branching in packages?

[Ilya N. Golubev]

> the related traffic on
> xemacs-patches
> I agree that this is not a good general mechanism.

Often the only thing read after upstream cvs update is new change log
text.  Better put this notice in change log.


> However, it is also
> true that my sync of comint and shell with Emacs is not representative
> of package updates in general

Change logs not of `xemacs-base' only, but of `xemacs-devel',
`mail-lib' are filled with <sync with GNU Emacs> entries.  And even
more syncs is needeed, for `gud.el' in particular.  Code in xemacs and
emacs became quite different, so introducing by these syncs / merges
all sorts of errors, including ones manifesting after loading new
code, is highly likely.  So disagree.

> so the related instabilities do not make
> a good general argument about the way in which the package tree is
> managed.

On the contrary, it appears a quite general scenario.