Update APE process to have PRs be only for editorial review #115

astrofrog · 2025-06-26T22:07:26Z

The current APE process causes pull requests to be open for very long and makes it difficult for someone to follow the discussion. I am suggesting here using a process more similar to the PEP process, whereby PRs to add APEs undergo an editorial review only for clarity, spelling, etc. Once the APE is merged, it can be discussed on astropy-dev, and then updated as many times as needed via PRs.

Accepted APEs can still be modified as is already outlined in APE 1, and for that the PR has to be finalized and accepted by the CoCo before it is merged, so it's a little different, but I think that's ok because modifications to accepted APEs should not be too substantial, otherwise they should be a new APE.

As written curerntly, this would require creating a GitHub team called @astropy/ape-editor-team - I don't think this necessarily needs to be a role (although it could be).

This is a draft for now, and we should of course discuss the different aspects here - I just wanted to put something to start.

close Helper script for next APE number #98

After merge

Set up @astropy/ape-editor-team
Make that team a new role on Team page at https://www.astropy.org/team , see Add APE Editors astropy.github.com#691
Open follow-up issue to consider implementing custom stale bot with the "abandoned" policy, see Stale bot to set an APE as abandoned #124

pllim · 2025-06-26T22:23:23Z

I don't think this necessarily needs to be a role (although it could be)

I think it should be a role to be consistent with our GH access policy. We already have Affiliated Editor.

pllim

Thanks! Here are some comments.

https://github.com/astropy/astropy-APEs?tab=readme-ov-file#accepted-apes section needs to be renamed, and a new column with actual status (discussion, accepted, implemented, rejected, withdrawn, abandoned) should be a new column on the table. (Addressed)

~~Should Zenodo DOI be generated on merge, or wait till "accepted" stage?~~ (Answered)

APE1.rst

astrofrog · 2025-06-30T10:48:34Z

@pllim - I've tried to address your comments. For Zenodo, I don't have a strong feeling. Our current guidelines are to not even put final rejected APEs on Zenodo, so maybe we can just keep it as-is and just put finalized accepted APEs on there.

pllim

Thanks! A bit more comments on second read.

Also maybe we can set this PR to just close #98 as that issue won't be that relevant with this new process in place.

APE1.rst

eteq · 2025-07-25T14:22:30Z

Another big-picture question for @astrofrog : would you be open to adding some sort of timeline to the process? A discussion at the coordination meeting 2025 emphasized how one of the other concerns about the APE process is that sometimes comments trickle in over months which leads to some wasted time by the authors and general frustration. Of course it could be a separate APE but I think it might be natural to do with this since they're connected in process.

pllim · 2025-07-25T21:31:56Z

Items for this PR from CoCo tag-up on 2025-07-25:

timeline: Update APE process to have PRs be only for editorial review #115 (comment)
Exclude APE0 and APE1 from “need new APE for significant changes” rule, because
- APE0 and only APE0 should capture governance, and changing it need election anyway; and
- APE1 and only APE1 should capture the APE process to avoid confusion on which APE one should read to write a new APE or modify existing APE.

README.rst

pllim · 2025-08-20T02:41:48Z

I took over and added a commit to address #115 (comment) . @eteq , does this look good now?

APE1.rst

pllim · 2025-10-13T18:07:22Z

Sorry for all the commits after approvals. I did a final read through and found some really outdated info, etc. Hopefully my new changes are not controversial.

pllim · 2025-10-13T18:08:29Z

I find a lot of duplicated and possibly conflicting info between APE 1 and README. I think README should just point to APE 1. However, Zenodo instructions should stay in README because we cannot control upstream Zenodo changes and we do not want to have to update APE 1 every time Zenodo feels like changing things up. ~~I will do this now. Stay tuned.~~ Done!

…orial changes only, and then once merged the APE is discussed on astropy-dev WIP

and fix typos

Co-authored-by: Erik Tollerud <[email protected]>

if applicable. This is to reduce duplicate and possibly conflicting info.

and make quotes consistent

pllim

Notes from me as co-author below...

p.s. I thought single backticks would render but it is not being rendered properly in PR preview. I wonder if it would still render by GH properly after merge. Any knows? Should I always use double backticks or something else?

pllim · 2025-10-13T20:43:10Z

APE1.rst

 -----------------------

-author: Perry Greenfield
+author: Perry Greenfield, Lia Corrales, Thomas Robitaille, Erik Tollerud, Pey Lian Lim


I added the authors as laid out at the bottom of this very APE.

