UCD problem in SSA/SpectrumDM

[Keith Noddle]

> Indeed, as stated by Ray, even "minor" revisions should go through the 
> recommendation process.
I wish to point out that I did also state this in my reply to Doug on 
20th; there never was any doubt that even the most minor of changes 
requires full approval - I was trying to suggest that the extent of the 
change will be proportional to the time approval takes, that's all.

What doesn't seem clear to me is whether the IVOA has mandated that 
minor revisions MUST be backwards compatible with previous revisions of 
the current document (i.e. V1.6 MUST be backwards compatible with V1.1 
etc). Maybe I've missed it somewhere, but if it isn't explicitly stated 
then IMHO it should be.

There are additional considerations to be made for marking functionality 
as Deprecated as well, but this probably isn't the time to raise them.

> Wrt deciding if the revision should be "minor" (eg 1.1) or "major" (eg 
> 2.0), I would be inclined at this stage, as discussed at the TCG/Exec at 
> Garching, to fix the problems, potential inconsistencies, required 
> clarification, compatibilities with new IVOA standards that have been 
> discovered during implementation rather than including now significant 
> new things. Sticking to this should allow a smoother and faster 
> recommendation process.
I want to let the discussion flow and reach a point where we have a list 
of suggested amendments/additions (as well as the bigger list of things 
that SSA V2 needs to address) and from there decide what alteration goes 
where. Initially, the next revision of SSA will be the one that does the 
tidying and refactoring; if there are enough "minor" changes uncovered 
*and* they warrant inclusion prior to V2.0 *then* we may well consider 
an additional minor release. This is, after all, what the revision 
process is all about. If we stick to the rule of backwards compatibility 
in minor revisions (and handle deprecation correctly) implementers will 
not be frightened off by the thought that the "next minor revision" will 
break their current efforts.

Keith.

-- 
Keith Noddle                    Phone:  +44 (0)116 223 1894
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