Announcing 2.54.0alpha1

I am declaring that the tip of master in git, specifically this commit:

  https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/bcpierce00/unison/commit/a31f7f4f728ca8dcee40540a84c9a474f644b77b__;!!IBzWLUs!WVICD4mOCAiMzs3jrAqWUp_fNzDYyzQdKI_t_785QuZ_LOXKfLqYHNUhWWtd0vM-9sNqNLN1d95tgTQ5Gw$ 

is "2.54.0alpha1".  That means it is heading for being the 2.54.0
release, but minor changes may happen.  Perhaps doc only, and perhaps
just a version number change in the sources.  There might or might not
be more alphas, betas, or release candidates.

CI artifacts are at:

  https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://github.com/bcpierce00/unison/actions/runs/23748850015__;!!IBzWLUs!WVICD4mOCAiMzs3jrAqWUp_fNzDYyzQdKI_t_785QuZ_LOXKfLqYHNUhWWtd0vM-9sNqNLN1d97NFo-5Rw$ 

This is 2.54.0 and not 2.53.n++ because of removing the old wire
protocol.

I'll be holding off merging things bigger than bug fixes before 2.54.0.
(As a general rule I don't think it is prudent to rush to get things
into releasesk.)  There is work to add internationalization which seems
likely to appear in some later 2.54.x.

Because of the removal of the old wire protocol, there will be a more
extended than usual period for testing, with the release planned more or
less for May 1.  (That can of course be delayed for almost any reason;
the point is that it will almost certainly not happen early.)

The NEWS file contains (plus the same warnings as the previous release):

  ## Changes in 2.54.0

  Probably Will Be Released 2026-05-01

    * Drop old wire protocol.  Unison will no longer interoperate with
      versions before 2.52.0 and will no longer read pre-2.52.0 archive
      files.

    * Document that LLM output is unwelcome in the Unison project (code,
      issues, mailinglists, etc.).

    * Add desktop file.

The old wire protocol used ocaml's built-in marshaling, which is not
stable across ocaml versions.  It is only used to interoperate with
pre-2.52.0, and that was released over 4 years ago.  More recently,
there have been security advisories about the built-in marshaling.
Rather than understand them, we're just stopping using built-in
marshaling, because it's time anyway.

Because the old protocol required compatible ocaml versions and no one
spoke up when queried, my belief is that almost no one is using the
interop feature, perhaps actually zero people.  If you are, now would be
a good time to upgrade ;-)  Of course, the license gives you the freedom
to keep running old code.

The bug tracker's rules remain that bugs must be reproduced with 2.53.8
or the tip of master, but I would very much appreciate any future bugs
being validated with 2.54.0alpha1 (or later along master) before
submission.

Greg

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