APE1.rst

pllim · 2025-10-13T20:44:26Z

APE1.rst

 We intend APEs to be the primary mechanisms for proposing major new features,
 for collecting community input on an issue, and for documenting the design
-decisions that have gone into Python. The APE author is responsible for
+decisions that have gone into Astropy. The APE author is responsible for


Pretty sure this is a typo in the original text.

pllim · 2025-10-13T20:44:53Z

APE1.rst

 building consensus within the community and documenting dissenting opinions.

-Because the APEs are maintained as text files in a versioned repository
-(indirectly since this wiki is versioned within github), their revision


Not sure what the wiki is referring to. The APEs are directly version controlled in Git.

pllim · 2025-10-13T20:45:14Z

APE1.rst

 There are three kinds of APE:

-* A "Standard Track" APE describes a new feature or implementation for
+* "Standard Track": A "Standard Track" APE describes a new feature or implementation for


Just making the style consistent with APE status section.

pllim · 2025-10-13T21:01:46Z

APE1.rst

 ------------------

-The coordinating committee thought it was a honking great idea.
+The Coordinating Committee thought it was a honking great idea.


Technically it is "Coordination" now but perhaps it was "Coordinating" back then, so I opted not to fix the spelling.

pllim · 2025-10-13T21:03:06Z

APEtemplate.rst

 --------------------------

-Any pull requests or development branches containing work on this APE should be
+Any pull requests or development branches containing work on this APE before acceptance should be


This is to clarify that any PRs actually implementing the APE after acceptance should go into Implementation section. Is this too confusing? Did I confuse myself? Please let me know if this is wrong.

pllim · 2025-10-13T21:03:51Z

APEtemplate.rst

 ------------------

-<To be filled in by the coordinating committee when the APE is accepted or rejected>
+<To be filled in when status changes, if applicable, as laid out in APE 1>


It is more complicated now, so just refer to APE 1 rather than repeating everything here.

pllim · 2025-10-13T21:04:22Z

README.rst

+long-standing PEP (Python Enhancement Proposal) process, but generally not quite as
+formally. Please consult `APE Purpose and Process`_ for full details.
+
+APEs


Since the repo now can have APEs that are not yet accepted, we need new Status column.

pllim · 2025-10-13T21:05:43Z

README.rst

A lot of the contents of the process here are moved to APE 1, where possible, to avoid duplication, and to reduce the risk of conflicting information.

But I left the Zenodo instructions here so we don't have to modify APE 1 again if Zenodo decides to change things up upstream.

mhvk

Few nits, but looks good!

APE1.rst

README.rst

pllim · 2025-10-27T15:21:28Z

@ceb8 verbally re-approved. I am just going to merge in a few hours unless I hear objections, since we have multiple approvals and 2 weeks have elapsed.

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updated APE8 to reflect the use of NF CoC #122

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astrofrog and others added 9 commits October 13, 2025 16:04

Updated APE 1 to suggest new discussion process: APE PRs are for edit…

39dfbfa

…orial changes only, and then once merged the APE is discussed on astropy-dev WIP

Address comments by pllim

04fd232

Address CoCo comments

1e3f002

and fix typos

Update APE1.rst

c1f4355

Co-authored-by: Erik Tollerud <[email protected]>

Address more comments and update outdated details

5480c7f

Update APEtemplate.rst

babd779

Update README.rst

2cef1e4

Move README contents into APE 1

7a80482

if applicable. This is to reduce duplicate and possibly conflicting info.

Add rule for assets

3709805

and make quotes consistent

pllim force-pushed the ape1-update branch from ceda6da to 3709805 Compare October 13, 2025 20:12

This was referenced Oct 13, 2025

Stale bot to set an APE as abandoned #124

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Add APE Editors astropy/astropy.github.com#691

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Update APE1.rst based on mhvk comments

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pllim merged commit 7ae72c9 into astropy:main Oct 27, 2025

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Update APE process to have PRs be only for editorial review #115

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