v0.6 release tracking ticket

[tarcieri]

This is a list of release blockers for crypto-bigint v0.6.0, nearly all of which are final releases of dependencies which are currently in a prerelease state:

• MSRV 1.83: const_mut_refs stabilization
• der v0.8.0
• hybrid-array v0.2.0
• rand_core v0.9.0
• serdect v0.3.0
• Int feature tracking ticket #700
• Update method names to better match core
  • Naming conventions for widening/split operations #537
  • Adopt core naming conventions for bigint methods #693

[tarcieri]

With a prospective MSRV of 1.83 already, and the 2024 edition set to be stabilized in Rust 1.85 on 2025-02-20, I'm wondering if it makes sense to wait for that as well: https://doc.rust-lang.org/edition-guide/rust-2024/index.html

Notably edition bumps are a time where the entire ecosystem makes a more concerted effort to bump MSRV.

[dvdplm]

My two cents on this is: don't wait.

Let the bigint project be its own thing and release when it's "internally" logical to do so. One option is to let the MSRV bump be a one-feature release (i.e. release 0.6 without const_mut_refs and then make a 0.7 with the MSRV bump).

[tarcieri]

Rust 1.83 is coming out on November 28th, a week away. We can at least wait for that.

A release thereafter might make sense.

[ycscaly]

Hey @tarcieri any update as to the release date? Also, is there a changelog?
Rebasing my code on 0.6.0-rc.6 proved a difficult and worrisome task, with many surpising breaking changes:

• using u32 for bits instead of usize
• multiplication with * is not wide anymore
• shift operations with << etc has changed their functionality
  Honestly, my code "works", but I am very much afraid hidden somewhere deep inside is a bug that simply isn't cuaghet by any tests that was introduced because of a breaking change I wasn't aware/didn't understand its signficance.

I'm not sure if the original plan was to make such a hard-breaking release, and if you knew it would take so much effort to be upgraded, but in any case a thorough changelog that explains the breaking changes and their implications would ease my mind a lot.