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Merge pull request #2561 from Centril/rfc/future-work
Meta-RFC: Future possibilities
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‎0000-template.md

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- What parts of the design do you expect to resolve through the RFC process before this gets merged?
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- What parts of the design do you expect to resolve through the implementation of this feature before stabilization?
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- What related issues do you consider out of scope for this RFC that could be addressed in the future independently of the solution that comes out of this RFC?
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# Future possibilities
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[future-possibilities]: #future-possibilities
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Think about what the natural extension and evolution of your proposal would
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be and how it would affect the language and project as a whole in a holistic
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way. Try to use this section as a tool to more fully consider all possible
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interactions with the project and language in your proposal.
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Also consider how the this all fits into the roadmap for the project
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and of the relevant sub-team.
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This is also a good place to "dump ideas", if they are out of scope for the
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RFC you are writing but otherwise related.
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If you have tried and cannot think of any future possibilities,
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you may simply state that you cannot think of anything.
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Note that having something written down in the future-possibilities section
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is not a reason to accept the current or a future RFC; such notes should be
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in the section on motivation or rationale in this or subsequent RFCs.
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The section merely provides additional information.

‎text/2561-future-possibilities.md

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- Feature Name: `future_possibilities`
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- Start Date: 2018-10-11
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- RFC PR: [rust-lang/rfcs#2561](https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/2561)
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- Rust Issue: N/A. The RFC is self-executing.
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# Summary
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[summary]: #summary
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Adds a *"Future possibilities"* section to the `0000-template.md` RFC template
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that asks authors to elaborate on what natural extensions there might to their
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RFC and what future directions this may take the project into.
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This section asks authors to think *holistically*.
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# Motivation
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[motivation]: #motivation
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## The benefit for the author
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Often times, when an RFC is written, the only thing an author considers
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may be the feature or change proposal itself but not the larger picture
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and context in which the RFC operates in. By asking the author to reflect
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on future possibilities, a larger degree of introspection within the author
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themselves may ensue. The hope is then that they may consider what larger
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effects their proposal may have and what subsequent proposals may be.
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[#2532]: https://github.com/Centril/rfcs/blob/rfc/assoc-default-groups/text/0000-assoc-default-groups.md#future-work
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[#2529]: https://github.com/Centril/rfcs/blob/rfc/hidden-impls/text/0000-hidden-impls.md#future-work-1
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[#2524]: https://github.com/Centril/rfcs/blob/rfc/inferred-type-aliases/text/0000-inferred-type-aliases.md#possible-future-work
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[#2523]: https://github.com/Centril/rfcs/blob/rfc/cfg-path-version/text/0000-cfg-path-version.md#possible-future-work
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[#2522]: https://github.com/Centril/rfcs/blob/rfc/generalized-type-ascription/text/0000-generalized-type-ascription.md#possible-future-work
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[#2401]: https://github.com/Centril/rfcs/blob/rfc/mut-pattern-shorthand/text/0000-mut-pattern-shorthand.md#future-work
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[#2421]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/text/2421-unreservations-2018.md#possible-future-unreservations
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[#2385]: https://github.com/Centril/rfcs/blob/rfc/implied-derive/text/0000-implied-derive.md#future-work
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[#2306]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/text/2306-convert-id.md#possible-future-work
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The author of this RFC has benefitted personally from writing future-possibilities
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sections ([#2532], [#2529], [#2524], [#2523], [#2522], [#2401], [#2421],
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[#2385], and [#2306]). Said written sections have also caused the current
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author to think more clearly about interactions in each of the written RFCs.
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If for no other reason, these sections offer a permanent space to idea-dump
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while writing an RFC.
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## For the team
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The holistic perspective that a future-possibilities section can offer may also
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help the relevant sub-team to understand:
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1. why something is proposed,
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2. what the long term effects of said proposal is,
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4. how said proposals fit with the product vision and roadmap that the team
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currently has.
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## For readers in general
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More generally, the benefits for the teams described above also hold for
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all readers. In particular, a reader can better infer what sort of language
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Rust is turning into given the information in a future-possibilities section.
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Having such a section may also help generate interest in subsequent proposals
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which a different author may then write.
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# Guide-level explanation
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[guide-level-explanation]: #guide-level-explanation
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This Meta-RFC modifies the RFC template by adding a *"Future possibilities"*
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section after the *"Unresolved questions"*. The newly introduced section is
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intended to help the authors, teams and readers in general reflect holistically
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on the big picture effects that a specific RFC proposal has.
