Gnuplot plans: the start of version 6

[Ethan A M. <me...@uw...>]

I have pushed a new branch-6-0-stable to the git repository for
for development and eventual release of a version 6 gnuplot.
Further development of version 5 can continue in the main branch
(5.5) although I don't foresee much happening on that side.


Current state of branch-6-0-stable
----------------------------------
So far the changes from the 5.5 branch are mostly to the documentation.
The introductory sections describing new and changed features are
revised to focus on version 6;  several pages of text about "new" things
in version 5 have greatly trimmed back to a summary.
Perhaps these could be removed altogether.

I have no set timeline for a version 6 release.
As a point of reference, transition from version 4->5 took most of a
year back in 2014 and went through three release candidates before
version 5 was announced.

What needs to be done for a version 6?
--------------------------------------
I have started a list of choices that should be made.
I will post them to the mailing list one at a time for separate discussion.
Each one might end in decision to leave things as they are
in version 5 (not much work required) or to make a change
not appropriate in the context of an update to a "stable'
version 5.


What about version 5?
---------------------
I expect to package 5.4.6 in the first part of 2023, with the
usual sort of bug fixes and small additions to the current stable
branch.  Beyond that I do not know.  Depending on how long it takes
to test and revise release candidates for version 6, there might
be additional updates to 5.4.