doc: remove outdated COLLABORATOR_GUIDE sentence about breaking changes

[Trott]

The TSC has delegated authority over LTS and Current branches to the
Release WG. Remove the bullet point about TSC having authority to
determine that a breaking change is necessary on LTS and Current release
branches. Retaining that authority would require de-chartering the
Release WG.

Fixes: nodejs/TSC#660

Checklist

• make -j4 test (UNIX), or vcbuild test (Windows) passes
• documentation is changed or added
• commit message follows commit guidelines

[nodejs-github-bot]

@Trott build started: https://ci.nodejs.org/blue/organizations/jenkins/node-test-pull-request-lite-pipeline/detail/node-test-pull-request-lite-pipeline/2433/pipeline

[MylesBorins]

LGTM

[mcollina]

I think a TSC and lts consensus is necessary in both cases. In other terms, a breaking change cannot land without notifying the TSC and lts.

[MylesBorins]

@mcollina I think there is a subtle difference between what lands in master and what goes out in a release. The only time where a breaking change would land "directly" on a release line would be in the case of fixing a problem directly on the release. One example is security releases, which afaik have not relied on TSC sign off to push.

[Trott]

I think a TSC and lts consensus is necessary in both cases. In other terms, a breaking change cannot land without notifying the TSC and lts.

@mcollina True for master branch, but this bullet point is about what goes out in an LTS or Current release.

TSC (well, CTC, but that doesn't change anything) chartered the Release WG in nodejs/Release#223. In that chartering, responsibilities were delegated to Release WG. Specifically: "Define the content of releases." If we wish to change that now. we need to de-charter Release WG and re-charter with different responsibilities.

Also worth noting: This bullet point that's being removed is currently not even listed as necessary for a change. Any one of the three bullet points is sufficient. Therefore, removing this bullet point reduces the ways breaking changes can be introduced into LTS branches.

[sam-github]

If the authority was delegated to the Release WG, then shouldn't this be s/TSC/Release WG/?

We have policies so that there is predictability and transparency to the decisions made by the responsible people, but those people ultimately have the right to break those policies, if as a group they decide its the right thing to do. The planned openssl 1.1.1 update in the 10.x release line for example best fits the bullet being removed here.

[Trott]

@sam-github Yes and no. I'd say it's a bigger change than that. All these bullet points should probably be replaced with a statement that what ends up in LTS/Current is up to Release WG, with a link to where Release WG documents their requirements. I'm doing things iteratively, though, because small and focused changes to this document seem to be things we can talk about and land, but big changes run a bigger risk of being stalled. (Not sure if that was my experience with this doc or elsewhere, but it's definitely A Thing.)

So my plan is: First, remove this bullet point because it's wrong. Then replace the remaining stuff with a link to Release WG material--probably https://github.com/nodejs/Release#release-plan but maybe there's something even better somewhere? And there may be other steps too. But those are the next two. :-D

Understood, I'm not LGTM this change, but I would not object. I'm ok in having a distilled form of https://github.com/nodejs/Release#release-plan instead.

[Trott]

Landed in 43bba40