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Please read the [reference-level-explanation] for exact details of what an
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RFC author will see in the changed template.
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# Reference-level explanation
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[reference-level-explanation]: #reference-level-explanation
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The implementation of this RFC consists of inserting the following text to the
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RFC template *after* the section *Unresolved questions*:
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> # Future possibilities
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>
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> Think about what the natural extension and evolution of your proposal would
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> be and how it would affect the language and project as a whole in a holistic
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> way. Try to use this section as a tool to more fully consider all possible
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> interactions with the project and language in your proposal.
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> Also consider how the this all fits into the roadmap for the project
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> and of the relevant sub-team.
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>
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> This is also a good place to "dump ideas", if they are out of scope for the
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> RFC you are writing but otherwise related.
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>
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> If you have tried and cannot think of any future possibilities,
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> you may simply state that you cannot think of anything.
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>
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> Note that having something written down in the future-possibilities section
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> is not a reason to accept the current or a future RFC; such notes should be
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> in the section on motivation or rationale in this or subsequent RFCs.
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> The section merely provides additional information.
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# Drawbacks
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[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
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There are three main potential drawbacks:
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## The section will be unused
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There's some risk that the section will simply be left empty and unused.
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However, in the recent RFCs written by the author as noted in the [motivation],
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this has not been a problem. On the contrary, the very idea behind adding
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this section has come as a result of the experience gained by writing
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such future-possibilities sections in the aforementioned RFCs.
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However, some of the RFCs written by the this RFC's author have not had such
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sections. Therefore, if an RFC leaves the newly introduced section empty,
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it is not the end of the world. The section is intended as encouragement and
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recommendation; it is not mandatory as no section in an RFC has ever really been.
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## Higher barrier to entry
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[RFC 2333]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/blob/master/text/2333-prior-art.md#drawbacks
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As noted in [RFC 2333], which was the last RFC to extend the template,
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the longer the template becomes, the more work there is to writing an RFC.
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This can raise the barrier to entry somewhat.
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However, we argue that it is worth the minor raise in the bar since
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it is OK for RFCs to leave the section empty.
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## Readers reacting negatively on the future possibilities
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Another potential drawback is that readers of the RFC will focus too much
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on what is written in the future-possibilities section and not the actual proposal
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that is made in the RFC. This has not been the case in the RFCs mentioned
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in the [motivation].
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# Rationale and alternatives
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[rationale-and-alternatives]: #rationale-and-alternatives
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1. We could rephrase the section in various ways.
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It is possible to do such tweaking in the future.
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2. We could rename it to "possible future work" or "future work" where the latter
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is more customary, but we have opted to use a section title that makes it more
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clear that the contents of the section are not what is accepted but only
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*possibilities*.
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3. We could move the section up and down and around.
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4. We could simply not have such a section and leave it up to each author.
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However, we argue here that it is beneficial to hint at the possibility
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of providing such a section. It might otherwise not occur to the author
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that such a section could be written.
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# Prior art
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[prior-art]: #prior-art
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None of the languages enumerated in [RFC 2333] have such a section proposed
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in this RFC. However, there are plenty of academic papers published which
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do contain sections pertaining to future possibilities. It is customary for
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such sections to be at the end of papers so as to not bore readers and keep
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them reading.
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# Unresolved questions
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[unresolved-questions]: #unresolved-questions
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None as of yet.
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# Future possibilities
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[future-possibilities]: #future-possibilities
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[staged]: http://smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/blog/2018/06/20/proposal-for-a-staged-rfc-process/
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It may be the case that we would overhaul the RFC template completely if we
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undertake larger changes to the RFC process itself as is proposed in the
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[staged]-RFCs idea. However, we'll likely want to determine the answers and
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get the information that each section in the current template provides at
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some point during the lifecycle of a proposal.

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