We [value the stability of Rust]. Code that works and runs on stable
should (mostly) not break. Because of that, we don't want to release
a feature to the world with only team consensus and code review -
we want to gain real-world experience on using that feature on nightly,
and we might want to change the feature based on that experience.
To allow for that, we must make sure users don't accidentally depend
on that new feature - otherwise, especially if experimentation takes
time or is delayed and the feature takes the trains to stable,
it would end up de facto stable and we'll not be able to make changes
in it without breaking people's code.
The way we do that is that we make sure all new features are feature
gated - they can't be used without enabling a feature gate
(`#[feature(foo)]`), which can't be done in a stable/beta compiler.
See the [stability in code] section for the technical details.
Eventually, after we gain enough experience using the feature,
make the necessary changes, and are satisfied, we expose it to
the world using the stabilization process described [here].
Until then, the feature is not set in stone: every part of the
feature can be changed, or the feature might be completely
rewritten or removed. Features are not supposed to gain tenure
by being unstable and unchanged for a year.
### Tracking Issues
To keep track of the status of an unstable feature, the
experience we get while using it on nightly, and of the
concerns that block its stabilization, every feature-gate
needs a tracking issue. General discussions about the feature should be done on the tracking issue.
For features that have an RFC, you should use the RFC's
tracking issue for the feature.
For other features, you'll have to make a tracking issue
for that feature. The issue title should be "Tracking issue
for YOUR FEATURE". Use the ["Tracking Issue" issue template][template].
## Stability in code
The below steps needs to be followed in order to implement
a new unstable feature:
1. Open a [tracking issue] -
if you have an RFC, you can use the tracking issue for the RFC.
The tracking issue should be labeled with at least `C-tracking-issue`.
For a language feature, a label `F-feature_name` should be added as well.
1. Pick a name for the feature gate (for RFCs, use the name
in the RFC).
1. Add the feature name to `rustc_span/src/symbol.rs` in the `Symbols {...}` block.
Note that this block must be in alphabetical order.
1. Add a feature gate declaration to `rustc_feature/src/unstable.rs` in the unstable
`declare_features` block.