RE: Support for bringing package change logs to the user's attention

[Drew Adams]

> Sorry, the obvious approach of simply opening the CHANGELOG file
> would absolutely be sufficient here. No parsing neccessary if
> we do that. Changelogs are usually written in descending order.

I like a `;;; Change Log:' entry in an Elisp file (or
in a separate file, in the case of a multi-file Elisp
package).  IOW, I'm in favor of change-log histories,
whether in the code-files themselves, as separate files,
or recorded in a vc system.

However, I think there was a lot more in your first
message.  You made some good suggestions and posed some
good questions, which are worth thinking about - they go
beyond just pointing users to existing development change
logs.

I'm in favor, for example, of providing users with a quick
What's New view of the delta from either the last available
version or the last version that the given user has.  And
doing so from both a code-changes point of view and a
feature/behavior-changes point of view.

Ideally, we'd provide different ways for a user to see
what's changed, between an arbitrary two points in the
evolution, and at different granularities of view.

The granularity thing is important for users: a
development change-log entry does not necessarily
express the effect of a change from a user point of
view.  Some reading between the lines and rumination
are needed (along with some trial and error), to
discover what's really changed.

IOW, change logs are great for implementors, but they
are not the only, and not often the best, way for
users to see what's changed.

No, I don't have any particular ideas about what might
be done to help users here.

But yes, I think there's lots of room for helping.
Emacs has a great user-help system, in general.  But
it doesn't yet offer much to help users see what's
new or what's changed.

Discovery is not just a one-time, newbie/novice thing
for a given feature.  It's a recurring thing: discover
what's changed and how it affects your use of Emacs
and what you can do with it.