DRAFT

Speculative Long-term Development is any development intended for ACME AND its not clear when or if it will be officially added to a future version of the model.  "Officially Added" means it is on master, can be turned on using appropriate configuration options, and tests of that feature must pass for any other new development to be added:   Examples include ACME developments for 2+ versions ahead of current version,  developments from other programs (CMDV, ECP)

The ACME SE group has a couple of recommended procedures for doing speculative development.  Which one to use depends on the nature of your code development.

Long-lived branch on a fork

Long-lived branch in ACME-Climate/ACME

Direct development in master.

1. Split the long-term development in to logical pieces that can be checked in to master over time.
2. Add pieces with PRs as is done for mainline ACME development.
3. Add a test or tests for your new feature.  These tests won't be added to the main acme test suites until the feature is "officially added".
4. Frequently run your tests on ACME master to make sure main line developments don't break your feature.