breaking changes policies (#18541)

* document some std library evolution policies

In wanting to improve the standard library, it's helpful to have a set
of principles and guidelines to lean back on, that show how to introduce
such improvements while at the same time considering existing users of
the language.

A key idea behind documentation of this sort is that it should highlight
a path forwards in making changes rather than trying to prevent them,
and although the current snippet does include some language for what one
shouldn't do, it also shows a few options for what one can do.

This is a riff on #18468 mainly
based on what helps enable to the use of Nim productively in
environments and teams where the priority and focus is not always on the
tool (Nim in this case) but rather on the codebase itself, and its use
by end users.

We use similar guidance documentation to help coordinate the code of the
teams using Nim in https://status-im.github.io/nim-style-guide/ where it
is applied not as law, but rather as recommendations for the default
approach that should be considered first.

* document the new policies

* typo

* Update doc/contributing.rst

Co-authored-by: Timothee Cour <timothee.cour2@gmail.com>

* Update doc/contributing.rst

* Update doc/contributing.rst

Co-authored-by: konsumlamm <44230978+konsumlamm@users.noreply.github.com>

* Update doc/contributing.rst

Co-authored-by: konsumlamm <44230978+konsumlamm@users.noreply.github.com>

* Update doc/contributing.rst

* Update doc/contributing.rst

Co-authored-by: konsumlamm <44230978+konsumlamm@users.noreply.github.com>

* clarify some things

* Update doc/contributing.rst

Co-authored-by: Dominik Picheta <dominikpicheta@googlemail.com>

Co-authored-by: Jacek Sieka <arnetheduck@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: Timothee Cour <timothee.cour2@gmail.com>
Co-authored-by: konsumlamm <44230978+konsumlamm@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Dominik Picheta <dominikpicheta@googlemail.com>

Author: 5 people

doc/contributing.rst

@@ -671,3 +671,117 @@ Conventions
    Furthermore, module names should use `snake_case` and not use capital
    letters, which cause issues when going from an OS without case
    sensitivity to an OS with it.
+
+
+Breaking Changes
+================
+
+Introducing breaking changes, no matter how well intentioned,
+creates long-term problems for the community, in particular those looking to promote
+reusable Nim code in libraries: In the Nim distribution, critical security and bugfixes,
+language changes and community improvements are bundled in a single distribution - it is
+difficult to make partial upgrades with only benign changes. When one library depends on
+a legacy behavior, it can no longer be used together with another library that does not,
+breaking all downstream applications - the standard library is unique in that it sits at
+the root of **all** dependency trees.
+
+There is a big difference between compile-time breaking changes and run-time breaking
+changes.
+
+
+Run-time breaking changes
+-------------------------
+
+Run-time breaking changes are to be avoided at almost all costs: Nim is used for
+mission critical applications which depend on behaviours that
+are not covered by the test suite. As such, it's important that changes to the
+*stable* parts of the standard library are made avoiding changing the existing
+behaviors, even when the test suite continues to pass.
+
+Examples of run-time breaking changes:
+
+- Raising exceptions of a new type, compared to what's currently being raised.
+
+- Adding unconstrained or poorly constrained generic procs or macros
+  ("hash now works for all `ref T`"): This may cause code to behave differently
+  depending only on which modules are imported - common examples include `==` and `hash`.
+
+- Changing behavior of existing functions like:
+
+  * "Nim's path handling procs like `getXDir` now consistently lack the trailing slash"
+  * "Nim's strformat implementation is now more consistent with Python"
+
+Instead write new code that explicitly announces the feature you think we announced but
+didn't. For example, `strformat` does not say "it's compatible with Python", it
+says "inspired by Python's f-strings". This new code can be submitted to the stdlib
+and the old code can be deprecated or it can be published as a Nimble package.
+
+Sometimes, a run-time breaking change is most desirable: For example, a string
+representation of a floating point number that "roundtrips" is much better than
+a string represenation that doesn't. These run-time breaking changes must start in the
+state "opt-in" via a new `-d:nimPreviewX` or command line flag and then should become
+the new default later, in follow-up versions. This way users can track
+regressions more easily. ("git bisect" is not an acceptable alternative, that's for
+Nim compiler developers, not for Nim users.)
+
+Above all else, additive approaches that don't change existing behaviors
+should be preferred.
+
+
+Compile-time breaking changes
+-----------------------------
+
+Compile-time breaking changes are usually easier to handle, but for large code bases
+it can also be much work and it can hinder the adoption of a new Nim release.
+Additive approaches are to be preferred here as well.
+
+Examples of compile-time breaking changes include (but are not limited to):
+
+* Renaming functions and modules, or moving things. Instead of a direct rename,
+  deprecate the old name and introduce a new one.
+* Renaming the parameter names: Thanks to Nim's "named parameter" calling syntax
+  like `f(x = 0, y = 1)` this is a breaking change. Instead live with the existing
+  parameter names.
+* Adding an enum value to an existing enum. Nim's exhaustive case statements stop
+  compiling after such a change. Instead consider to introduce new `bool`
+  fields/parameters. This can be impractical though, so we use good judgement
+  and our list of "important packages" to see if it doesn't break too much code
+  out there in practice.
+* Adding a new proc to an existing stdlib module. However, for aesthetic reasons
+  this is often preferred over introducing a new module with just a single proc
+  inside. We use good judgement and our list of "important packages" to see if
+  it doesn't break too much code out there in practice. The new procs need to
+  be annotated with a `.since` annotation.
+
+
+Compiler/language spec bugfixes
+-------------------------------
+
+This can even be applied to compiler "bugfixes": If the compiler should have been
+"pickier" in its handling of `typedesc`, instead of "fixing typedesc handling bugs",
+consider the following solution:
+
+- Spec out how `typedesc` should really work and also spec out the cases where it
+  should not be allowed!
+- Deprecate `typedesc` and name the new metatype something new like `typeArg`.
+- Implement the spec.
+
+
+Non-breaking changes
+--------------------
+
+Examples of changes that are considered non-breaking (or acceptable breaking changes) include:
+
+* Creating a new module.
+* Adding an overload to an already overloaded proc.
+* Adding new default parameters to an existing proc. It is assumed that you do not
+  use Nim's stdlib procs's addresses (that you don't use them as first class entities).
+* Changing the calling convention from `nimcall` to `inline`
+  (but first RFC https://github.com/nim-lang/RFCs/issues/396 needs to be implemented).
+* Changing the behavior from "crashing" into some other, well documented result (including
+  raising a Defect, but not raising an exception that does not inherit from Defect).
+* Adding new fields to an existing object.
+
+Nim's introspection facilities imply that strictly speaking almost every addition can
+break somebody's code. It is impractical to care about these cases, a change that only
+affects introspection is not considered to be a breaking change.