# SR 2022-1: Scheme Review

## Author

Lassi Kortela

## Status

Living document

## Abstract

This document defines the current Scheme Review process. It is
expected to change indefinitely as the process changes.

## Rationale

Scheme Review was started as a response to the success and
shortcomings of the SRFI (Scheme Requests for Implementation) process.
SRFI is over 20 years old so a lot of evidence has been accumulated.

What has worked well with SRFI:

* Everything is public. Transparency builds trust.

* Drafts are announced. Keeps regulars active.

* Separation between authors and reviewers. Provides a good balance
  between authorial control and accountability to the community.

What has caused trouble:

* Tight focus on "Requests for Implementation" coupled with the fact
  that anyone can send new proposals has resulted in a flow of
  experimental work that has not had time to mature.

* Many interesting proposals are either fit into the process like
  square pegs into a round hole (with sub-par results), or left
  outside the process (devoid of the attention they deserve).

* Tight deadlines commonly fly by. (90 days is not a lot.)

## Specification

[Meant to reflect the current state of things. Not meant to be
finalized.]

Each proposal has one or more authors.

The proposal starts when the authors submit a first draft.

The proposal is submitted as a git repo. (Currently hosted at
`gitea.scheme.org/review`.)

The authors are free to send any number of additional drafts.

The authors are free to add more co-authors for later drafts.

### Proposal ID

Each proposal is uniquely identified by an ID of the form `YYYY-N`
where:

* `YYYY` is the four-digit year when the first draft was received, and

* `N` is a running number covering all proposals started in the same
year.

The running number starts from `1` since there are some problems with
SRFI numbers starting from zero. (Hard to remember that SRFI 0 exits;
programs cannot use 0 to mean "none".)

The running numbers are monotonically increasing within a given year,
but it's permissible for there to be gaps in the numbering.

It is expected that many proposals take more than a year to finish. No
matter how many years it takes, the proposal is still identified by
the year when the first draft was sent.