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Long-lived branch development model ​

Context ​

From October 2025 through January 2026, development happened on a long-lived Lua branch off main. During this period, the Python prototype was replaced with a Fennel/C++ implementation across nearly every subsystem: rendering, layout, entities, physics, search, torrent, wallet, video, browser. Only 1 commit landed on main during these 4 months. On 2026-02-04, the branch was squash-merged as a single "Merge lua" commit with 128 commits worth of changes.

Decision ​

Use long-lived feature branches for major architectural changes (like the Python-to-Fennel migration), merging via squash to keep main's history linear and clean.

Consequences ​

Positive:

  • Main branch stays stable; large refactors don't destabilize the default build
  • Squash-merged history is clean and readable
  • Freedom to restructure aggressively on the branch without main's constraints

Negative:

  • 4 months of invisible work on main — external contributors can't track progress
  • Squash merge loses per-commit history (128 commits collapsed to one)
  • Integration pain on merge day (conflicts with any concurrent main changes)
  • Minimal opportunity for incremental code review

Status ​

Currently (2026-07), the project has shifted to smaller, more frequent commits directly on main (10-52 commits/month, many with conventional commit prefixes). The branch model was used for the one major migration but is not the ongoing pattern.