first RC is out. For now you can keep an eye
> on https://github.com/OSGeo/PROJ/issues?q=is%3Aclosed+milestone%3A7.0.0 
> which tracks pull requests and issues related to the 7.0.0 release.

Not my call, but it seems to me that NEWS should be updated
simultaneously with changes being merged to master, so that it's more or
less accurate at all times.

> You are right in saying that the website doesn't have an obvious link to the repository
> on GitHub. We should fix that. Where would be a good place to put it? Development section?

Yes, the very top of development should have a new section that is
baiscally where is the code and where is the bugtracker.

> I plan on maintaining the 6.3.x branch during all of 2020. I don't know how much longer
> than that it make sense to keep it alive, but at least it should extend the period
> that packagers can keep software that depends on proj_api.h. An updated release
> schedule is on my todo-list! 

5 really should still get microreleases for security fixes, if any.  I
don't think we've yet arrived at the point where packaging systems can
upgrade from 5 to 6 without orphaning packages.  (I'd like to hear where
Bas is on this.)