Chartering the Edition Team

[traviscross]

With Rust 2024 successfully heading out the door, it's now time to think about what comes next for the edition team and for the next edition.

We, on the edition team, have done a lot to develop good processes and practices for edition management, and we've done a lot to educate the teams and contributors on those processes and how to help us with them to make an edition a collaborative success.

We want to keep that ball rolling.

For that to happen, we want two things from the council:

• We want to make the edition team officially a team (rather than a "project group"). It'll go under launching-pad for now, just as we're doing with the project-goals team.
• We want the council to delegate to this team all details of edition handling, including in particular the timing of editions, according to the following charter for the team.

This is somewhat time sensitive, as we're already starting to block work on finalizing these matters.

The initial team charter:

The Rust Edition Team coordinates the editions of Rust.

Editions allow us to deliver on our promise of stability without stagnation. By allowing users to opt-in to certain changes, we're able to evolve the language and its tooling in ways we otherwise could not, allowing us to better serve the changing needs and expectations of our community.

The Edition Team is responsible for:

• The planning, program management, and release of each edition.
• Making each edition a success without requiring heroic sacrifices from our project members.
• Developing and continually improving the processes for edition management.
• Educating teams, edition item owners, and other key stakeholders about edition process, and helping those stakeholders work together to make each edition a success.
• Working with teams to plan and develop edition items.
• Helping teams identify owners for edition items.
• Working to ensure that edition item owners receive the support they need from across the project.
• Setting and enforcing the minimum standards of quality, completeness, and timeliness for each edition item needed to make the edition a success overall.
• Tracking the progress toward each item being complete and ready for the edition, identifying gaps that must be addressed, and communicating those to the item owner and the relevant teams.
• Accepting items into the edition, and removing items from the edition.
• Setting the name, timing of, and timeline for each edition in a way that maximizes the productive evolution of the language and the effectiveness of our processes while minimizing cost to our ecosystem.
• Working to improve the infrastructure that supports edition testing and release.
• Organizing pre-release testing of each edition and triaging of issues found.
• Communicating publicly about all aspects of the edition and its release.
• Coordinating with the Foundation to ensure consistency of messaging regarding the edition.
• Updating this team charter when appropriate.
• Maintaining and improving the Edition Guide.

The lead of the Edition Team is the owner of the edition overall and takes personal responsibility for the success of each edition. The lead makes final calls where needed regarding edition matters.

As with all other teams in the project, the Edition Team operates in collaboration with those other teams, and makes decisions within its scope consistent with the overall best interests of the project and in consultation with, and with direct interest in supporting the work of, other teams.

Assuming consensus from the council on this plan, we will make the needed PRs to the team repository and take other such follow-up actions as are necessary or as the council deems fit and proper.

cc @ehuss @nikomatsakis

[nikomatsakis]

I'm in favor of chartering a team.

[traviscross]

@rfcbot fcp merge

[rfcbot]

Team member @traviscross has proposed to merge this. The next step is review by the rest of the tagged team members:

• @Mark-Simulacrum
• @eholk
• @ehuss
• @jamesmunns
• @m-ou-se
• @oli-obk
• @traviscross

No concerns currently listed.

Once a majority of reviewers approve (and at most 2 approvals are outstanding), this will enter its final comment period. If you spot a major issue that hasn't been raised at any point in this process, please speak up!

See this document for info about what commands tagged team members can give me.

[Mark-Simulacrum]

Communicating publicly about all aspects of the edition and its release.

What we are approving here is e.g. blog post permissions, right? (i.e., nothing different from any other team)

Coordinating with the Foundation where needed in support of the edition.

Can you say more about this? What is special about the Edition team that merits inclusion of this, vs. other teams? My expectation is that generally speaking we should either (a) have blanket policy that any team can approach the Foundation for help within its scope or (b) most teams go through e.g. PDs or Council to solicit that. (a) may make some sense, though has some issues around budgets etc, but I'm curious if we can expand on this point more or drop it from the charter. It would feel odd to me if the Edition team is special here.

[traviscross]

Communicating publicly about all aspects of the edition and its release.

What we are approving here is e.g. blog post permissions, right? (i.e., nothing different from any other team)

Correct. This would be an example:

https://blog.rust-lang.org/2024/11/27/Rust-2024-public-testing.html

Coordinating with the Foundation where needed in support of the edition.

Can you say more about this? What is special about the Edition team that merits inclusion of this, vs. other teams?

Sure. I take for granted that any team has the power to coordinate with the Foundation when needed. It's stated here in the spirit of being an active responsibility or as "something we do" rather than as a special power.

It is, perhaps, simply a reminder to ourselves. Coordinating with the marketing staff at the Foundation is, e.g., on our list for the release of Rust 2024. Multiple people have mentioned to us the importance of this in ensuring that the messaging is consistent and correct and that mistakes that are easy to make aren't made.

[traviscross]

I'm curious if we can expand on this point more or drop it from the charter

Sure. Along these lines, I've now replaced that item with:

• Coordinating with the Foundation to ensure consistency of messaging regarding the edition.

This is more to the intended point, as described above.

[rfcbot]

🔔 This is now entering its final comment period, as per the review above. 🔔

[rfcbot]

The final comment period, with a disposition to merge, as per the review above, is now complete.

As the automated representative of the governance process, I would like to thank the author for their work and everyone else who contributed.

This will be merged soon.

[traviscross]

Closing as accepted. Will take follow-up actions.