Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 02/15] xdiff: introduce rust

From: Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2025 08:40:29 +0200

On Fri, Sep 05, 2025 at 08:37:27AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Phillip Wood <[email-masked]> writes:
> > 3) There is a period of a small number of years where we continue to
> >    provide security updates for a version of git that can be built
> >    without rust. This is intended to  allow a realistic time for
> >    distributors on platforms without a rust compiler to port one or make
> >    other arrangements for providing future security updates without
> >    placing an undue burden on the project to provide security updates
> >    for niche platforms indefinitely.
> 
> I am not willing to see such a support for multiple years, though.
> If the first item is 6 months, this backporting stale releases
> should be on the same order of timeperiod.
> 
> If it were "3 years of optional period, 18 months of backporting
> security updates", I would find it more realistic.  It would give
> those platform maintainers enough time to robby, fundraise, or
> otherwise campaign to bring Rust on their system.  I personally find
> that 6 months is way too short (if we are _only_ looking for an
> excuse to say "we have given them ample time to react, and now it is
> their problem", 6 months may be good enough, though).

Yeah, I also think that six months is a bit short, but three years on
the other hand feels like it will cause quite some pain on our side. My
plan is shooting for roughly one year of optional support, which is
still way shorter than the three years you mention.

How would you feel about:

  - Pinning a date for Git 3.0 at the end of next year and tying
    mandatory Rust to it.

  - Guaranteeing at least one year of security backports for 2.99 (or
    whatever the last release before Git 3.0 is).

  - Explicitly stating that if anybody requires to maintain that version
    afterwards, we are happy to let the community maintain that branch
    going forward.

That means that we stop supporting 2.99 in a bit more than ~two years
from now, but we don't fully close the door on it if people still rely
on it.

Patrick