[m-rev.] for review: convert NEWS file to markdown and begin restructuring it

[Zoltan Somogyi]

On Mon, 30 Dec 2019 23:56:51 +1100 (AEDT), Julien Fischer <jfischer at opturion.com> wrote:
> In addition to the diff, I have attached the full NEWS file and also the 
> HTML version generated by pandoc.  Reviews wishing to generate their own
> HTML versions using pandoc, should use the command:
> 
>     $ pandoc -s -o news.html NEWS
> 
> You should also note that ancient versions of pandoc will produce very
> strange results.  I found this out the hard way :-(

Which version is too ancient, and which works?

> I haven't really edited the content of the entries beyond removing some
> redundancies and shifting some things that make break compatibility with
> exisiting code into the appropriate section.

I had a look at the initial part of the diff, and it looks fine, though I have to assume
that the quotations are right, since I have no idea what markdown rules the NEWS
file now follows.

The part about the individual library modules is not effectively reviewable due to
all the reordering, but then again I don't think it needs review that badly; I, at least,
trust you to get it right.

> I will deal with the sections of the document separately.

What does this mean?

> I would also note that there several fairly major changes that currently
> have no entry, notably:
> 
> * the library license change.
> * the changes to the random module.

I just noticed that there is another change that maybe should be mentioned:
the --show-definitions compiler option. The reason I looked for it is that
it should allow us to automate the creation of the "what changed in this module"
text. Since I added it in 2015, we don't have a baseline set of definitions for 14.01;
I don't know whether changes in the language since then would prevent us 
rom creating them now.

I find the task of updating NEWS when I add e.g. a new arity for map_fold
annoying, precisely because it should be automatable but isn't.

> Specifically, this
> change implements the proposals that the be exactly one entry in the file for
> any library module and that those entries be sorted by module name.

Thank you for that.

Zoltan.